“We haven’t seen much of each other lately,” Molly said as they climbed the steps,
“and I’m sorry. What with the deal for the boutique and all—”
“You haven’t neglected me, Molly. It’s the other way around. Besides, now that your boss has decided to sell, this is an opportunity you can’t pass up.”
“Thanks for understanding.”
“I wouldn’t make much of a best friend if I didn’t.” Jess sat on the wooden bleachers beside the team scorebook Molly had placed there to save their places.
Her friend smiled. “Back in a minute.” Moving to an upper row, Molly checked on her three-year-old daughter perched with two little girls and the team babysitter.
When Molly returned, Jess asked, “What happened with the bank yesterday? How does it look for a loan?”
Sitting, Molly opened the team scorebook on her lap. “Considering the monthly payments, it’s not something I can handle on my own, but—” she crossed her fingers “—I might have found a business partner. Anne’s a substitute teacher at the high school, and she’s looking for something steady to get into. She thinks this might be it.”
A strange sensation moved through Jess. “You’ll set a great example for the Young Achievers group.”
“Especially if we hire a couple of members for retail experience. I told Adam that if the sale goes through, I’ll show the group my business plan and explain the purchasing process. Anne has taught business ed. dozens of times, so she’ll be a lot of help.”
“How long have you known her?” Sipping her bitter coffee, Jess wrinkled her nose.
“Since Christmas. Her husband plays with the Eddies, so we started talking at the team party last night. One thing led to another, and here I am—another step closer to achieving my goal.”
Jess fidgeted with the hem of her shorts. How could Molly consider going into business with someone she’d only known a few months? What if this Anne found a permanent teaching job in the future? What would Molly do then?
Quit overthinking the negatives. Molly knows what she’s doing.
Pushing a hand beneath her hair, she scratched her neck. “Do you feel you can work well with her?”
“Sure. Not as well as I could you, of course, but since that isn’t an option...” Eyes twinkling, Molly elbowed her. “I need a partner, Jess. Buying The Clothes Horse is my dream, but I don’t want to sacrifice my family life to do it. This is the perfect solution.”
Nodding, Jess looked at the softball diamond, where the Educators and the opposing team assumed positions. Not a green-and-white Mountaineers’ uniform in sight.
Her gaze drifted to the second diamond. Red-and-gray in the first dugout and... yes!... green-and-white in the next.
She picked out Adam right away. His broad shoulders strained his team jersey as he warmed up near the dugout. Images of their passionate lovemaking swamped her mind, and her breasts tingled.
Her face heated. What was she now, a sex fiend?
She returned her attention to Molly, busily entering the batting lineups in the scorebook. Five-year-old Sean scampered up from the Eddies’ dugout, excitement brightening his freckled face.
“Mommy! I get to be water boy!”
“Way to go, champ!” Molly hugged her son over the scorebook. With a grin to Jess, she murmured, “It’s a coveted position.”
“Hey, guy, high five!” Jess slapped Sean’s little raised hand.
“I can’t sit with you now, Auntie Jess.”
“I hope not! Whoever heard of somebody as important as a water boy sitting in the bleachers with two cranky old ladies?”
Sean giggled and Molly said, “Auntie Jess is right, champ. Go hang out with your dad and the other big, strong men. Have fun! We’ll see you at lunch.”
“Yay!” Sean clambered down the bleachers and hopped onto the earth, raising dust.
Jess laughed. “He keeps you running.”
“I love it. Kids are a blessing, Jess.”
“A blessing I’m not planning on dealing with anytime soon.”
“You say that now, but you’re great with my two. All it takes is the right guy.”
The elusive Mr. Right.
Or Wright.
Jess wiped her hands on her shorts, thankful Molly had resumed her scorebook duties. The bleachers slowly filled with spectators as the Eddies went up to bat. She glanced at the second diamond, where Adam now played shortstop for the Mountaineers. Just as many fans occupied his stands.
Her spine stiffened. Enough.
She swung her gaze to Tim’s game. He stood at the plate, bat raised.
Thwack! The ball whizzed to right field, earning Tim a two-base hit.
Molly jumped up, hollering, “Yay, hubby!”
Jess cheered, too. However, as the game progressed, she couldn’t stop peeking at Adam’s diamond. He wore his ball cap shoved up on his forehead. Although she couldn’t distinguish his features, she easily imagined him zeroing in on every swing of the opposing player’s bat.
“You’re supposed to be watching this game, Jess,” Molly chided.
“I am.” She clapped, shouting, “Go, Eddies, go!”
“We struck out.” Molly smirked.
“Oh. Yeah, I knew that. Sorry.” She watched Molly scribble in the scorebook, filling in the miniature boxes that tabulated each run and play. “How do you know what to do?”
“It’s easy. I’ll teach you, if you can tear yourself away from Adam’s game.”
“I’m not watching Adam.” Jess sipped the bad coffee.
“I didn’t say you were. I said you were watching his game.” Molly put down her pencil. “What’s up with you two, anyway? I called Adam this morning, but when I mentioned your name he changed the subject. Have you two made a pact not to talk to me about each other?”
“No.” Jess shifted on the uncomfortable wooden seat. “Things are at a stalemate between us, that’s all.”
“Aw. I thought you’d hit it off.”
“That’s the problem.” She pressed her lips together. “We hit it off too well.”
Molly’s eyes popped. “You slept with him?” she whispered.
Jess nodded.
“You call that a stalemate?”
Thumping her coffee cup onto the bleachers beside her, Jess waved a hand. “Calm down,” she whispered. “It was a mistake. There’s no point in Adam and me becoming more deeply involved with each other, and we both know it.”
“Wow. Sounds serious.”
“I wish it weren’t. Then maybe I could handle it.”
Molly studied her. “What are you saying?” she whispered. “Are you in love with my cousin?”
Jess’s mouth dried. Oh God, am I?
A ruckus erupted in the neighboring bleachers. Molly pointed, shouting, “Someone’s hit a home run! Look, it’s Adam! His team just went up to bat and already he’s hit a homer. Way to go, Adam!”
Jess’s pulse quickened as Adam raced for home plate while the opposing team’s center fielder scrambled over the fence for the ball.
“The Wright stuff! The Wright stuff!” the Mountaineers chanted, each team member thumping Adam on the back as he trotted into the dugout.
Pride swelled in her chest.
Go away!
“They sure make a big deal out of a home run,” she muttered, tearing her gaze from him.
“The Mountaineers have won the first tournament of the season every year for the past five years. It is a big deal. And it drives the Eddies crazy.”
“Let’s give them a run for the money, then.” Standing, Jess cheered on the Eddies. Who cared if she looked like an idiot—or if Adam saw her? She’d come to the ball park to have a good time with Molly, and that’s what she planned to do.
Three o’clock came and went without Adam and his kick-butt Mountaineers getting a chance to slaughter Tim’s slacker Eddies. The roster in the outdoor beer gardens indicated the two rival teams might not compete for the duration of the tournament, a result of
games won versus games lost and a bye allotted to the Eddies Sunday morning. Lucky stiffs.
After his team won their last game of the day, Adam paraded into the packed beer gardens with the excited guys. As he reached their table, a glimpse of long, curly dark hair and beautiful toffee eyes slapped him in the face.
Jess? He narrowed his gaze at the Eddies’ table, several meters away. There she sat, wearing a T-shirt and shorts, laughing along with the rest of the wives and guys at Tim’s corny jokes.
What the hell?
“Adam, want a beer?” A teammate held out an overflowing plastic cup.
“Thanks, Bruce. In a minute.” He plopped his glove onto a chair. “Save me a seat.”
“Yup.”
Dodging partiers, Adam bee-lined toward Tim’s table. At the halfway point, Jess glanced up. Their gazes met. Eyes widening, she spoke to Molly, then hightailed it to the makeshift bar.
You can run, honey!
Adam caught up to her as she grabbed a beer cup from the bartender and gulped a mouthful of foam.
“Well, well,” he said. “I’m surprised to see you here.”
She faced him, color high on her cheeks. “Molly invited me.”
“Uh-huh. How many games have you watched?”
“Um, all of Tim’s.”
The first of which had begun at ten fricking a.m. He squinted. “Having fun?”
She nodded. “You?”
“Peachy.” He poured on the sarcasm. Hell, he’d counseled himself to be patient, and look where that had got him—Jess ignoring him at the Young Achievers meeting whenever Nora wasn’t within listening distance, and now she’d spent all day at the ball park and hadn’t even attempted a polite hello.
Did he have fungus growing out of his ears?
“I thought you’d feel out of place at a community function like this,” he bit out.
Her mouth turned downward. “What?”
“You heard me. On Monday you said you don’t belong in our little backwoods town.” He jerked a thumb toward the Eddies’ table. “But it looks to me like you fit right in.”
She shifted her feet, sipping her beer. A foam moustache decorated her upper lip. What he’d give to haul her into his arms and kiss the foam and her stubbornness away.
“You can’t give it up, can you?” he muttered. “You’ve decided you’re an outsider in your hometown, and nothing anyone says will change that.”
Her gaze flicked to a group of ball players loitering near the paper-covered, plywood-and-sawhorse bar. “Don’t do this here,” she whispered, setting down her cup.
He lowered his voice. “Then where would you suggest I do it? If I asked you to go somewhere and talk, I’m betting you’d turn me down.”
She stared at the ground.
“I thought so.” He lifted his ball cap and pushed a hand through his sweaty hair. Why suffer this aggravation? He should turn around and walk away. Instead, like a sucker for punishment, he asked, “Then how about going to the dinner-dance with me tonight? You’d meet the team, the people I work with. Good times, good food, good conversation.”
She looked up. “I would if we—”
“Didn’t feel something for each other? Then you’d go? Damn it, Jess,” he whispered. “Caring for me isn’t a crime. Why do you treat it like one?”
“Because I don’t want to get hurt.”
The hot afternoon sun beat down on his head. “Who’s going to hurt you, honey? I wouldn’t, I swear. The only person who might hurt you is you, because you’re too stubborn to admit that this is where you belong. With your mother, with Molly.” With me.
He touched her wrist. She shrank away.
“You won’t even listen, so why do I bother?”
Because you love her, Wright. The truth slammed into him. He loved stubborn, fixated-on-a-dead-guy Jess Morgan.
Damn it, couldn’t he have fallen for a local girl who wanted nothing more than to build a life here? After Crysta, you’d think he could have bought himself some brains, but apparently his were a rental.
“Hey, Adam! Buddy!” A drunk pitcher from another team staggered toward them. “Lemme buy you a beer!” The guy plunked two tickets onto the bar.
“No, thanks.” Look at me, Jess. Just look at me.
“Aw, c’mon!” The pitcher whacked his back. “Be a sport, Mr. Homer-Run Simpson!” The fellow eyed Jess. “Hey, Wrightsi, you gonna introduce me to yer little hottie?”
Adam’s jaw clenched. “Not a chance. And if you talk about her that way again, I’ll deck you. The lady’s mine.”
Mission accomplished: Jess looked straight at him. Unfortunately, just when he sounded like a cave man.
She mumbled, “I told Molly I’d check on her kids.” She arrowed for the swing sets as if he’d set fire to her shorts.
The pitcher guffawed. “There she goes! Hey, dude, I don’t wanna rain on your parade, but it looks like she ain’t too thrilled about being yer woman, know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I know.” Scowling, Adam stepped up to the bar. “You can buy me that beer now, if you still want. I need it.”
Jess stood beside the SUV in the community hall parking lot. If she entered the hall, she risked seeing Adam, unless he’d left the tournament dinner-dance early. If she didn’t drop in, she might upset Molly, who’d insisted on holding her a chair at the Eddies’ table.
Neither option appealed—especially following her encounter with Adam in the beer gardens this afternoon. If he’d wanted to get a rise out of her with that outdated comment about her being his lady, he’d succeeded big time. Jess Morgan didn’t want to be anybody’s “lady.”
Yes, I do.
No, she didn’t.
The night breeze ruffled her hair, carrying the scents and noises from the hall. A layer of cigarette smoke hung above the crowd milling at the open double doors, and loud dance music spilled into the parking lot.
Make a choice, Jess.
Stomach tight, she stepped forward. If she saw Adam, would he think she’d come to the dance to make up with him? She couldn’t lead him on. She’d done too much of that already.
The crowd at the doors parted, and she stepped back again, heart pounding. Please don’t let it be Adam. But it was only the guy from this afternoon. Sobered up, it appeared.
The fellow must have recognized her, because he gave a cheery wave before lighting a cigarette for the woman with him. The woman kissed his cheek, and they strolled off across the parking lot. Arms wrapped around each other. Obviously in love.
Jess squeezed shut her eyes, rooted to the earth. She wanted what that couple shared. She wanted it with Adam.
But fear had a stranglehold on her.
And love couldn’t keep her safe.
Following his last game on Sunday, Adam picked wildflowers from a field behind the park, then drove to the Olson farmhouse and rapped on the door. Jess hadn’t returned to watch the tournament finals today, not that he’d expected her to. The woman gave new meaning to the definition of stubborn.
Stubborn, hell. Try intractable. Stuck in an emotional rut so deep, she’d need an extension ladder to climb out. None of which had prevented him from falling in love with her, idiot that he was.
He raised his hand to knock again, but the door swung inward before his knuckles met the wood.
Jess stepped into the doorway. He thrust the bouquet at her. “We won!”
“What?” She blinked, not taking the flowers, evidently not making the connection between his sweat-soaked slo-pitch uniform and his presence on her front porch.
“We won! The Mountaineers won the first league tournament of the season for the sixth year running! Tim’s team came on strong in the semi-finals but didn’t stand a chance against tradition.” He tipped his ball cap. “And, thanks to you, honey, I snagged MVP.”
“Most Valuable Player? Thanks to me?” Her hand skimmed along her jean-clad hip.
“Yep.” He leaned against the doorframe. Her elegant perfume drifted off her, teasing his
nostrils. “I put all my frustration about what has and hasn’t been happening between us lately into smacking that little white ball. Hit four home runs in the final game.”
“Is that good?”
He laughed. “It’s fantastic!” Behind Jess, he glimpsed Nora exiting the kitchen. Moving back, he greeted her. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Olson.”
“Adam!” She joined her daughter. “What a nice surprise. We didn’t expect to see you today.”
Didn’t he know it? “Then my intention to surprise the two of you has succeeded.” He offered Nora the wildflowers. “I was telling Jess that I won Most Valuable Player, thanks to her inspiration. Could you take these for her, please? She’s in shock.”
“Flowers! How sweet!” Nora accepted the bouquet. “Aren’t these lovely, Jessie?”
Adam dipped his head to kiss Jess before she could answer yea or nay. Her lips softened, then tensed beneath his.
“Oh my,” her mother murmured in an amused tone.
Adam broke the kiss, and Jess glared at him. Turning to Nora, he said, “To celebrate, I’d like to take you both to dinner at the Wander-Inn. A few other people are coming, including Tim and Molly. The restaurant closes early on Sundays, so we’d better hurry.”
Jess’s gaze shot daggers at him. “We—”
“Why, thank you, Adam.” Her mother beamed. “I haven’t been to the Wander-Inn... I can’t remember how long.” She smoothed her cords with one hand. “Should I change?”
Adam laughed. “Look at me. If you can tolerate my eau de sweat sock aftershave, that’s half the battle. Tonight is strictly casual. No fancy clothes permitted.”
Nora’s eyes crinkled. “Then I’d love to go out to dinner with you and Jessie. Please come in while I put these in water.”
She strolled to the kitchen with the flowers, leaving Adam and Jess alone, which didn’t seem to ingratiate Jess with him any.
Crossing her arms, she whispered, “Why did you do that?”
“Ask your mom to dinner?” He kept his tone light. “Number one, because I like her. Number two, because she deserves a night out. Besides—” he touched the top button of her blouse “—I figured it was the only way I could get anywhere near you tonight, considering your rather hardheaded behavior in the beer gardens yesterday.”
Where She Belongs (Destiny Falls) Page 15
