Riley stared at his profile, but instead of focusing on his good looks, she found herself drawn to him for a different reason.He really is one of the good guys, isn’t he?But she couldn’t stand there fawning over him. Well, she easily could... She started to back away. “Uh, I guess... See you later,” she said, the awkward words punctuated with a loud duck quack.
“Yeah.” Hayden still didn’t move, but he wasn’t looking at her either. “Later.”
Somehow she found the strength to resume running, and she sprinted away from the park. But once she reached Mimi’s street, her legs started to buckle. Thankful Hayden wasn’t around to see her fail at running a second time, she slowed to a painful walk. Her body would pay for overdoing it today.
But the ache in her chest had nothing to do with her run and everything to do with Hayden. He had asked her a simple question, and she had bailed on giving him an answer. She’d have to keep her distance from now on. If she didn’t, and if he asked about her life in New York again, she might be tempted to tell him the truth—that after almost a decade of pursuing her dream, she was a failure.Just like Tracey.
***
As Hayden lightly jogged back home, he mentally kicked himself. Why had he been so nosy? He should have known better than to pry into Riley’s life. She was as closed as a tulip at sunset, and he should have recognized that when she didn’t answer his question the first time he asked. But he couldn’t help himself. She was still a mystery to him, and he wanted to understand her. Something had been drawing him to her since he first saw her at the airport. Something physical.
He hadn’t noticed it at first. She wasn’t the kind of woman he’d been used to dating. High school romance had been out of the question due to his baseball schedule and trying to keep his grades up for college, but he’d managed to have a social life at UCLA. Those girlfriends, if he could call them that, had been stereotypical party girls. He wasn’t proud that he’d partaken more than once in certain college social activities, and if he’d continued along that path, he would have put his scholarship in jeopardy.
Thankfully it all quickly grew stale, and he soon nixed his social life to spend the rest of his college days focused on the most important thing in his life—baseball.
Not anymore.His priorities had been forcibly shifted six months ago. It had taken time for him to accept that there was life after baseball, but he fully believed it now. Getting hung up on the past wasn’t an option.
Without realizing it, his jogging had picked up speed, and he was at a full run when he reached his house. He was breathing as hard as Riley had been. The thought of Riley triggered his memory of seeing her sweaty, red-faced, and unbelievably sexy. He grinned. The jolt of attraction he’d experienced sitting next to her on that old bench had surprised him. Then again, maybe he had finally grown up.
Hayden caught his breath and put his hands on his hips. Since Riley’s arrival he’d been thinking about his teenage years more and more, and it hit him that he’d always thought she was sexy, in a natural and aloof kind of way. Had she always liked to run? Maybe if he’d known that, he would have asked her to join him on a run or two. He’d been running since middle school as part of his off-season training. He shook his head at the dumb thought. She would have told sixteen-year-old him no and sent him on his way. Like she was obviously doing now.
He needed to get a grip. Riley had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in him hanging around her, and he needed to respect that. For all he knew, she had a boyfriend back in New York. He wasn’t exactly thrilled with the thought. Maybe that’s why she was so distant with him, and he couldn’t blame her. If she were his girl and some guy was asking her questions, he wouldn’t like it one bit. So, no more trying to make friends with her, even though he still wanted to.And no more prying questions.
As he entered his parents’ house, he wiped the sweat from his face with the hem of his T-shirt. He’d been living at home since returning to Maple Falls, but he had always seen this living situation as temporary. Now that he had purchased a house that he would start fixing up in a week or two, his time in his childhood home would soon be coming to an end. He had to admit he didn’t mind staying with his parents. They were easy to get along with, and after years of eating on the road, he could never get enough of home-cooked meals.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw his mother coming down them, dressed in a light-green short-sleeved blouse, white pants, and white slip-on shoes. She was fiddling with a colorful sheer scarf wrapped loosely around her neck as she walked off the last step and stopped in front of him. “How was your run, honey?”
“Good.”
“Where did you go?”
“The park, as usual. I’m going to get a shower,” he added quickly before she could ask any more questions and he’d have to mention seeing Riley. He wasn’t sure if anyone knew she was back in town.
“All right. There’s pancakes and sausage for breakfast in the warming drawer under the oven.”
Yes!“Thanks, Mom.” His stomach growled as he moved to let her walk past him. “Where’s Dad?”
“Finishing up reading the paper on the back porch. He said it’s too nice a morning to sit inside. By the way, we won’t be back until later tonight. Your father has promised me a fancy dinner at some steakhouse in Chenal. I can’t remember the name of it, but he said it had good reviews on the internet.”
“Have fun. Let him know the store is in good hands.”
His mother smiled and tucked a strand of her shoulder-length blond hair behind her ear, the color courtesy of regular six-week appointments at a salon in Hot Springs. “He knows it is. We’ll see you later.”
Hayden nodded, then bounded up the stairs, forcing his mind to focus on work and not on Riley. Business usually picked up on Friday and Saturday since people tended to work on their DIY projects more on the weekend than during the week. After a quick shower, he stepped onto the pale-blue bath mat and reached for the matching towel hanging on the hook. He had just wrapped it around his waist when his cell phone buzzed on the double sink vanity. When he saw the caller, he wiped his hands on the towel, then swiped at the foggy screen twice.
“Hey, Erma,” he said. “You’re on speaker, by the way.”
“Good morning, Hayden. How are you?”
“Just fine.” He rubbed his shoulder but didn’t look at the scar. Occasionally he felt a twinge of pain, but his surgeon had been one of the best in the country, and the healed tendons and muscles rarely ached now. Still, he preferred to ignore the six-inch vertical scar going across the side of his shoulder. He didn’t need a visual reminder of the past. “I’m getting ready for work.”
“Oh, I won’t keep you long then. I have a favor to ask.”
“Anything for you, Erma.”
“Oh, you really are a peach, aren’t you? I promise this will be the last one. Obviously, I won’t be able to continue as assistant coach for the church softball team.”
Hayden tucked the towel tighter around his hips. “I’m so sorry about that, Erma—”
