As Tanner headed to his cherry-red Jeep, Hayden stayed in the dugout, looking at the ball field, the weight of the equipment bags nothing compared to the heaviness on his heart. Even though he was sure—at least he thought he was—that there was a connection between him and Riley, she wasn’t open to pursuing it. One-sided interest was new to him, and he had to admit it pricked at his ego.
Shaking his head, he walked out of the dugout and stalked to his Subaru. Maybe he was imagining things. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have plenty of other things to keep him occupied, and he just added fixing up Erma’s house to the list.
By the time he’d put the bags in the trunk of his Subaru and started the engine, he realized Riley was right. Contracts were always a good idea, even though it bugged him a little since she and Erma were his friends. Correction—Erma was. He didn’t know what he and Riley were.
What he did know was that he needed to focus on the reality of his own life—working his job, rehabbing his house, and coaching the church softball team. He’d wasted enough emotional and mental energy on Riley McAllister.
Chapter6
The bells of the Amazing Grace Church rang out clear on Sunday morning as Riley and her grandmother arrived for service. Riley maneuvered the car into the handicapped spot in the parking lot, then pulled Mimi’s wheelchair out of the trunk. When she unfolded the chair and pushed it to the passenger side of the car, Mimi frowned.
“Next Sunday I’m using crutches,” she said as Riley helped her slide into the chair. “I hate this thing.”
“We’ll see what the doctor says on Wednesday.”
“I don’t care what he says.” Mimi adjusted the strand of pearls at her neck. She always wore them to church and for any other special occasion. “This chair can go in a dumpster fire when I’m done.”
“It’s a rental, Mimi.”
“Oh. Scratch that.”
Riley couldn’t help but smile as she pushed her grandmother into the foyer. Immediately the BBs rushed their wounded friend, and Riley was surrounded by flowered dresses, lilac and geranium perfume, and the squawk of ladies talking. Bea took over pushing Mimi, and the ladies made their way into the sanctuary, leaving Riley behind. Or rather, forgotten. Which was fine.I’m used to it.
She pushed away the bitter thought. Mimi had never forgotten about her, and it wasn’t fair to think that. She was surrounded by her friends, and Riley was grateful for them. She had taken the BBs for granted growing up, but she knew they all watched out for one another. Riley had always watched out for herself, except when Mimi did, and for the most part she preferred it that way. But since returning to Maple Falls, she wondered what it would be like to have a group of friends as devoted as the BBs. Not that it would ever actually happen, but she still wondered.
She walked into the sanctuary, planning to sit with Mimi and the rest of her group when she heard someone say her name. She turned to see Anita Bedford motioning for Riley to sit next to her. Riley hesitated. She barely remembered Anita from school. Although she preferred to sit with Mimi or by herself, she didn’t want to turn Anita down and risk hurting her feelings, especially when she had such a sweet, expectant expression.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to talk to you at practice yesterday,” Anita said, her smile growing bigger as Riley approached. “Welcome back.”
Riley nodded, unsure if Anita was talking about Maple Falls or church. Probably the former since Riley hadn’t been a regular church attender when she was a teenager. The first year she lived with Mimi she was forced to go to church, but instead of finding the peace and community interaction all the other churchgoers seemed to experience, she felt resentment. It was harder to pretend to be invisible among such close-knit people. Her opinion about church had never been favorable anyway, since Tracey never took her and had been quick to point out how judgmental church folks were. When Riley was there, all she’d ever felt was judgment, even though people rarely spoke to her beyond small talk.
Finally Mimi stopped forcing her to go when Riley started arguing with her every Sunday morning—as long as she agreed to attend during the holidays, which she had. Now she couldn’t remember the last time she’d stepped foot inside a church. Probably the last Sunday she’d spent in Maple Falls. The only reason she’d agreed to go today was because her grandmother needed a ride.
Anita nodded toward Mimi. “She looks good today. A lot better than she did after the accident. It’s hard to keep her down, isn’t it?”
Riley nodded. Harper and Olivia entered the pew on the opposite side and sat next to Anita.
“I just hope I’m that spry when I’m her age,” Anita said.
Harper leaned over to greet Riley. “Good morning.”
“Morning.” Now seeing the three of them, Riley felt underdressed in her black three-quarter-sleeved shirt and frayed jeans with her usual sandals. It was one thing for her grandmother and her friends to wear dresses and pearls to church, but quite another to see women her own age almost equally dressed up. Harper was the most sophisticated of the three with her pale-peach sleeveless dress, orange high-heeled espadrilles, and dangling turquoise earrings. Olivia was more tailored, wearing a light, white cardigan over a red blouse and navy-blue pencil skirt, while Anita was the most casual in a flowing lavender maxi dress.
A man with a guitar stepped on the stage and started playing, and Riley realized it was Jesse Mathis, the oldest of the three Mathis cousins who were at softball practice yesterday. He began to sing, and the rest of the congregation stood and sang with him. Riley had never heard the song before, and despite the words displayed on the screen, she didn’t try to sing along.
Instead, she observed her surroundings and soon saw Hayden standing in his pew, his parents beside him, all three singing. She tried to pull her gaze from him, but she couldn’t stop herself from checking him out. Crisp white collared shirt rolled up to the elbows, fitted blue jeans, and she caught a glimpse of his slip-on tan suede shoes. She’d never really been interested in portraiture, but an exception could be made if Hayden was the model.
She jerked her focus and thoughts back to the front of the church, where a large wooden cross was framed by frosted glass windows. She was surprised God hadn’t struck her down for having such thoughts in a house of worship.
For the next hour she forced herself to pay attention to the service, and she had to admit that Jared was pretty good at delivering a sermon. From what she could remember of the former pastor, Jared was much more interesting and exuberant than his predecessor, who had been a mainstay at the church for almost thirty years.
When the service was over, she said a quick goodbye to Anita, Harper, and Olivia before they could say anything to her. This was her MO—arrive as late as possible and leave as soon as the service was over. That way she hopefully wouldn’t get stuck talking to anyone. She headed outside to wait for Mimi, certain one of the BBs would bring her out of the building. She walked to the car and leaned against it, then saw Hayden exit the church with Tanner.
He turned and their eyes met. She steeled herself, expecting him to walk over and strike up a conversation, either about repairing Mimi’s house or, God forbid, trying to convince her to be the assistant coach. When she arrived home last evening, she had stood firm with her grandmother and told her that she not only wasn’t going to be the coach but also wasn’t going to attend any of the games. If Mimi wanted to go to one, she’d have to rely on one of the BBs to take her. Her grandmother had seemed taken aback, but to Riley’s shock, she didn’t try to change her mind.
Hayden was surprising her right now. Instead of walking over to her, he gave her a curt nod, then turned his back and launched into conversation with Tanner. As other people poured out of the church, he began engaging them in conversation too.
Riley frowned. He was acting like he barely knew her, when just yesterday he was sitting so close to her she could see the scar on his right knee, one she had wondered about last night when she couldn’t stop thinking about him as she tried to sleep.
