I stomped up in front of their tidy little firing squad of canvas chairs and gave a big wave.“Hi!I’m Erika, Vinny’s older sister.Lovely to meet ya’ll.Sorry we’re late.Turns out someone only informed me we had practice forty-five minutes ago, but hey, we made it.”I forced a grin so wide my face trembled.
Mom Number Two didn’t miss a beat.“Do you want a medal?”
I did want a bit of credit.I officially mom-ed the kid to baseball practice.I had zero experience with kids, not even babysitting.I thought I rocked it to be here, considering I’d only heard from Vinny about his practice when I picked him up at four.
“Don’t mind her,” Fake Fur Hat Mom said, giving me a sympathetic smile as she burrowed deeper under her mountain of blankets.“You’ll freeze inthat.Those bleachers suck the heat right out of your butt.Seriously, it’s like sitting on an ice vacuum.”She patted her stash.“If you need a blanket, I’ve got three.I’m Cindy, by the way.You were a year or two behind me in school.My kid’s Colton.Big dude at first base.”
Behind me on the field a man I assumed to be the coach yelled, “Thanks to Vinny we’re running laps, people.Give me two.”
One of the dads groaned dramatically and flung a hand toward the field like he was cursing the heavens.“Great.That’s at least an extra ten minutes.We’ll freeze to death out here.Only God knows how the coach doesn’t feel the cold.”
“He can’t punish them.”I marched around the chain link fence.
Behind me, the parents gasped and muttered like I’d just violated a sacred baseball law that we couldn’t cross the fence line.
I stormed up behind the coach, only to have my brain short-circuit.The man was six-foot-something with a truly magnificent ass and long, sculpted legs poured into gray baseball pants.Like, illegally good.I’m not made of stone.
Focus.Get a grip.He’s probably married.With four kids.And a mortgage.And definitely not here to flirt with the chaotic woman who showed up late and disrupted practice.
He blew his whistle and yelled, “You’re dragging Colton.Don’t let Vinny beat you.”
I called out, “It’s my fault Vinny is late.Don’t punish them because of me.”
The coach turned.Familiar hazel eyes narrowed on me in a stare filled withwhat-the-hell-are-you-doing?
“You.”My stomach dropped.
ChapterFive
ERIKA
Josh in a black sweatshirt,black skull-hugging cap, and gray baseball pants…
Nope.Absolutely not.I was not admitting he looked hot.I would rather eat gravel than give him that ammunition.
Gone were the jeans and rubber boots he’d worn at the farm.
My mouth shot off before my brain could filter.“We were late today because I had to wash off the cow shit after I did someone else’s job for him.”
“Half did it,” Josh shot back.“I had to finish.”
I had to ball my hands to stop their shaking.It took everything in me not to punch him in front of the entire parent peanut gallery.Instead, I forced a smile so tight it could cut glass.“Interesting.Nothow I remember it.You strolled in at the end and did some weird magic trick with the ears.”I wiggled my fingers like a deranged jazz-hands attempt.“That calf came out because ofmywork.”
He massaged his forehead, “Erika, I’m?—”
“Why areyouthe coach?”I cut him off.Josh had been Mister Baseball in high school—recruited for college, destined for the majors.Clearly the pro dream had crashed somewhere, but I’d missed the explosion.“Do you have a kid on the team?”I looked around, searching for a miniature version of him.
He made a strangled noise.“No.”
“Oh.”I nodded, way more relieved than I should’ve been.“So, is this a community service sentence, then?”
“Why should it matter to you?”
I squinted at him.“You’re determined to make every moment I have to spend here as miserable as possible, aren’t you?”
“News flash: not everything is about you.”
His tight baseball pants derailed any intelligent comeback.Honestly, half the reason the moms—and probably a couple of the dads—braved the arctic wind was to admire that back end.I’d put in plenty of hours appreciating it back in high school.Best view in the county when he was catcher—a truly award-winning butt.Legendary.
