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I cut out of work a couple of hours early, wanting to be at Cammie’s practice. I’d been so busy leading up to the grand opening that I’d neglected our time together. Since I’d opened every morning, I’d missed our breakfasts. I worried things would fall apart at the shop if I weren’t there, even though I knew Christopher could handle it. Letting go of the control was hard.
On the drive to the fields, Cammie filled me in on everything I’d missed. Paperwork for a field trip had come home, and she wished I could chaperone. I told her maybe next year and immediately felt guilty. Was that how working parents always felt? The guilt never went away, even if you were doing something to ensure their future. She’d only be young for so long.
I couldn’t take a full day off work to chaperone, but I could cut a couple of hours early to attend practice.
“We get our uniforms today,” Cammie said as we pulled into the dirt lot.
“That’s exciting.” I drove past the families with kids already heading toward the field and parked.
I wanted to attend her after-school activities and weekend games as much as possible. I leaned on my parents, but I wanted to do these things. Plus, the drives to and from places were a great time to talk to Cammie and discover what was going on in her life. At home, she was too distracted to tell me much.
I pulled Cammie’s bag out of the trunk at the same time she exclaimed, “Oh, look! There’s Hunter.”
I shut the trunk, following after her more slowly. I wondered who had brought Hunter. If it was his mother or Brooke. I shouldn’t have been anticipating seeing her again, but my body betrayed me. My heart beat faster once I caught sight of Brooke.
“Hunter. I have your water bottle,” Brooke said as she tucked a bottle into the side pocket of his bag.
She slowed her pace and sighed. Then, looking to the side, she saw me. “Ben.”
“Brooke.” I wanted to take a cue from her on how to handle it. The last time we’d seen each other, we’d kissed. We’d crossed that line, and we couldn’t go back. No matter how much both of us wanted to.
If I could forget how her lips felt under mine or her breathy moans and sighs when I kissed her, it might’ve been easier.
“How are you?” Brooke asked, her expression neutral, as if we were acquaintances, which I supposed we were. As we chatted and slowly walked toward the field, Hunter and Cammie ran ahead together to the baseball diamond, where the other kids and coaches had begun to gather.
“Good.”
“How’s the opening?”
“Busy. I’m happy I was able to cut out early to be here.”
Brooke’s expression softened. “Opening a new business with a child must be tough. I can’t even imagine.”
“Dad guilt is a thing. You always hear about mom guilt, but now that I’m the only parent, it’s definitely set in.”
Brooke raised a brow, and I remembered she knew Maria had died, but not the details of our co-parenting.
“I shared custody with my ex. She had her mostly during the week, and I took her three weekends out of the month. It was more stable for Cammie and allowed me to focus on work.”
We set our chairs next to each other on top of the hill overlooking the field. A nearby tree provided shade. Most of the other parents set up closer to the diamond with their younger children playing on blankets.
I was irrationally pleased that she’d sat next to me. Being there together like that was safe. There wouldn’t be any temptation to kiss her with other parents around. “Is your sister working?”
“Yeah, Abby’s editing some photos, and I might have begged her to let me take him. I didn’t see him much last weekend with the opening.” She gestured at me, her cheeks slightly flushed.
“I’m sorry the opening of my store is affecting you.” It was never my intention, but it was the unfortunate result. “Does your sister work for herself?”
“She works with Gia at Happily Ever Afters and has clients on the side.”
I knew who she was. “She’s the one who took photos for the paper, then.”
“Yeah, she submitted them.”
“She has a different last name than you.” I remembered the byline of the photo. I would have remembered if it said Abby Langley.
“She was married. Her ex left when she had Hunter. She kept her married name so she and Hunter would match.”
“That’s understandable.” Something about her comment had me thinking. “What do you mean by her ex leaving?”
