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“Have a good night,” she said as she opened the door and slid inside.
“You too.” I waved at Hunter, who was bobbing his head to some song that had come on the radio.
Right now, Abby was wary. She’d probably written off all men because of her ex or the fact that she was raising her child alone. I’d let her see that there were good guys out there. I just hoped she didn’t friend-zone me before I made my move.
Nine
ABBY
Thankfully, I finished with the wedding on Saturday in time to pick up Hunter from Brooke’s, at a reasonable hour. On the drive over, my mind drifted back to the parents’ baseball meeting.
It would have been so easy to give in and let Hunter play with Brody, but I wanted to keep my distance. Every time Nick was near, every hair on my body stood at attention. It was like my body was tuned into him and wanted a repeat of our night together.
I couldn’t give in to my desires again. I couldn’t forget my responsibilities or my past. Plus, it would be awkward if he was coaching my kid’s team. We needed to keep things professional.
I was impressed with Nick’s approach at the meeting. He wanted the kids to have fun and learn. He recognized it would be a building year for them, and I appreciated that he wanted to teach the kids respect and discipline. They were responsible for their own uniforms and practicing at home. If they didn’t do their homework, they couldn’t come to practice. I respected that. I was worried a coach would put baseball above everything else.
Nick’s love of baseball permeated the entire meeting. He mentioned his history with baseball and how many kids there were who played and loved the sport. The message was clear: a career in the majors was a long shot. But if being in a sport taught Hunter other life skills, I was all for it.
It was endearing that Nick read a script off his computer. One of the dads teased him for typing an agenda. Something about his admission that he’d typed seven pages tugged at my heart. He was serious about being a good coach, even if he hadn’t done it before. And staring at Nick wasn’t a hardship. I might have drifted off a few times, reliving the night we’d met. I wanted to run my hand over the stubble on his chin, feel the heat of his body as I pressed against him.
My body had a mind of its own, and I needed to get ahold of it before he saw right through me. He hadn’t tried to find me after that night. It would have been fairly easy since his cousin Ethan knew me. But he hadn’t. I had to face the possibility that he hadn’t wanted to find me.
I learned the hard way with my ex that you needed to read the cues people gave you. Nick didn’t want to pursue anything with me. He was fine leaving it at one night, and I needed to be, too.
Of course, the reason I walked away that night was Hunter. I wasn’t interested in a relationship. Trust was hard. My sister Brooke had gone through something similar when her ex-husband left her after two years of marriage after getting his green card. She’d felt used and betrayed. Like her entire marriage was a fraud.
When I opened the door without knocking, I ran into Brooke cleaning the kitchen. “I have dinner for you in the fridge if you’re hungry,” she offered.
“Starved, actually.” I was usually so tense during an event I didn’t eat before or during. Then when I got home, I remembered I hadn’t eaten.
She pulled the dish out of the fridge and heated it in the microwave.
Sitting at the table, I asked, “Where’s Hunter?”
“He’s playing round five hundred of foosball or ping-pong. Honestly, I’m not sure. They’ve been going hard most of the afternoon.”
Ben had a bunch of games set up in the basement. I think it was so Hunter had something to do besides video games when he came over.
“He’ll play anything with a ball,” I said, laughing as I recalled his re-telling of his day at school on Friday. “Apparently, the recess monitors took the balls away, and the kids played football with rocks.”
Brooke paused what she was doing to look at me. “Rocks? That sounds dangerous. And not surprising.”
“He’s a determined kid.”
“How’s baseball going?” she asked when the microwave beeped, signaling it was done heating.
“We had a parents’ meeting. So far, it seems doable. The coach seems great.” The man was looking more and more amazing but off-limits.
Brooke looked at me with interest. “Oh? Do you think there might be something there?”
My heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean?”
She tipped her head to the side. “Is he single?”
“As far as I can tell.” When we’d visited his house, I’d looked for any sign a woman living there and found none. There were no decorations on the walls or knickknacks on the shelves that weren’t baseball books and memorabilia.
“Is he attractive?” Brooke asked softly.
