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“No problem. We gonna get a hot dog later, when I’m done here?”
“Yes, please.”
Jake shot me a look and I just shrugged. We really were doing the best we could, though I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe it wasn’t enough. I reminded myself for the umpteenth time that two weeks really wasn’t that long, considering that Sandra had had Jesse for his whole life. Patience was the name of the game.
“Hey, Ally!”
“Hi, Jake.”
“Who’ve you got there?”
I turned to see Ally standing with two young boys, maybe around ten or eleven years old. She was wearing dark sunglasses, so I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like she was keeping her face averted, so as not to look at me. “These are my cousin’s kids, Ollie and Ben. They’re huge Knights fans and wouldn’t miss a chance to meet Logan Hastings.”
“Awesome! You guys want a hit?”
At their enthusiastic yeses, Jake instructed them to go line up, leaving Ally to stand with me and Jesse. Her tight black jeans and figure-hugging, cherry red top fit her so perfectly; she sent my pulse racing.
“Gabe.” Her oddly formal tone made me smile.
“Allegra.”
My smile widened when she huffed out a breath of annoyance. “Hi there, Jesse.”
“Hi, Allegra.”
I felt the heat of the death stare she shot me from behind her sunglasses and held my hands up defensively. “He’s just calling you by your name.”
“Sure.” She looked at Jesse and the frown cleared from her brow. Giving him a reassuring smile, she said, “No stress, kiddo. Your dad just likes to bug me.”
“I sure do.” I felt a hitch in my heart at her casual use of the word dad. Like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Jesse!”
We turned to see Lucy beckoning for Jesse to come and join her. “We’re having cotton candy over here. If you want some, you better be quick!”
He looked at me for permission, said “Thank you,” when I nodded, and walked over to join them.
I thought Ally would go too, but she didn’t, just stood quietly next to me, her hands shoved in her pockets, watching Jake and the kids. “He seems…”
“What?” I asked quietly. I was interested to know how exactly he “seemed” to other people.
“I don’t know. Like he’s on his best behavior all the time, like he can’t relax.”
“Exactly! That’s how it feels to me, too. He’s almost more like a roommate than a little kid. It’s weird.”
“It must be tough.”
“It is a bit. I just wish…”
“You’ll get there. It hasn’t been that long, remember.”
“I guess not.”
The conversation trailed off after that and we stood in silence, watching Jake throw ball after ball to a seemingly endless line of kids, giving all lots of encouragement and tips. He faltered a little when he caught sight of Emma, walking across the diamond to the cotton candy stand, but recovered pretty quickly.
“Ah, here we go.”
Ally followed my gaze. “Oh, awesome!”
