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“Ally, can we get hot dogs now?”
“Sure, Ollie. Let’s go.”
I took the boys over to the hot dog stand, smiling at Bruce when he winked at me. “Well now, who’s this?”
I introduced them, paid for their hot dogs, and asked them where they wanted to sit. “Can we go and talk to Jesse?”
“Jesse?”
“Yeah, we wanna ask him what it was like talking to Logan Hastings.”
“Oh, sure. Okay. He’s just over there.” He was sitting quietly with Gabe on the bottom row of the bleachers, munching on his hot dog. Ben and Ollie went straight over, pushed in next to him and started firing questions at him. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights at first, but they were so enthusiastic and friendly that he soon settled down and started answering them.
They stopped chatting when Jake came and asked them if they wanted to do some proper drills. My cousins jumped to their feet, wolfing down the last few bites of their hot dogs and wiping their mouths.
“I’ll probably need your help, Gabe, if we wanna do this properly.”
“Right. Okay.” He looked at Jesse and it seemed he saw the same movement I did, a slight hunching of the shoulders, a drawing inward that reeked of self-protection. I could tell Gabe was about to say he couldn’t help out, so I jumped in.
“I’d be happy to hang out with Jesse, if he doesn’t mind keeping me company.”
Oh great, now Gabe was smiling at me. A hot, sweet smile that had my core melting. Dammit, I should have just minded my own business. “Are you okay to hang out with Allegra, Jesse?”
“Yeah.”
Annnnd now Jesse was smiling at me too, all shy and uncertain. Oh boy.
“Great. See you guys later.” Did that sound a little aggressive? Maybe, but it was a weird situation, so they’d just have to deal with it. I plonked down next to Jesse. “Ben and Ollie, you’re gonna behave, yeah?”
Ben rolled his eyes. “Of course.”
Then they were gone, running back to the diamond. I watched the action for a little bit, the way Jake corralled the kids, set them up for some batting practice. It seemed more advanced than the light hitting they’d been doing when I first arrived. Gabe stepped up to the plate, swinging a baseball bat back and forth. I narrowed my eyes, trying not to enjoy the view toooo much. Jake threw a pitch andthwack,Gabe sent the ball flying high into the outfield.
“I’m not really good at sports.”
“Me either. I hate exercising. My favorite activities are reading and taking naps.” He laughed a little, which encouraged me to continue. Leaning back, I stretched my hands above my head. “I think I was probably a cat in a past life.”
“An Alley cat.”
I straightened suddenly, staring at him “Did you do that on purpose?” That was a pretty clever pun for a kid who was still in grade three.
He gave me a mischievous look, but didn’t answer me.
“Because it was very clever, if you did.” The more I got to know this kid, the more I liked him.
Since he seemed interested in the action on the diamond, I didn’t say anything more, just let him watch his dad, who was now showing a young girl how to hold the bat properly. Jake pitched to her and she hit it well enough that the kids behind her cheered, and Gabe reminded her to run to first base, which was super cute. She took off like a shot.
“I wish I could run better.” There was a wistful note in Jesse’s voice that tugged at my heart strings.
“Oh, buddy, what makes you think you can’t?”
He shrugged, a small frown on his brow as another batter hit the ball and went running to first base, and the girl on to second.
“Maybe you could go out there and give it a try? You never know, you might like it.”
“I have tried. It hurts.”
That got my attention. “What hurts?”
