by Cara Bastone
“And?”
“And one thing led to another today and we...”
“Hid the salami?”
“Mary!” Seb blushed to the roots of his hair as he laughed.
Mary hid her pretty face behind her hands. “Sorry, it just slipped out.”
“That’s what she said.”
“Oh my God.”
The two of them were laughing like idiots as the bell over the door jingled again.
Mary wiped her eyes, chuckling to herself. “We just scared away my only real customer of the morning.”
Seb looked around the shop. “Biz is that slow?”
She waved a hand. “It’s always slow between Labor Day and Halloween. It picks up considerably after that. Oh! I have your check for you.” She ran into the back room and pulled out Seb’s cut of the dining room table she’d sold for him the other week. Clients typically commissioned pieces from him, but every once in a while, he’d make something just for the hell of it, and Mary would take a crack at selling it in her store.
“Thanks.” He folded the check into the front pocket of his jeans.
“Finish your story about Valerie the dog walker.”
“Well, afterward, I’m trying to make a plan to see her again, and she says that it’s best if we just leave it up in the air.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Beats me.” He shrugged. “But then she went on about how she didn’t want to start anything up with someone whose life was so focused around kid stuff. Because it makes dating a lot more serious right from the jump. But that she’d had a good time and wouldn’t mind hooking up again.”
Mary’s eyebrows were in her hairline. “Well. At least Valerie the dog walker is honest.”
“Painfully so.” He scraped a hand over his hair. “It just bothered me. The idea that I’m not datable because of Matty. That kid is the best part of me. All the good parts are because of him.”
“Seb.” Mary narrowed her eyes a little. “You know I love Matty. But he’s not the only good thing about you.” Her eyes narrowed farther. “I’m worried you don’t realize that.”
Seb waved a hand through the air. “Nah, I mean, I know I can be charming and fun to be around and all that. But when I started to really be a good dad? That’s when the really good stuff kicked in. The patience, reliability, my ability to pay attention. I never really had that stuff before Matty.” Just ask Cora.
She leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. Her sweet face pinched into a mutinous expression. “It’s not like you to be self-deprecating. Did you really like this chick or something? You’re heartbroken?”
Seb laughed at the unexpected word. “No. God, no. I mean, she was nice. And cute. And it would have been cool to date somebody. But no. It wasn’t a love connection. I just... Do you think that women see Matty and think, no-go?”
“Some of them, sure.”
“Do you think widowed dads are undatable?”
“No. Of course not. It might be a different process than dating without kids, but you can make it be whatever you want it to be.”
Seb was quiet.
“Are you sure you’re all right? Is there something else?”
Seb slowly shook his head. “Nah. I mean, who knows? After your wife dies, there’s always something else. It was just one of those days that felt off. Like I’m not me. I’m not the man I was before her or with her. And I don’t know who I’m supposed to be after her.”
“It’s good you’re trying, Seb.”
He looked up at Mary. “Do you think Cora would have wanted me to try?”
Mary and Cora had gone to college together, although Seb hadn’t really gotten to know Mary until after Cora died. She’d moved to Brooklyn just before the funeral, and they’d started a friendship from there. Sad beginnings, but they had a good thing going. Mary had been one of the first people to tell Seb that his furniture could sell. And that, in fact, he could sell it in her store if he wanted to.
“In theory, yes,” Mary said slowly. “In practice? I think she would have scratched another woman’s eyes out.”
Seb laughed. It was very true that Cora had been protective over him. “But it’s time, right? It’s time for me to be out there trying to figure this part of my life out?”
“I don’t know,” Mary answered. “But if it’s any consolation, it doesn’t seem like you’ve screwed up anything so far.”
Seb laughed into his palm. “Pretty low bar, Mary.”
She shrugged, plopping her chin on one hand. “Gotta start somewhere, my friend.”
* * *
“JESUS CRIMINY,” SADIE GROANED as she collapsed on the grass of the soccer field. Two of the parent volunteers escorted the grass-stained kids to the parking lot for pickup. Matty and Crabby chased a soccer ball on the other end of the field, and Seb grinned as his kid took a huge tumble, hopped up and kept running. Their maniac of a dog galloped alongside with his tongue flopping out and hearts in his eyes for Matty.
“I told you these kids were insane.”
“Yeah, I mean they were hard in the classroom. But put ’em outside and suddenly they reveal their true roots as Lucifer’s offspring.”
He chuckled and started packing the extra equipment into a big gym bag. “That’s why I called in a professional.”
Sadie sat up on her palms. “I have had no professional training on how to keep a kid from shoving a soccer ball in another kid’s pants.”
“Yeah. That was really something. Casey took it on the chin, though.”
“Actually, he took it right in the soccer shorts.”
They both laughed at that one, and Sadie shaded her eyes as she squinted across the field.
“If it isn’t my blushing bride!” Sadie called.
A very short black-haired woman with light brown skin strolled up, her hands in her pockets. Seb held out a hand.
“Sebastian Dorner.”
“Rae Malek.” They shook hands. “I’m Sadie’s fiancée.”
“Congratulations. Great girl you’ve got there.” Seb tossed his head toward the redhead still sitting on the ground and then paused. He wondered for a second if he shouldn’t have said girl. Maybe that was condescending.
“Couldn’t agree more.” Rae tugged Sadie up from the ground and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Ready?”
“Yes. Except for one thing.” Sadie turned to Sebastian with her hands clenched in front of her face and huge doe eyes.
“Oh boy.” Sebastian grinned at her. “I know that look.”
“What look?” Sadie asked, batting her eyelashes.
“It’s the I-just-did-a-huge-favor-for-Sebastian-so-now-I-get-to-ask-a-favor look.”
Sadie and Rae both laughed.
“Any chance you’re free on Saturday around 4:00 p.m.?”
“Sure,” Seb answered. “Matty gets done with karate at one, and then we’re free as a couple of birds.”
“Well, we’re part of a softball league and a few members of our team just moved to Weehawken.”
“Ah.”
“And according to league rules we have to forfeit if we don’t have a certain number.”
“Ah, well...”
“And, in particular, a certain number of men. It’s a coed team and we’re technically running a touch low.”
“A touch?” he mused.
“Just a skosh.” Sadie grinned at him, holding up two fingers in front of her eye. “A smidge.”
“We have fifteen women and two men. We need one more or else we have to forfeit.” Apparently, Rae was a straight shooter.
Sebastian could respect that.
“I’m not exactly a softball player.”
“Hey.” Sadie lifted both hands. “No judgment here about what you can or can’t do with your bat and balls.”
“Sadie!”
Rae looked horrified but Sebastian just laughed, tossing his soccer duffel over his shoulder. “I’m beginning to realize that you held back a lot when Matty was in your class.”
“I try to keep it profesh.”
He laughed again and allowed it to devolve into a groan. “I’ll only say yes if I can bring my kid.”
“Of course! I love Matty. Oh my gosh!” Sadie jumped and clapped her hands. “This is perfect!”
Sebastian said good night and whistled across the field for his dog and his kid. They tripped over one another and landed in a big hysterical pile. Sebastian smiled to himself as he untangled grass-stained kid from muddy dog.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“IS THAT THE PSYCHIC?” a low voice muttered from beside Via.
She turned and blinked in surprise when she saw Sebastian squinting toward the stands of the softball field. She hadn’t realized he was on the team, as he hadn’t been at any of the other games. And sure enough, he was looking right at Fin with her long black braid and purple pants. She was patting Sebastian’s dog on the head and sharing a snack with Matty. Seemed they’d already made friends in the forty-five seconds that they’d shared a bench.
“How’d you know?” Via asked, amazed that he’d guessed.
Sebastian shrugged. “She’s just got a, you know...” He waggled his fingers and widened his eyes. “Spooky vibe.”
Via laughed and cocked her head to one side, her hair kissing her shoulder and reminding her that she needed to pull it up into a ponytail for the game. “I see what you mean. I think it’s all the silver jewelry.”
“What’s the psychic’s name, again?”
Via wondered for one vibrating second if he was interested in her friend. “Serafine St. Romain.”
“Wow.”
“Fin, to her friends.”
“That’s a lot of name.”
Via raised an eyebrow. “You’re one to talk.”
“Hey! Sebastian is a classic name.” She felt him eye her as she put one foot up on the bench to tie her running shoe. “So, you play softball?”
She tied a crisp little knot and moved on to the other shoe. “High school. And then a little in college.”
“Oh. Wow. Now I’m nervous.”
“You’re not good?” Via squinted up at him; he was standing right in the sun. He moved a few inches to one side, and she dropped her shading hand.
“Eh. I can run. But I was wooed here.”
Via looked around at the other members of the softball team, stretching and organizing equipment. Sadie was kissing Rae at the other end of the dugout. “Well, even if you’re not stellar, nobody cares. It’s a good group.”
Seb knocked some dirt out of the treads of his shoe with the fat end of a softball bat. “You’ve been playing with them all season?”
“Just the last three weeks. Sadie talked me into it that first happy hour.”
“Hey!” Sebastian called over to Sadie. “You didn’t even get me drunk before you smooth-talked me. I feel cheated.”
“I pulled a soccer ball out of Casey Dane’s soccer shorts for you. You owed me,” Sadie called back, and Sebastian immediately burst out laughing.
“Do I even want to know?” Via asked, waving at Matty and Fin in the stands when they caught her eye.
“She’s been helping out with soccer practice, and it’s occasionally a little...unruly. Seriously, pump ’em full of Capri Sun, and those kids go rabid.” His eyes were on her as she tied her hair back into a ponytail. A frown line appeared between his eyebrows. She glanced up at that plain, wide-featured face, those light eyes so still and so bright, like they were backlit. Her dark gaze skittered away when he spoke again. “So, you’re sporty, huh?”
“I’m lots of things,” Via responded before she jogged out toward where the team was gathering around Sadie.
* * *
SEBASTIAN COULDN’T HELP but grin as he gripped the chain-link fence. He was surprised she hadn’t broken the bat with that last hit. The ball was going, going, gone. And so was Miss Via DeRosa as she rounded first, gunning for second.
He tried to wipe the smile from his face—he was sure it was bordering on dopey—but he found it wouldn’t quit. It was a joy to watch her play softball. She was powerful and light all at once. Actually, she made the rest of them look like they had their shoes tied together. Also, it didn’t hurt that she looked so damn good with that cap pulled low over her eyes and those leggings that showed two perfectly hollowed ankles.
She was cute. It wasn’t a crime to think she was cute, he reminded himself. It wasn’t like he was going to do anything about it. This game had been all the reminder he’d needed of his age. His knees were already sore from the triple he’d managed to hit last inning. He could only imagine how they’d feel in the morning.
And there she was, bulleting around each base like a little midtwenties hummingbird. He knew she didn’t worry about her knees. She was probably gonna swipe on some lipstick and go dancing with her hair model boyfriend tonight. She was young enough she probably still smoked cigarettes and didn’t worry about the cost. She probably drank sweet drinks out of fancy glasses and showed up hungover to yoga the next morning.
Sebastian, on the other hand, was going to ice his knees while his kid fell asleep during Turbo.
Well, at least he’d had sex in the last ten days.
That was new for him.
“Dad!” Matty yanked on the pocket of Seb’s athletic pants.
“Matty!” Seb parroted.
“I wanna throw the ball for Crabby.” Matty’s big gray-green eyes squinted, his lips pursing like he already knew what the answer was gonna be.
“I have concerns.”
Matty’s face scrunched further. Apparently, his dad’s concerns were tiresome. “I can do it on my own!”
Seb raised one eyebrow.
Matty was already anticipating. “It won’t be like last time. I swear. I won’t throw the ball very far, and I’ll stay where you can see me. Plus, I’m not wearing my nice clothes like before so it doesn’t matter if Crabby gets me all dirty.”
Matty held his arms out to show off his worn T-shirt and ratty jeans. His smile was growing bigger and bigger, knowing he was inching closer to getting what he wanted. He shook his little butt for good measure, knowing it always made his dad smile.
“All right. But right over there, okay? And if he starts running away, shout for me right away. Don’t try to get him yourself. That’s how we ended up in Prospect Park at 11:45 at night last month.”
“Yes!” Matty did one more butt wiggle, this time because he was happy. “Thanks, Dad!”
And boy and dog were off, jostling each other as they sprinted to the other side of the field.
“I like the way you are with him,” a slightly out-of-breath Via said as she came to stand beside him in the dugout.
“Wow, I didn’t even realize you’d tagged in!” Seb gazed down at her, the sheen of sweat on her face turning her skin a darker gold. Stop saying wow, for fuck’s sake, Seb.
She nodded. “Homer.”
“Second of the night. Impressive.” Seb curled his fingers farther into the chain-link fence to keep himself from doing something dumb, like bumping her shoulder with his.
“Thanks.”
“And thanks to you, too. For the parenting compliment.”
“You deserve it. It seems like you and Matty have a good relationship.”
Seb searched her face for judgment. Was she comparing him now to the way he’d been back then? Was she thinking of that day? Mismatched buttons and dirty hair and a slob of a father?
He didn’t see that there, on her face. Her eyes were calm and wide, filling up half her dang face, her plush little mouth was tipped up at the sides, and she wrinkled her squished nose against a bead of sweat that trace
d down from her forehead.
“Well, I’ve worked to get us there. Being a good dad was something I had to practice.”
“All good things take practice.” She shrugged and looked out toward the softball game. “At least in my experience.”
“Hey, would you wanna—” Seb cut himself off in horror. Holy God. He’d been about to ask her out again. Just like that. She looked up at him, sweaty and sweet, and the words dang near popped right out. Boyfriend be damned. Age gap and creaky knees be damned. He stalled.
She was still looking at him. He needed to say something. “Uh, would you want a ride home? I know we’re in the same neighborhood. And, uh, Matty and I drove here so that we could bring the Pup McGruff, and I just thought I’d offer.”
Pup McGruff.
He’d just looked into a beautiful woman’s face, mumbled, stuttered and referred to his dog as Pup McGruff. Yeah. Any cool points he might have gained for recently having had sex were officially moot now.
“Oh, well, I’d never say no to that. I wasn’t looking forward to the sweaty train ride home. Can Fin come, too?”
“Yeah, of course. Of course. Totally. I might have to move some of our camping gear to the truck bed but sure. Of course.”
And that’s how Sebastian found himself with a psychic in the front seat of his truck. Matty and Via sat strapped into the back seat, Matty in a booster, of course, and Crabby passed out, belly-up, on the floor. He put the truck in Reverse, then slammed it back into Park when he saw a guy struggling with a stroller in the parking lot. “Be right back.”
Sebastian recognized him as one of the two other guys on the team. He jogged over.
“Hey, man. You’re Giles, right?”
The slightly skinny man looked up from where he crouched, his eyes catching on Seb’s face for a second. “That’s right. And you’re Sebastian?”
He was British, apparently, something that Seb hadn’t noticed in their first introduction earlier that morning.
“Yeah. Can I give you a hand with the stroller? I used to have the same one for my son.”