by Pamela Stone
She watched her mom frown and move to a closer shelf to rearrange the books.
Nodding toward the coffee area in the front of the shop, Hanna led him out of her mom’s earshot. “With Blue bonnet Books so close to opening, I just can’t spare the time.”
“Fair enough.” Tilting his head, he grinned, flashing those deep dimples. “Maybe another time.”
She smiled. When was the last time a sexy guy had unexpectedly asked her out? A sexy guy with just a touch of mischievousness that if she wasn’t careful could suck her in.
For a long moment, he just stood there then pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to her. “I realized after you left in such a hurry the other night that we didn’t exchange numbers. Just in case.”
Phone numbers? She paused. Not a bad idea, given the kids and all. She grabbed a brochure for the bookstore out of the rack and scribbled her cell number on the front. “Here you go.”
Vince folded the brochure and slid it into the front pocket of his jeans. “Thanks. And Kenzie mentioned a comic book she wanted.”
Hanna grinned. “Let me get it.”
She rang up the comic book and took the money from Vince. Their fingers brushed as he took the bag from her and tingles shot up her arm. She quickly pulled her hand back, rubbing it down her blouse. He’d been a gentleman and not stopped her from leaving the other night. But she reacted to his slightest touch and the worst thing she could do was send out sexual signals she was not ready to follow through on.
He slung the bag by the handle as he backed toward the door. “See ya.”
“See ya.” Hanna stared at his denim-covered ass as he left the shop. The guy did know how to fill out a pair of jeans. “Hmph. What was that all about?”
Norma walked up and followed the direction of Hanna’s gaze. “Heartache in faded denim, if you’re asking me.”
Chapter Five
Monday afternoon, as Vince was unloading tools from the truck, Kenzie’s bike pulled into the drive. Ashton jumped off from behind her and removed his helmet. “I hate Bully Baer!”
“Your mother is going to hate me if you didn’t tell her where you are. Does she know you’re over here?” Vince asked.
Ashton shook his head.
Vince handed him his cell phone.
Kenzie took off her helmet and looped the chinstrap over the handlebars, but she was too angry to pet Boo as he ambled up. “We were playing softball at recess and Ash was the last one picked. Bully Baer had a hissy fit when he had to have Ash on his stupid team.”
Rolling his eyes, Ashton fidgeted with the phone. “Yeah, like I was thrilled to be on the ‘moron’ team.” He kneeled down and buried his fingers in the dog’s silky red mane, letting him slobber all over his face.
“Dad, they just kept poking fun at him. Every time he was up to bat they made cracks like he wasn’t even on their team.”
“It doesn’t help that my mom gave me a stupid, sissy name like Ashton.”
Vince grimaced. “I grew up with Vincent so don’t complain to me.”
Ashton looked up. “I guess that would suck about as much as Ashton, but at least Vince is cool.”
“Now, maybe. About the third fight I got into over it, I went home ready to fight my dad for naming me Vincent in the first place. He told me it was a classy name and if I acted ashamed of it, the other kids would continue to torment me. But if I acted proud of it, like it was a cooler name than theirs, then the other kids would back down.”
“Did that work?” Ashton asked, scratching Boo behind the ears. The dog’s tongue lolled out in complete euphoria.
“Not always, but it helped. I actually started liking it by high school.”
“Yeah, but you were probably never a wuss. I suck at sports.” Ashton stood and jabbed his sneaker in the dirt on the drive. “I missed that fly ball.”
“The sun was in your eyes. Anybody would’ve missed,” Kenzie said, fisting her right hand.
Boo looked from Kenzie to Ashton as if giving his support.
Ashton did not look convinced. “I suck.”
Evidently softball wasn’t part of the prep-school curriculum. “Have you ever even played softball before?”
Shaking his head, Ashton looked more miserable by the second. “I played soccer one season, but I sucked at that, too. Mom says it’s okay. Some people just aren’t athletic and that I could beat them at chess or spelling and that they probably couldn’t play the saxophone.”
Yeah, not exactly going to make the boy feel manly. “Kenzie, go grab our gloves and let’s toss a few around.”
“I gotta go,” Ashton said, giving Boo a goodbye pat and holding out Vince’s phone without using it.
“Nobody is born knowing how to catch a ball. You gotta learn, practice. Now’s as good a time as any.”
Ashton smirked, but flipped the phone open. “I guess so.”
The first few balls, Ashton ducked rather than trying to catch them. Vince finally got him past that, and left Kenzie to toss him a few while he finished unloading the truck to make room for a load of lumber he needed to pick up the next day.
Ashton’s catching skills improved fast. How to hold a bat and actually make contact with the ball proved to be more of a challenge. But with Kenzie’s help and about twenty strikes, Ashton finally knocked the ball down the baseline. It didn’t even make it to first base, but it was a hit and enough to give Ashton cause to jump around as if he’d just won the World Series.
“Do it again.” Vince straightened up the garage and kept an eye on the kids as Boo watched from the sidelines. Vince did not need Ashton to get hurt and bring Hanna down on his case.
He laid his tool belt on the bench. Actually there could be worse things. Hanna was impressive when she got all self-righteous and mother hennish.
Vince grinned at the sound of wood cracking against the ball and Ashton’s “Woohoo!” If these two kept this up for a while, maybe by next year Ashton would be able to hold his own on the diamond.
Billy Baer and two of his buddies pedaled up the drive and spun their bikes sideways. “Mackenzie, you’re wasting your time on the nerd.”
Shit! Not what Ashton needed.
“The only time I’m wasting is any time you’re around.” Kenzie tossed the ball to Ashton, and Vince could see the concentration and focus but nervousness won out and he missed.
Billy guffawed. “You suck worse than a girl.”
“If girls suck so bad, then why do I always get picked before you?” Kenzie boasted.
Vince put his hands in his pockets and turned to Billy. “So, you any good? Maybe you could show Ashton?”
“Dad! We don’t want Bully Baer here.”
Vince removed his cap, stuck it on Ashton’s curly hair and took the ball from Kenzie. “Come on, Billy, let’s hit a few.”
Laying his bike down, Billy eyed Vince suspiciously. “Sure. Why not? I can hit better with my eyes closed than the nerd can.”
Vince threw a couple of balls and allowed Billy to hit them. “Good job,” Vince said as the ball sailed past the makeshift second-base sycamore tree.
Billy’s smug expression grew as one of the other boys retrieved the ball and tossed it back to Vince. He let Bully Baer hit one more and his two buddies clicked fists. “See, nerd. That’s how it’s done.”
Kenzie paced with Boo dogging her heels and Ashton looked downright miserable. Vince put a slight spin on the next throw and Billy barely made contact. The ball fouled off to the right just missing the mailbox—uh, first base.
“No fair, you didn’t throw it right. One more time.”
Kenzie tossed the ball back to Vince.
Adding more spin, Vince curved it directly over “home plate” and Billy swung, missing the ball as it curled to the left and bounced down the drive.
“What was that?”
“A strike, you idiot,” Kenzie yelled.
“Mackenzie.” Vince shut her down with a raised eyebrow. He’d probably hear about that tonight, bu
t at least she hushed.
“Throw me another one,” Billy demanded.
Vince threw him another curveball. Billy missed and flung the bat on the driveway. “You’re cheating.”
“Just your basic curveball. Watch any pitcher worth his salt.”
“I can’t hit those! They’re stupid.”
The shorter kid who’d ridden up with him shrugged. “Even I can throw a curveball and I’m just learning to pitch.”
Billy’s face turned as red as his bike.
“Here, try another one,” Vince offered. “A little practice and you’ll get into the swing.”
Ashton grinned for the first time since Billy Baer and his team of misfits had arrived. “Yeah, even you weren’t born knowing everything.”
Vince tossed the ball to the kid who claimed to know how to throw a curveball. “So you’re a pitcher? How about you toss some balls and let the others take turns hitting? Everybody can benefit from practice.”
As they took positions, Billy shoved past Ashton. “At least I can hit most of them.”
“At least my belly doesn’t jiggle like a bowl of Jell-O when I run,” Ashton returned.
Vince narrowed an eye. Not exactly a manly chide, but Ashton was standing up for himself. For a minute, Vince wondered if he was going to have to pull them apart, but they both took note of him and let it drop.
“What’s going on here?” a female voice asked from behind his shoulder.
Hanna Rosser. He recognized that husky voice without even turning around. No woman in nine years had captured his attention the way she had. Not since Belinda… “A friendly little game of baseball.”
“And what are you doing?”
“Refereeing.” Vince snagged the ball Ashton fouled and tossed it back to the pitcher.
“Since when does a friendly game of baseball require a ref?”
He glanced her way. “Since Bully Baer joined the competition.”
Today was the day Bluebonnet Books opened, and Hanna sported a white skirt and lacy turquoise blouse. Her dark curls glistened in the sunlight.
“So, was the grand opening grand?”
She shrugged, drawing his gaze to the curves beneath her blouse. “Not as much as I’d like. We’ve had a steady stream, but no big rush. Thought I’d take a break and check on Ashton.”
The breeze molded her skirt to her legs, and Vince nearly groaned out loud. Long legs. Tight little ass. Those few inches of added height she had over most of the women he’d dated fueled all sorts of imaginative ideas. Okay, Keegan. Focus on the daughter you have to raise, not lusting after her friend’s mom.
Hanna flinched as the ball bounced haphazardly off the front stoop—third base—and hit Ashton in the leg.
Vince grabbed her arm as she took a step toward her son. Her skin felt as soft as it looked. “He’ll let you know if he’s hurt.”
Slow down. Give this time to see where it goes. She’d just come off a divorce and was probably gun shy.
Standing back, she monitored Ashton’s movements until he lifted the bat to his shoulder. “This game is extremely physical.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet. Next week we’re tackling football.”
She jerked around, anger flashing in her eyes.
Vince winked. “Kidding.”
Wood cracked and Ashton’s ball popped high into the trees. Billy Baer raced down the street in pursuit. “Look, Mom!”
“Way to go, Ashton.”
“Run!” Kenzie jumped up and down and squealed.
Ashton flew around the makeshift bases whooping like a hyena. Mailbox, sycamore tree, front step and back to the drive. “Safe!”
Both Ashton and Kenzie bounced up and down like kangaroos until Ashton slowed down, wheezing.
Hanna took a step toward her son, but Ashton shook his head and straightened.
After his breathing settled, she let out an audible sigh and turned back to Vince.
“Asthma?” Vince asked. That would explain a little of her overprotective streak.
“It’s improved a lot from when he was small.” Hanna smiled. “Thanks for this. He sounded beaten down when he called earlier.”
A thank-you? From Hanna? “You’re welcome. It’s a kick actually to have a boy to teach things to.” For a quick second, thoughts of what it’d been like to teach his own son made him pause. Funny that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t picture Matt at fourteen. He winced at the memory. His son would remain eternally five.
Hanna turned around. “It seems you spend a lot of time teaching Mackenzie things. She’s not jealous of you working with another kid?”
“Kenzie can hold her own. A little friendly competition is healthy.”
Billy puffed back into the yard and tossed the ball to Kenzie. “We gotta go.”
“Good,” Kenzie said in her typical “dislike for Bully Baer” tone.
He gathered his posse and the three of them mounted their bikes and sped off around the corner.
“Sore loser.” Kenzie led Ashton and Boo into the house as if they’d just won a championship.
“So you’re okay with sports?”
“I’m okay with Ashton smiling, and that hasn’t happened much since this whole divorce debacle.” Hanna raised one eyebrow. “Just as long as he doesn’t overdo. He keeps an inhaler in his pocket.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him when he’s here.” Vince said as Boo ambled out the front door, displaying a dog biscuit like a trophy. The kids followed behind with sodas. “So, Dad. You think Ash could tag along this weekend if we get to tube down the Guadalupe?”
“Mom, can I? It’d be awesome.”
“That is a big if,” Vince said to Kenzie.
Shifting from one foot to the other, Hanna glanced from the kids to Vince. “It’s April. Probably too cold to go tubing.”
He tugged Kenzie’s ponytail. “The temperature is supposed to be close to ninety, but the weather has to hold out and it still may be chilly in the water.”
“We did it last year and it was a blast because it wasn’t crowded. Remember?” Kenzie grinned. “We had a picnic at the bottom of the float, then swam. Ash has never been tubing.”
“Maybe this summer when it’s warmer,” Hanna offered.
Was her concern really for the cold water, or was it entrusting Ashton into Vince’s care? Vince offhandedly said, “You could come with.”
Kenzie cocked her head and stared at him as if he’d suddenly sprouted pointy ears, but she and Ashton both turned to Hanna.
“Please, Mom. Tubing and swimming and a picnic. Come on.”
She squeezed Ashton’s shoulder and glanced nervously at Vince. “We don’t want to intrude on the Keegans’ trip.”
“No intrusion at all.” The idea of spending the day with Hanna Rosser, in wet swimsuits no less, had already kicked his imagination into overdrive. He wasn’t sure it was the smartest thing to do, but damned if she wasn’t the most interesting thing to come along in years.
“So…? Cool. We’re going tubing!” Kenzie high-fived Ashton.
Ashton stared at his mother as if daring her to ruin the adventure.
Hanna glanced at Vince. “We’re going tubing.”
Chapter Six
In spite of having been coerced into tubing down the Guadalupe, Hanna awoke with unfamiliar excitement at the thought of the day ahead. And if she were honest with herself, the man who’d instigated this adventure had more than a little something to do with that.
Just a fun day on the river. It had been a rough few months for Ashton and he’d had his life turned topsy-turvy by the divorce. Today would be a good escape. A fun adventure. Nothing in Dallas could match the friendship he’d found here. He smiled more with Mackenzie than with any friend he’d ever had.
The sun was barely up when Hanna and Ashton piled their stuff into the bed of Vince’s red pickup. No magnetic Keegan’s Docks signs on the doors today. However, the Keegan’s Docks cap Ashton had worn home from the ball game earlier in the we
ek had become a permanent accessory. It was the first thing he donned when he got home from school and the last thing he removed before his bath.
The pink-and-orange sunrise faded into a clear blue sky while they grabbed a quick bag of fresh-baked goodies at a local bakery. The early-morning breeze cut through her thin cotton T-shirt, but the sun should warm it up before they hit the river.
Back in the truck the kids chattered nonstop, eliminating any awkward silence. With Ashton and Mackenzie around, Vince would play the role of doting father, not tentative suitor. It should be a relaxed day for them all.
The two-hour drive passed in no time. As they cruised into Gruene, the small community was just waking up. The pickup bounced across the gravel parking area as Vince pulled around and came to a stop under a huge pecan tree. “Pile out. Let’s float!”
Mackenzie knew the drill and jumped into her sidekick role, hauling their paraphernalia down to the water. Vince didn’t even have to tell her what to do. Father and daughter made quite a team. Ashton took his lead from Mackenzie, although he bounced around like a jumping bean while helping. Hanna just stood to the side, clutching Ashton’s blue life jacket and feeling useless.
Vince noted the life jacket and narrowed an eye. “He does know how to swim, right?”
“Of course he knows how to swim.” She hadn’t forgotten Vince’s analogy when they’d first argued over the kids. “But he isn’t a very strong swimmer.”
“It’s shallow and he’ll be on the tube. I’ll watch him.”
Holding the vest to herself, she closed her eyes, weighing Ashton’s safety against the need not to embarrass him. The only other person with a vest on the rafting tour was a little girl who appeared to be about three.
Reluctantly Hanna tossed the vest into the truck. “Don’t let them get too far away from you.”
Vince slammed the tailgate and locked down the cover. “You got it.”
“How much do I owe you for the tickets?”
Walking backward toward the river, he flashed a grin. “I’ll settle for a smile.”
She rolled her eyes. Okay, so she’d deal with repaying him later. This was not a date, and she didn’t want him to think she expected him to pay her and Ashton’s way, especially when they’d horned in on the Keegans’ outing.