by Arlene James
“There’s better weather,” he said drily, “but what other place on earth has red-orange dirt?”
“So true,” she agreed, playing along.
They both laughed as they gathered their packages and trudged across the graveled parking area to the entrance. Dean pulled open the metal door and stood back to let Ann enter first. The telescoping room divider that blocked off the workout room when it was in use had been pushed back, revealing an empty space. The weight benches, treadmills and other machines all stood abandoned and quiet. The showers, which opened off the workout room, were dark and silent. Both boys and girls used the facility but at different times.
Peg Amber, the girls’ basketball coach, stepped out into a hallway on the right. A bright smile split her face, showing overlarge teeth and healthy pink gums.
“Dean! What are you doing here?”
“Delivering food. Coach Amber, do you know Ann Billings?”
The other woman came forward. Dressed in baggy workout clothes, her brown hair caught in a short ponytail at the back of her head, she stood almost as tall as Dean, every inch the female jock. “Don’t think so.” Her eyes suddenly lit as she took in Ann. “Billings,” she repeated. “You wouldn’t be Jolly Billings?”
Ann smiled limply. “The same.”
Amber waved a hand, grinning. “You were before my day, but Lyons never stops bragging about you.”
“Oh?”
“Baseball and softball are where his heart is, you know,” Coach Amber said. “Most athletic directors are all football all the time with basketball coming in a distant second and everything else kind of hanging on by sheer determination. But Lyons is all about the diamond. Makes him more fair with the other sports, I think. As far as softball goes, though, there’ll never be another Jolly Billings.”
Ann blinked at that, though Dean couldn’t imagine why she would be surprised. “I, uh, think we’re supposed to leave this food in Coach Lyons’s office,” he quickly said.
“Actually it’s the conference room next door,” Peg Amber corrected, signaling them to follow her. Glancing at the box Ann carried, she asked, “Would those be lemon crèmes?”
“They would.”
“Yum.”
Dean traded an amused glance with Ann and followed Coach Amber down the hallway. She stopped and stuck her head into one room, calling, “Jack! Food’s here.”
Jack Lyons popped out into the hallway, pulling dollar bills out of his pocket. He froze when he saw Dean and Ann.
“Coach,” Dean greeted the older man.
“Well, I’ll be! What’re you two doing here? Didn’t expect a couple of my old favorites to turn up on the first day of school, delivering for the diner, of all things.”
“How’s it going?” Dean asked.
“Hectic as usual,” came the reply. He stuffed the bills back into his pocket, took the bag from Dean and passed it to Peg, saying, “Y’all get started. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Nodding, she carried the bag into the next room. Ann handed the box of pastries to Lyons. “Mmm-mmm,” he hummed. Winking at Dean, he said, “Not the first time this has happened, is it, Jolly?”
“No, sir,” she said, smiling down at her feet.
“Now tell me. How’d the two of you wind up delivering food for the diner?”
“Well, I dropped my boy off at his first day of kindergarten this morning,” Dean began.
“Is he a big boy like you?”
“He is.”
“Is he going to play ball?”
Dean chuckled. “I imagine so. We’ll see.”
“I’ll be on the lookout for him.”
“Don’t rush him.” Dean chuckled. “I’m having enough trouble with the idea of him starting school. Ann had to take me down to the diner for a cup of consolation coffee, which is how we happened to be there when Jenny needed help.”
Lyons grinned. “Oh, you single parents. They all grow up. Just look at you.” He turned his attention to Ann then, asking, “How’s your dad?”
“In Oklahoma City getting treatment. Should be home this evening.”
“Sure hope he beats this thing,” Coach said seriously.
“We’re counting on it,” Ann told him, “and praying that way.”
Lyons nodded. “Guess you’ll be heading back to Dallas soon. I saw Rex in town yesterday.”
“Actually,” Ann said, parking her hands at her waist, “I don’t think I’ll be going back, after all.”
He gaped at her then looked pointedly to her hand. “So the wedding is off?”
“It’s off,” she confirmed, looking at Dean. “Seems that what I want is here in War Bonnet. And what he wants is someplace else.”
“Well, I’ll be,” Lyons declared. Then he smiled broadly. “You know what they say. There’s no place like home.”
Ann smiled wanly. “That is so true.”
“So what are you going to do?” Coach Lyons asked. “Jobs don’t exactly grow on trees around here, you know.”
“I’ll find something,” Ann said, glancing at Dean. “Sometimes you have to make your own job, like Dean did.”
“That is a true statement,” Lyons said, clapping Dean on the shoulder with one hand. “He sure did do that.” Lyons shook a finger at her, adding, “And if anybody else can do it, Jolly girl, you can. You were always best and brightest.”
“Thank you.”
“Well, I better get in there,” he said, backing away. “Don’t y’all be strangers now. Come on by and visit when you can.”
“Sure thing,” Dean said.
Coach Lyons went into the conference room, carrying his box of pastries, and closed the door behind him.
Sighing, Ann put her back to the wall and bowed her head. After a moment she said, “That’s the man who drove me out of War Bonnet.”
Astounded, Dean gaped at her. “What?”
“It happened right here,” she said quietly. “In this very spot.”
Dean seized her by the upper arms, appalled and suddenly frightened. What had Coach done?
“Honey, what are you talking about?” he demanded softly.
She leaned into him, tucking her head beneath his chin and laying her face against his chest. “Dean, I’m such a fool,” she whispered. “Such an idiotic fool.”
More worried than ever and suddenly aware of their surroundings, Dean turned toward the exit at the far end of the hall. He walked her straight out onto the field and down into the dugout where they had spent so much of their youth. There, he gently pushed her down onto the bench, sat beside her and took her hands in his.
“Tell me. All of it. What did Lyons do to you?”
She shook her head. “Oh, it’s not fair to blame him,” she admitted. “It was much more me than him. He didn’t even know he’d done it.”
Dean edged around to more fully face her. “What are you saying?”
She waved an arm at their surroundings. “You remember how I was back then, Dean. All about the game. Taking batting practice with the boys.”
“And outslugging half of them,” Dean said matter-of-factly. Ann grimaced. “What? It’s true,” he insisted. “You’re deadly with a bat.”
“Mmm-hmm, as deadly as any man.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he muttered, “but you could hold your own back then. That’s something to be proud of.”
“Is it? I thought so. Then one day I came home from college to visit, and I naturally swung by here to see Coach Lyons. It was something I did routinely.”
“Yeah, I did it a few times, too,” Dean commented.
“I did it a lot,” Ann confessed. “I was so homesick. Even in my junior year at college, I still just wanted to be done with it and get back home. I thought I’d work at the bank and t
hen maybe take over the ranch when Dad was ready to retire. Rex had gone to law school and always said he wanted no part of the ranch, so I thought, why not me?”
“What happened?” Dean asked again, squeezing her hand.
Ann sighed, staring at her lap. “Well, I stopped by as soon as school was out. I always stopped after hours. Anyway, as I walked up to Coach’s office, I heard him talking to one of the teachers. About me.”
Dean’s brow wrinkled. “What about you?”
Ann sighed. “He called me awkward, said I was taller than half the male population, could outslug most of the teenage boys I’d worked out with and that if you cut off my hair you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between me and them.”
Dean frowned. That was the terrible secret that had driven her away from War Bonnet? He rubbed both hands over his face then abruptly dropped them as he remembered another time she had confided in him, the questions she had asked.
Do you think I’m feminine? What, specifically, is womanly about me?
She’d worried that she was too tall, that her shoulders were too broad, her nose too long and her jaw too square.
Finally it all made sense. The coach she had worked so hard for, the man she’d admired and respected, had disparaged her and destroyed her self-confidence. Given his prominence in this small town, what else was she going to do but run?
“I don’t know why Coach would say such a thing,” Dean declared, “but it’s the most absurd bunk I’ve ever heard. You were the hottest thing War Bonnet had ever seen! You still are!”
Ann smiled and ran her fingertips down his cheek, sucking in a shaky breath. “Caroline said—”
“Caroline Carmody?” Caroline Carmody had taught English at War Bonnet for a few years back then. She’d been a shapely blonde that all the boys had ogled.
“Yes. Caroline said that I’d probably wind up an old maid living with my parents.”
“Ann,” Dean said, suddenly sure what had happened, “Lyons was dating Caroline back then.”
“What?”
“Everyone knew it. Everyone who was still in school. I was a senior. It was all the talk. She was probably jealous as all get-out.”
“Jealous?”
“Think about it. His favorite former female student, a gorgeous redhead, dropping by all the time. Lyons was probably trying to soothe Caroline. That’s all. He couldn’t have meant those things. He’s not that blind or stupid.” Dean stood, pulling her up with him. “But you were.”
“What?”
“Put yourself in his position, sweetheart. You were—are—gorgeous. And by then you were no longer off-limits.”
“But he was my coach.”
“Not anymore. You were three years out of school, babe. No wonder Caroline was nervous. The problem wasn’t that you were unattractive or unfeminine. It was just the opposite.”
The incredulous look on her face made Dean want to hug her.
“You think?”
“Jolly, if I’d known you were coming around to see Lyons back then, I’d have been jealous,” he confessed, smoothing her hair with his hands.
She grinned. “Really?”
Dean rolled his eyes heavenward, dropping his hands to her shoulders. “Don’t you get it yet? I had the world’s biggest crush on you!”
Her eyes and her mouth rounded in surprise. “I really was blind and stupid, wasn’t I?” she commented, sounding stunned.
A door slammed somewhere and voices could be heard drawing closer to the dugout.
Dean grabbed Ann’s hand, leading her across the dugout to the opposite end. “Come on. We’re leaving.”
“Okay,” she agreed without hesitation. “Where are we going?”
“Someplace more private,” he muttered, racking his brain for just such a spot.
“In that case,” she said, dangling the Beemer’s key fob in front of him, “you might need this.”
He grabbed the fob with his free hand, but in his heart of hearts he knew that he already had what he needed in his other hand. The problem was, given the many differences still between them, he didn’t quite know how to keep her.
* * *
I had the world’s biggest crush on you. Had. That one word in an otherwise dreamy sentence needled Ann.
Well, she wanted more than a crush from him now. She wanted, oh, everything, absolutely everything. But now that he knew just how idiotic she had been all these years, could he possibly feel for her what she wanted, needed, him to feel? If he’d just agree to the business partnership, she might have a chance to show him that she’d finally wised up. She knew that she could be an asset to him when it came to the business, and if it didn’t work out the way she wanted in the end, at least he and Donovan would be better off financially.
Please, God, she prayed as Dean drove them around, seemingly aimlessly. I’ve been so foolish for so long. I know better now. It’s not that I think I’m suddenly some hot number all men want. If that were true, I’d have gotten over this nonsense long ago. But other men had shown interest in her, she realized, interest she had discouraged for fear they would discover how lacking she was in feminine attributes. I understand now that You made me as complete as every other woman, and I let one carelessly overheard conversation shake my confidence in myself and You. That was stupid, and I’m sorry, Lord.
Finally, Dean brought the car to a stop at the end of a shady lane near an uncharacteristically blue body of water.
“This is Clear Springs Lake.”
“Can’t think of a cooler spot,” he said, killing the engine and rolling down the windows.
The small lake, which was fed by a spring, sat on private property, but the owners had never begrudged the public access to the site, posting numerous signs denying any responsibility for injury or loss. The local kids were known to make good use of the spot, especially at night. As a result, this place had long held a reputation as the local lovers’ lane.
“Might be cooler if we get out,” Dean said, opening his door.
The rear of the car was better shaded than the front, and the engine compartment was bound to be hot, so they leaned against the trunk, feet crossed at the ankles. Ann braced her hands on the vehicle behind her. Dean folded his arms.
“I can’t believe you just accepted what Lyons was saying about you as fact,” Dean finally said. “I mean, you have a mirror.”
“No woman trusts what she sees in the mirror,” Ann muttered.
“There had to be guys buzzing around you. I went to college, you know.”
“Not for me,” Ann told him softly. “I wasn’t raised like that. Once I let enough guys know that, they stopped buzzing, as you put it.”
Dean smiled. “Good for you. Wish I’d been that smart. But then I wouldn’t have Donovan.”
“We all make mistakes,” she said. “It’s how you handle them that counts. I may not have handled Lyons’s criticisms well, but Dean, I know what I’m doing when it comes to business.”
He nodded. “I don’t doubt it. What about your job, though?”
“I’m going to resign. I don’t want to work for LHI anymore.”
“There must be other jobs.”
“There are, but I want to be here.”
“And you truly have the money to invest?”
“I wouldn’t lie to you.”
He dropped his arms. “Well, that leaves just one problem, then.”
“What’s that?”
“I can’t take your money. Unless you marry me.”
Ann nearly fell down, too stunned to react with anything but shock. “Dean!”
He shifted, finally looking at her, the heat in his eyes melting her heart. “I’ve loved you half my life already,” he said softly, “literally half my life. I’ll always love you. I can’t w
ork with you and pretend that I—”
She threw herself on him. “Yes! Of course I’ll marry you! I’m crazy in love with you!”
He laughed, clamping one arm around her waist and pushing away from the car with the other. “I was beginning to get the idea, but you’ve been out of reach for so long, I—I couldn’t quite convince myself it could be true.”
Wrapping herself around him, she kissed him until he swept her into his arms and swung her in a circle, laughing. But then he sobered, setting her on her feet.
“Wait, wait. You need to know something. About Grandma. I promised she’d always have a home with me, and I’ll never go against that. Grandpa trusted me to take care of her.”
Ann kissed him into silence. “We’d starve without your grandmother in the house. I thought we’d established that I’m not exactly domestic. I mean, I’m willing to learn, but...don’t get your hopes up.”
Dean chuckled and put his forehead to hers. “So Grandma’s safe. And there’s always the diner.”
“And Callie,” Ann added.
“I have to think you’re okay with kids because there is Donovan,” Dean said.
“Would you like more children?” Ann asked carefully.
“I would,” he stated, squaring his shoulders. “I like being a dad, and it would be nice to do it right.”
She smiled. “I think you’ve done quite well, but it would be fun to do it together. I can’t wait to tell Donovan!”
Dean relaxed, glancing at his watch. “Still too early.”
“We could tell Rex and Callie.”
“Yeah, let’s do that,” Dean agreed, grinning. “I feel like I’m going to bust if I don’t tell someone.”
“My dad’s going to be so happy,” Ann proclaimed. “He likes you so much.”
“There’s no one I respect more than your dad,” Dean told her. “Oh, man, I can’t believe this. Who would’ve thought that after all this time...” He cupped her face in his hands. “It’s proof positive that God does answer prayer.”
She went up on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the love in her heart. Answered prayers, indeed.