Summer on Main Street

by Crista McHugh

  Lindsey’s excited squeal brought Beth’s focus back to the field. Her daughter raced across the infield and across the third-base line, toward a man striding across the grass.

  Beth’s stomach clenched and her pulse sped up. Renata tensed beside her.

  Jack.

  When the kids on both teams realized who it was, they raced toward him and surrounded him like teenage groupies around a rock star.

  The way Beth’s body responded to the sight of him and with the way Jack looked in his jeans and hoodie, she sure felt like a teenaged groupie.

  An excited murmur raced through the spectators. “That’s Jack McCauley!” “What’s Jack-Mack doing here?” “Is somebody here friends with him or something?”

  The kids’ excitement was contagious, and Beth couldn’t help smiling, even though Jack hadn’t once searched the stands to see where she was.

  “See.” She nudged Renata. “He’s here to see her, to see the other kids. Not to see me.”

  Right then, he glanced up, peering over the huddle of excited six- and seven-year-olds and found Beth’s gaze in the stands. For a moment, he just stared, then his white teeth flashed and he grinned that crooked grin as he waved at her, and Beth’s heart flip-flopped in her chest.

  She realized Renata was staring at her, shaking her head. “Remember what I told you.”

  Beth was about to challenge the comment, when one of the other moms asked from the end of the bleachers, “Beth? Do you know Jack-Mack? Is that why he’s here?”

  “Are you two dating?” another asked.

  Oh, God. This was major fodder for Twin Rivers gossip. She loved this little town. But there were few secrets here. Your business was everyone else’s business. Whether you liked it or not.

  Beth’s face heated up and she waved her hands in front of her face, as if to wave off the suggestion. “Jack and I are just friends,” she said to whomever was listening, and Renata harrumphed beside her.

  ***

  Jack headed toward the bleachers, and Beth, after the second inning. He’d spent the first two innings in the dugouts, talking to the players and the coaches of both teams. Man, he’d loved these days as a kid. Lindsey’s team was still coach pitch—Lindsey had told him as soon as she was old enough, she wanted to be a pitcher just like him. That made him feel good. Really good.

  It had taken him a while to spot Beth under that huge umbrella, and now it was taking a while to reach her, with all the hand-shaking, pats on the back, questions about his knee, and comments about the Rapids season. Finally, he slid in beside her. She sat under a bright orange umbrella held by an older woman who looked mildly familiar. Ah. The next door neighbor. Beth’s former mother-in-law. No wonder the woman didn’t spare him a glance.

  “Hey.” He gave Beth’s thigh a quick squeeze. She looked great in her pink baseball cap, white sweatshirt and snug jeans. But she could be wearing an ugly burlap sack and still look incredible.

  “I didn’t think you’d make it,” she said, her cheeks reddening. Because she’d sort of insulted him or because he’d touched her thigh?

  Nice ego, McCauley. She was probably just cold.

  “She asked me to come,” he said.

  “I still didn’t think you’d make it.”

  Jack scratched the back of his neck. “You’re pissed because of the way I left the other night. I suppose I can’t blame you for that.”

  “I’m not pissed,” she murmured, obviously keeping her voice down for her mother-in-law’s benefit.

  “You suck at lying.” He wondered what else she sucked. Christ. His mind went south every time he was near her.

  The mother-in-law muttered something to Beth, then climbed down the bleachers, taking the umbrella with her. Luckily, the rain was barely above a drizzle now.

  “Mother-in-law, right?” he asked, nodding to the retreating figure.

  Beth nodded. “Renata. She’s not happy you’re here.”

  “Yeah. Figured that.”

  “She’s also not happy in the interest you’ve taken in Lindsey.”

  “Wait. She doesn’t know about—?” He kept his voice low. You never knew who was listening in a small town.

  “No. She thinks you’re pretending to like Lindsey because you’re really interested in me.”

  He was interested in her. Too interested in her for his own good. “I’m sure she’s not happy about that, being that you were married to her son.” The cheating, rotten bastard.

  “She’s worried you’re going to take advantage of me because I’m a grieving, vulnerable widow.”

  “She said that?” He chuckled. That’s the very last way he’d describe Beth. “Do you two get along well?”

  Beth nodded. “For the most part. She can be pretty uptight though.” She nudged his arm. “Okay, shh.” She cocked her head to the side because Renata was climbing the bleachers toward them.

  The older woman slid into her seat, pointedly ignoring Jack again.

  He reached across Beth, his forearm accidentally brushing her breasts. “You must be Lindsey’s grandma,” he said, extending his hand toward Renata.

  Renata stared at his hand a moment, her mouth pursed, then finally took it. She pulled back quickly, as if unable to stand touching him. That was a first from a woman, he thought with an inner grin.

  He could understand her antagonistic attitude, even if he didn’t agree with it. She wouldn’t be at all happy that her daughter-in-law might be interested in another man—not that he and Beth planned to act on their attraction to each other.

  Beth cleared her throat and made the introductions.

  He rested his hand on her thigh as he said to Renata, “Lindsey is quite the little ball player.” Beth’s quads contracted beneath his palm and he heard her quick intake of breath.

  Renata nodded but didn’t look back at him, but she did glance down at his hand on Beth’s leg.

  He glanced up at Beth’s face and her eyes were fixed on the game in front of them, but her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. Damn, she had a great mouth. And he realized she was just as turned on as he suddenly was.

  Okay, so maybe he a part of him did want to act on his attraction to her. What warm-blooded man wouldn’t?

  ***

  “Could you hand me the new dress we just got in, the one with the sequined bodice?” Susie stood in the display window before the store opened for the day. They’d been getting so many wedding gowns in lately for whatever reason, they figured they might as well set up a display for people to see when they walked by. “I thought you were going for a run before your shift at the call center?”

  Beth sorted through the rack and found the one Susie requested, and took it to her, smoothing the beautiful satin skirt before handing it over. “I am, but it’s only fair I help you out with this first.”

  Susie made a face. “It’s not like I have anything else do. It’s been so slow. We need to figure out how to start generating more business.” Thank goodness each of them had a second source of income and didn’t rely on the store.

  “Well, it’s almost prom season, and we have quite a few gowns... maybe a bit of social media advertising will bring in some business. In fact, we could change up this display to look like prom night rather than a wedding. ”

  Susie chewed on her bottom lip and pouted. “I like the wedding theme. Weddings are way more romantic than prom.”

  Beth shrugged, not caring that much either way what was in their display case, as long as it drew people in to the shop.

  “So? Anything new with Jack?”

  Just the mention of his name was enough to speed up Beth’s pulse. Dammit. “Not really. He came to Lindsey’s game the other night.”

  “And?” Susie moved the other mannequins, positioning them slightly behind the bride to look like bridesmaids.

  “And… nothing.” Even though seeing him had been way more than “nothing” to her. She really appreciated him coming to the game—that had meant a lot to Lindsey and she’d been so
excited to have him there.

  “And nothing?” Susie repeated. “You know people are talking, don’t you? Rumor is that you two are dating.”

  Beth’s cheeks flamed. “What? Where did you hear that?”

  “Zoey said someone at the Coffee Corral asked her about it.”

  Beth thought about who worked at the coffee stand, then let out a long breath. “Megan Diaz. Her son is on Lindsey’s team.” Damn. “This is horrible.”

  “Why is it horrible to have your name linked to a gorgeous hunk like Jack?” Susie was such a romantic. She truly believed love would find a way, no matter what.

  Well, Beth knew better.

  “You know why, Sooz. I could count out on all my fingers and toes why it’s horrible.” Number one being it would complicate everything with Lindsey. Number two, her daughter might get wind of it and would get the wrong idea. She shook her head, refusing to think about the rest of the reasons why the rumor was bad, bad, bad.

  Susie shrugged and adjusted the skirts of all the gowns, making sure they flowed just right. “I still don’t think it’s a big deal. You’re both consenting adults.”

  Beth was tempted to topple the mannequins into her sister. “You’re implying we want to fool around with each other.”

  “Don’t you?”

  Beth made a frustrated sound through her teeth. “No. I don’t.”

  “Liar.”

  Beth paced across the shop. “And even if I did, he doesn’t.”

  “Of course he does.”

  “God, you sound like Tara.” She waved her hands in front of her as she paced back. “And even if he did, it would just be temporary.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “And you don’t know Jack.”

  They both realized how that sounded and laughed, breaking the tension.

  “You should go to yoga instead of going on a run,” Susie said suddenly, sidling out of the display case.

  “What?”

  “Forget about the run. You’re pretty uptight and need to chill out. Go to yoga, sis. Tara’s morning class is just about to start.”

  Beth sighed. She always kept a packed yoga bag in the office. “You’re probably right.”

  “Of course I’m right. I might be the youngest but I’m totally the wisest.”

  Beth rolled her eyes at that and crossed toward the office to grab her stuff and change. “Okay, you’ve convinced me,” she said over her shoulder. “About the yoga. Not about you being the wisest.” She returned the silly face Susie shot her. Ninety minutes of Tara’s Mindful Yoga class was just what she needed to get her head in the right place

  ***

  Class had already begun when Beth slipped inside the front door of the yoga studio across the street from Do-Overs. Quietly and quickly, she slid her feet out of her shoes and found the closest spot near the door, which was near the front of the crowded class.

  She met Tara’s eyes as she unrolled her mat and sat cross-legged to join the rest of the students in pranayama, the breathing exercises.

  Tara shot her a funny look as she continued her softly-spoken instructions. “Breathe in through your nose. Hold for a beat, then breathe out slowly and evenly through your mouth.”

  Tara hated students coming in late because it was disruptive, but it was only a minute or two into class, so Beth wasn’t sure what the dirty look was for.

  Well. She wouldn’t worry about it. She was here to get her Zen on. To relax. And within a few minutes of the opening breathing sequence, Beth’s heart rate had slowed and peace wrapped its arms around her.

  Tara instructed everyone to stand, then led the class through a sun salutation, calling out modifications for the new students in class that day. Beth didn’t listen to the modifications since she’d been doing yoga here since she’d come back to Twin Rivers last year. She’d been shocked when Tara decided to become a yoga instructor—her sister had been about as far from the Zen lifestyle as one could be. But, surprisingly, she was a great teacher. Her classes had become very popular.

  With her hands flat on the floor, Beth jumped her feet back to plank position. Today’s class was almost full, which was nice to see. And she’d noticed more men in here than last time, which wasn’t a surprise at all, considering the way Tara looked. Beth imagined some of the male students were hoping to get a bit more than mindfulness out of her sister. She’d like to see them try. Tara might act all nice and soft and sweet inside the studio, but outside…

  Beth couldn’t help grinning as she pushed her hips up into downward facing dog, readjusting her hands and feet.

  “Keep your head and neck in line with your spine,” Tara directed in her calm, yoga voice, obviously seeing someone’s form in need of correcting as she moved around the room.

  Speaking of head and neck, Beth’s neck felt a bit stiff from inventorying the store this morning. She rolled her head from side to side, then dropped her chin to her chest to stretch the back of her neck, looking between her legs.

  And found herself peering upside down right into Jack’s hot gaze.

  ***

  From the moment he’d stepped into the yoga studio, Jack felt he’d entered another dimension—one of beads, incense and bongos, even though there were none of those things present. He’d been pleasantly surprised to see several other men rolling out mats, and only one of those men was wearing spandex. Baby blue in fact.

  He’d realized on his way over, when he’d opened the note Casey had given him, that Beth’s sister Tara was one of the yoga instructors his trainer had referred him to. He vaguely recalled her inviting him to class in her sassy little way. Tara was a guy’s wet dream with her killer curves and gorgeous hair that hung halfway down her back in thick, brunette waves. But she didn’t hold a candle to Beth, in his opinion.

  No. He didn’t need to be thinking about Beth, when he needed to focus on the class. Thinking about Beth wouldn’t help his muscles relax. In fact, it would make a certain muscle contract. Painfully so. He didn’t need to get turned on with a guy wearing baby blue spandex on the next mat.

  Tara had been polite and professional when he’d arrived and given her Casey’s note. But he got the distinct impression that she didn’t like him, that she would have told him so if other students hadn’t been present. She’d directed him to a spot on the edge of the room so she could easily correct his form if necessary. She told him to follow the beginner modifications and that if something caused a sharp pain or felt weird, to back off.

  She had them start by sitting cross-legged on the mats. Just that simple act hurt like a son of a bitch, but he did it anyway, trying to “breathe through the stiffness” as Tara instructed.

  Breathing through the stiffness took on a whole new meaning when Beth slipped into class a few minutes later, wearing yoga shorts and a skin-hugging pink tank top. Her hair was pulled back with a wide headband and the short auburn ends stuck out every which way.

  Great. There went the Zen Tara had promised them at the beginning of class. When the class inhaled and raised their arms over head, Jack’s eyes were on the small of Beth’s back as her shirt lifted and showed bare skin. Shit. She had a tattoo. Not a tramp stamp but something smaller and above her left hip. He couldn’t tell what it was—a butterfly, perhaps?—because most of the artwork was covered by her shorts.

  Normally, he wasn’t a fan of ink on women. But on Beth. God. It was so out of character for her. So fucking sexy. He was dying to see the entire thing. And the only way to do that was to get her naked.

  Damn. His groin flexed and he readjusted his position slightly. He met Tara’s eyes and she glared at him, as if she knew exactly where his train of thought was going.

  That train was headed south. Way south. As in down, deep and dirty south.

  Shit.

  When Beth went into downward facing dog, her lush bottom in the air and pointed right at him, he almost groaned.

  “Keep your head and neck in line with your spine,” Tara said, padding barefoot bes
ide his mat. She directed the instruction to the class but he knew she was referring to him. She leaned in close and whispered, “And don’t be so obvious about staring at my sister’s ass.”

  And such a nice ass it was. At that moment, Beth looked through her legs and caught him checking her out, with drool probably dripping onto the mat along with his sweat, and he couldn’t help a sheepish smile.

  The rest of the class passed by in a lusty blur. Jack could focus on nothing but Beth’s sweaty and twisting body just a couple of mats in front of him. Tara would call out a pose or demonstrate it, and Jack would be so focused on the curve of Beth’s hip as they went into triangle pose or the sexy little sweat stain tracing the crack of her pretty behind as she bent over in a forward bend, that he’d fall behind a pose or two, earning him more glares and indirect comments from Tara.

  At the end of class, Tara directed them into corpse pose, where they lay on their backs, focusing on their breaths, and relaxing every part of their bodies. But there was one particular part of Jack’s body that didn’t want to relax. At all. Because his dirty mind kept replaying all of Beth’s yoga moves.

  Finally, he focused on baseball to cool his racy thoughts.

  After class, Beth didn’t even glance his way as she quickly gathered her things.

  “Beth,” he called after her, but someone grabbed his arm before he could follow.

  He turned and looked down to find petite Tara glaring up at him, her finger in his face. “If you hurt my sister,” she muttered for his ears alone, “I’ll take out your other knee.”

  Jack held up his hands between them to defend himself from this dark-haired viper snake. “Beth threatened me with the exact same word. I thought yoga was all about non-violence.”

  “I’m serious.” She jammed her finger in his chest and spun away.

  He believed it. Don’t mess with the Sanders girls.

  Just one problem. It had become painfully clear to him today that even though he shouldn’t, and even though it was very bad idea, he wanted to mess around with Beth. And he wanted to mess around with her real bad.