“No league?” Jane shrieked. “Honey, let me tell you, baseball is bigger than Jesus in this town. And it’s something I can help with.” She smiled reassuringly. “My Sam used to play, but now he prefers basketball. If you head down to Bolson’s Field, on the other side of the river across from the Piggly Wiggly, you can sign up there.”
“Oh, good. I’ll take him down tomorrow. Thank you.” Maggie smiled.
“I suppose I should be heading off.” Jane stood from the deck chair, huffing out a tired sigh and Maggie followed suit, taking the empty mug from her and walking her up the embankment.
“I need to get to the café to relieve my morning girl. We’re running on just the two of us at the moment. Apparently, I use my daughter, Katie, for child labor on Saturdays.” She laughed, shaking her head. “I need a vacation. Or at least another server to replace Maxine. She retired a month ago and I still haven’t been able to fill her spot. I was going to hire one of the local high schoolers but they’re limited with hours and, well, half of them are just little … assholes.” She whispered the last word with a sardonic roll of her eyes and Maggie couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
As the two women continued to Jane’s SUV, Maggie looked down at the empty coffee mug in her hands, contemplating herself in that moment. She needed a job, needed some money coming in, and she could serve coffee. Maybe she could work at the café. But she barely knew Jane, and she didn’t want to be presumptuous and just straight out ask her for a job. She didn’t like to put her on the spot like that, but maybe that’s what she had to do. Ask. But, before she could do or say anything, Jane spoke again.
“Why don’t you come over tomorrow afternoon?”
Maggie snapped out of her thoughts, realizing Jane was talking to her. Inviting her where? To her house?
Jane continued, “We’re having a cookout. You can bring those handsome boys of yours, they can meet my terrors and a few of the other kids. I’ll introduce you to some of the locals as well. It’ll be great.”
Oh God. Maggie grimaced a little on the inside. This was not at all what she wanted. She hated attention, and she wanted to keep a low profile for a while. She was sure dinner with Jane and her family and friends would be the exact opposite of low profile. But this woman was just so genuinely nice and kind, Maggie felt obligated. And who knew, maybe this was precisely what she and the boys needed.
“What should I bring?” Maggie asked with a wavering smile.
“You just bring your sweet self, honey.” Jane waved off her offer as she hopped up into her SUV. “Leave everything to me. See you tomorrow. Any time after four.” She winked before pulling her door closed, and then she was gone, hidden behind the dark tint of the window.
Maggie stood holding the two empty coffee mugs in her hand, watching as the white Jeep Cherokee rumbled over the rocky drive before disappearing into the thicket, and she smiled to herself realizing she was pretty sure she’d just found a friend.
Chapter 14
Maggie had been trying to get Jack out of bed for more than an hour on Saturday morning, with no success. She threatened to drag his butt out, but that was an empty threat if ever there was one; he was at least fifty pounds heavier than her. She threatened to fill a bucket with icy water and dump it over him. She even threatened to take his beloved video game console and toss it into the lake. But nothing worked. So, she and TJ left without him. And although she hated to admit it, the drive into town was obviously lighter without Jack’s sullen energy hanging heavily in the air.
“Mom? Is Jack ever going to be nice again?”
Maggie glanced in the rear-view mirror, her brows knitting together at TJ’s unexpected question. She met his eyes, finding nothing but innocence within his gaze, and it hurt her heart a little to think that her ten-year-old son had such concerns.
“Jack is just …” She was at a loss for words because, frankly, she didn’t know quite how to explain it when she had no idea what was going on with her eldest son. “He’s just sad at the moment.”
“About Daddy?” TJ’s brows climbed higher.
She nodded.
He continued with a shrug, “I’m sad, too. But I’m not mean about it.”
“No, you’re not.” She smiled ruefully. “But Jack’s a teenager. And teenagers have a lot of different emotions. Emotions that you don’t feel at your age. He’ll be okay. It’s just going to take him a little while.”
TJ seemed to think about that for a few moments as he looked out the window, watching the side of the road whizz by in a blur. After a beat, he spoke again, his voice small as he said, “I’m sorry if I’m mean when I’m a teenager, Mom.”
Emotion pricked Maggie right in the heart, tears burning her eyes at his sweet words. She didn’t know how to respond. She had no words. Even if she did have the words, she wouldn’t have been able to say them through the lump caught at the back of her throat.
TJ was suddenly preoccupied, busy with tightening the string on his baseball glove. So, she decided to say nothing at all and allow herself to treasure the moment, to engrain his words into her memory so that when he was a teenager, and most likely being a little asshole, she’d remember this moment and his heartfelt and sincere pre-apology.
***
Bolson’s Field sat overlooking the harbor and town square. And Saturday morning at the baseball diamonds proved to be the most popular spot in town. The sun was shining, the gulls were flapping overhead, parents crowded the diamonds, filling the stands. Boys and girls ran about, dressed in their team colors, excited to play.
Maggie glanced down at TJ to see him smiling in a way she hadn’t seen him smile in a long time. This was his happy place. He was home.
Field Four was where they needed to be, according to the man at the registration desk set up by the parking lot. TJ was a few weeks late for this season’s sign-up, but he was given a place in Coach Boyd’s team, The Badgers, much to his relief.
The stands surrounding Field Four were crowded, more so than the others, and as they approached, Maggie’s brow quirked to see a confusingly high number of women filling the stands, only a few men scattered here and there.
“I need to find Coach Boyd,” TJ said, changing his beloved Red Sox cap for the Badgers cap provided to him at sign-up on receipt of the registration fee.
Maggie scanned the area, and assumed the men standing by the left side dugout were members of the coaching staff. She turned to the nearest woman seated on the first bench of the stands. A bleached blonde who wore a little more make-up than most moms might for Saturday morning little league.
“Excuse me?”
The woman looked up at her, smiling curiously.
“We’re looking for Coach Boyd?”
The blonde’s hazel eyes lit up, and she stood quickly, smoothing down her short jean skirt, which was when Maggie noticed just how revealing her tank top was; full cleavage on display. She tried not to stare, but she sure did have the girls out to play early on a Saturday.
“I can take you over.” The lady placed a hand against the small of Maggie’s back and, with a little too much pep in her step, she ushered them through the gate, past the opposing team’s dugout and to the far side.
“Coach Boyd?” The blonde waved a hand in the air, her glitter-painted nails glistening beneath the sun as she continued toward three men with their backs to them. “Excuse me, Coach?”
“Yes, Cindy?” A deep voice replied with a flat, irked tone.
Maggie looked up from TJ in time to see Coach Boyd turn around, and a pair of familiar striking blue eyes met hers right at that moment.
Oh no … She closed her eyes momentarily, cursing herself.
She opened her eyes in time to catch the briefest of smiles ghost Evan’s lips before a stoic expression came over him like a mask. He wore a bottle-green polo shirt with the team’s logo embroidered on the chest pocket. The shirt pulled across his broad chest and the sleeves were tight around his bulging biceps. A Badgers ball cap sat on his head, the
peak pulled low over his eyes, and he held a clipboard in his hand looking every bit the legitimate baseball coach.
“Maggie.” He nodded, glancing furtively to TJ by her side and offering a tight-lipped smile at the boy.
Cindy looked between the two of them, edging a little closer to Evan or Coach Boyd as he was affectionately known. “Oh … you two know each other?”
Evan ignored the woman, his gaze fixed on Maggie.
“Hi.” Maggie shifted from foot to foot, her hand placed on TJ’s shoulder. “This is my son, Thomas Junior.” She smiled down at him. “TJ.”
“Hi, Coach.” TJ lifted the peak of his ball cap in greeting.
“You ready to play today, buddy?” Evan asked, his voice laced with authority as he looked down at TJ with a small smile.
“Yes, Coach.” TJ nodded, standing up a little taller, shoulders squared.
“What’s your position?”
“Short stop, Coach.”
“Well, head on over to the team,” Evan said, clapping TJ on his shoulder as he hurried past, positively sprinting toward the other boys who were already watching on with piqued interest over who the new kid was.
Reluctantly, Maggie met Evan’s gaze before he glanced sideways at Cindy who was still lingering, maybe even thrusting her breasts out a little more than she had been moments ago. He nodded at her. “Thank you, Cindy.”
Cindy smiled at him, lashes fluttering. She glanced briefly at Maggie before turning on her heels and heading back toward the stands where every other woman was watching on with wide eyes. Maggie almost laughed; now she knew the reason for the numerous number of females perched eagerly in the bleachers surrounding Field Four.
Evan rolled his eyes to himself, sighing heavily as the woman retreated. But the smile quickly returned to his gaze when it settled on Maggie, a knowing grin pulling at his lips. “So, are you stalking me?”
Maggie deadpanned, feeling her cheeks heat up as he used her line from the other night at the pub. “No!” she scoffed as she continued, “Besides, it looks like you already have more than your fair share of stalkers.” She nodded her head back toward the stands.
Evan leaned in closer, lowering his voice. “Half those women don’t even have kids on my team.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at the seriousness in his eyes, but then he smiled, and she was momentarily taken aback by just how handsome he was. The women crowding the stands suddenly made sense; she forced herself to avert her gaze. “I suppose I’ll go … join the groupies.”
“Bye, Maggie.” Evan chuckled lowly from behind her as if he could read her mind, and she felt her face flame beneath the warmth of the morning sun.
Making her way back to the other side of the chain-link fence, the bleachers were full, so Maggie chose to stand on her own, away from the bevy of women who were all watching her with intense curiosity.
“How do you know Evan?”
Glancing over her shoulder, she found Cindy watching her, one of her perfect brows arched dubiously. The other women watched on with seemingly bated breath, waiting eagerly for Maggie’s response.
“Oh, I don’t know him.” Maggie shook her head, adding a shrug. “I just—I met him the other day in the hardware store.”
Cindy, suddenly no longer as outgoing and friendly as she had been, whispered something to the just as heavily made-up woman beside her. They both shot fleeting yet judgmental glances in Maggie’s direction, eyes trailing her from her flip flops to the old Levi’s and plain white T-shirt she was wearing. Unlike them, Maggie wore no make-up and her long hair had been left to air dry after her shower, leaving it wavy and a little frizzy. She suddenly felt like she was back in high school, paling in comparison to the beautiful yet mean girls in the popular crowd, and instinctively she cowered, feeling her shoulders shrink.
“Oh, don’t worry about them.”
Maggie turned to see a woman move in to stand next to her. Unlike Cindy, this lady seemed kind, a small, friendly smile playing on her lips as she stared out at the baseball game that was just beginning to get underway.
“Evan Boyd is a popular man among the single females in this town.” The woman cast Maggie a wry glance. “Saturday morning baseball has turned into a weekly episode of the damn Bachelor since he’s been back,” she scoffed.
“Back?” Maggie questioned, looking to the lady for more information.
“Born and raised here. Good family.” She nodded, continuing, “Moved away for college. Played in the Minors in Oklahoma for a few years. He could’ve gone pro but something happened … many have assumed, but no one really knows the truth. He gave it all up and came home about five years ago.” She flashed a withering glance over her shoulder at the women lining the bleachers. “Those ladies have been after him ever since his return.”
Maggie’s gaze settled across the field to where Evan stood with another man, both of them looking down at the clipboard in his hand. And something came over her as she remembered back to the look of sadness she’d seen flash in his eyes the other night at the pub. It had been fleeting and she’d almost missed it, but it was there. Something he so clearly tried to conceal with that cocky, slightly smug persona. She wondered if that sadness he worked so hard to hide had something to do with the reason he gave up on professional baseball and came back to Jewel Harbor.
“I’m Barb, by the way.” The woman turned, cutting through Maggie’s thoughts with a friendly smile. “I own the salon in town.”
“Hi.” Maggie managed a smile, taking in the woman in all her pouffed, slightly over-bleached glory—from the way her eyebrows had been powdered on so expertly to the way her lipstick cracked into the wrinkles around her mouth. She was obviously older, the well-concealed smile lines gave that away, but she looked good for her age. And, unlike the other preened women perched up in the bleachers watching Evan like birds of prey ready to attack at any moment, Barb was friendly and welcoming.
Maggie indicated to the field of boys. “Which one’s yours?”
Barb laughed. “Oh, honey. I’m sixty-eight. My youngest is twenty-five and lives in Keene.” She thumbed back in the direction of the parking lot. “I’ve been happily married to that grumpy old bastard at the registration desk for near forty years. I bring him his coffee every Saturday morning on my way to the salon, and …” She paused, offering a conspiratorial wink, jutting her chin in Evan’s direction. “Well, there’s no harm in stopping by famous Field Four for a look, right?”
Maggie’s jaw dropped slightly, a light laugh slipped out as she looked from Barb over in Evan’s direction and back again.
Barb smiled suggestively, touching Maggie’s arm as she turned. “You ever want a pamper sesh and a chin wag? You stop by the salon any time you want, sweetie.”
“Uh … thanks.” Maggie nodded, biting back her own smile. “I’ll definitely do that.”
“Bye, Evan honey,” Barb called out with a saccharine voice, waggling her perfectly manicured fingers with a flirty wave.
Evan glanced over then, craning his neck. He offered a tight-lipped smile at Barb and a wave of his own before turning back to the game.
Barb threw another wink at Maggie before strutting away, nodding to the women in the bleachers on her way past with a curt, “Ladies.”
Releasing a breath, Maggie laughed to herself, shaking her head. But when she turned back to the field, her breath was stolen when she found Evan watching her from beneath the peak of his ball cap, the hint of a smile tugging at his lips before he slowly turned back to the game.
Chapter 15
With the game over, Maggie waited around for TJ. When he came running back toward her with a mile-wide smile, she considered thanking Evan. She also wanted to find out where to get the uniform from, she hadn’t wanted to ask the other unwelcoming mothers. But when she noticed all the women hanging around unnecessarily, she reconsidered, deciding against waiting to speak to him like a pathetic schoolgirl with a crush. Instead, she and TJ headed across to the Piggly Wiggly to
pick up some groceries and a few extra items to make an iceberg salad to take to Jane’s cookout.
After returning home from little league, TJ was in the best mood he’d been in since, well, before Tom’s passing. He was running around outside, tossing the ball in the air and racing to catch it, practicing his body slides. He was covered in dirt by the time he ambled back inside, but he was happy. He’d told Maggie that he liked his teammates, most of whom would be in his class at school, and he liked his coach. It was a relief for her to hear. She knew TJ was going to be okay. Now, she just had to work on Jack.
***
Maggie studied herself in the reflection of the free-standing mirror that leaned against her bedroom wall. Although she hated attention and didn’t want anyone to make a fuss, she wanted to make a good first impression.
Dressed in a nice pair of skinny jeans, a loose white button-down and with a pair of espadrilles, Maggie left her hair in the same natural state it had been all day and she added a little bronzer and some mascara. She looked nice, but for the first time in a long while, maybe even well before Tom’s death, she looked happy.
Staring at her reflection, she toyed nervously with the gold wedding band on her ring finger. It was almost funny; after the accident, she thought she’d never be able to stop wearing it. Now, she’d considered taking it off at least a thousand times since finding out the truth of his affair. But there was something stopping her. And suddenly, she found herself remembering back to the shotgun shambles that had been their wedding.
She was only nineteen and she was fourteen weeks pregnant when Tom proposed to her in his college dorm room during the last few weeks of her freshman year. Tom was a junior, but they were both so young and terrified; they hadn’t been dating more than six months.
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