gray T-shirt with navy sleeves, she raced up to the field on a black mountain bike. While it was still in motion, she jumped off and left it standing against the bleachers, her helmet dangling from the handlebar.
It amazed him, as it did every time he saw her, how good she looked in everything she wore. Hell, she could make a burlap sack look like something out of a Victoria’s Secret catalog.
He didn’t let his gaze linger very long. He never did, never needed to, because he already had the image memorized. And besides, Jayne broke the spell the second she saw Ellie arrive and ran in her direction.
Their voices followed him out to the field, but thankfully not a single word was mentioned about her license mishap. Instead, if what he was hearing was right, it sounded like Ellie had unexpected company. Male company or female company? Not that it was any of his business.
A “she.” Hmmm. Her sister, maybe? Wait…no…her mother.
Unexpected visits from parents usually meant one of two things: something was wrong or something was about to be wrong.
“Okay,” Nick called out, lifting his gloved hand toward the darkening clouds. “Let’s get going before the rain starts again. Quick warm-up, then let’s have Carter pitching, Jayne catching, Ellie first, Leon second, Brett short, Delmar third, Maya right, Martin center, Kyle roving, and I’ll take left. The rest can bat. Oh, and Ellie—you’re down for the first case of beer.”
Brett jogged over to his position, pulled his cap down a little, and took stock of the players around him. Leon and Delmar looked relaxed on their bases, no question they’d played before, but there was no way Ellie was going to be able to play first properly with that stiff new glove and those shiny new cleats.
He knew she’d played a little before, and she might look the part, especially after she tucked her long hair through the back of that faded blue ball cap. Looking the part, however, was a whole lot different from actually being able to play the position, and first base was crucial for a winning team, beer league or not.
Carter took the mound and tossed a slow looping pitch a good six inches outside.
“What’s the problem, Sparky?” Regan taunted. “Did I wear you out back there behind the dugout?”
Catcalls followed, from both the field and the rest of the players waiting to bat, until Carter laughed and tossed another pitch, this one a perfect shot over the top corner of the plate. Stepping into it, Regan cracked a hard fast grounder between Brett and second base. Diving left, and with more luck than he cared to admit, he managed to get his glove on it, but had to spin before he could fire it to first.
His throw was off, too low and too short, yet somehow Ellie managed to stretch impossibly far and snapped it up just before Regan’s foot hit the base.
While the rest of the team cheered, Brett waited for Ellie to look at him so he could give her a nod of both appreciation and apology, only she never even glanced his way. In fact, she didn’t acknowledge any of the cheering, just laughed at whatever Regan said on her way back to the dugout.
They rotated positions until everyone got time at the plate and as Nick cranked a liner to left field, the rain finally started and sent everyone running for the dugout. Everyone except Brett and Ellie, who remained at their positions, watching the rest of the team take cover.
“Oh, come on,” Ellie cried from out in right field. “It’s just a little rain!”
With a sigh Brett could hear across the diamond, she shook her head and started off the field, heading straight past where he stood near the on-deck circle.
“Ellie?”
She took another couple of steps before stopping and turning to face him.
A thick smudge of dirt ran from the side of her nose down her cheek, and it only got worse when she scraped her forearm across her mouth. Brett punched his free hand in the pocket of his glove and cleared his throat.
“Since we’re going to be playing together, I hope we can keep what happened today off the field so it doesn’t make things difficult for the rest of the team.”
“What happened…” A moment’s confusion made her frown before she released some kind of guttural sound that was part choke, part chuckle. “Right. That. Least of my problems right now.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, forget it.” She