saw she’d now been approached by Everly and Sierra. She gave him an apologetic look telling him she didn’t want to be rude to her friends. He jerked a thumb toward the bases to indicate he was taking Katie there so she knew where to meet up when she was done.
Receiving her nod, he took Katie’s hand and headed for home base.
“The bases are ninety feet apart,” he told her as they walked. “It might not sound like much, but when you’re running them, they can feel like a mile.”
She nodded like she knew exactly what he meant.
Just as they started to walk past Evan, a little boy of about three or four wiped out during his run—a solid face-plant. Will instinctively hurried over, squatting beside him at the same time Evan did. A couple of other nearby spectators edged closer too.
“Hey there, mate,” Evan said, swiftly lifting the boy and dusting him off before he could decide whether to wail, “you’re supposed to wait until you’re closer to the base before you slide like that. Is this your first time ‘round?”
The boy lowered his chin, pulled on his bottom lip with dirt-covered fingers, and nodded.
Evan reached for the ball cap that had flown from the boy’s head and once again secured it over his explosion of dark curls. “Is that your brother rounding second?”
Another nod.
“All right then. Running the bases on this clay can be a tricky business. Maybe you should stand here with me for a minute and get the lay of the land until your brother gets back. What do you say?”
The boy nodded again.
Will got to his feet. Evan did the same, using one hand to brace Noah. Will smiled when he caught sight of the fluffy blond hair peeking out from under the baby’s hat. It looked like Noah was going to favor his mom, at least in his coloring.
Katie stepped between him and Evan and gave his hand a tug. Will looked down at her.
“He sounds pretty, Daddy,” she whispered.
All of the breath left his lungs.
Searing emotion rose up and seized him around the throat. So many thoughts ran through his head he could barely collect them.
His daughter had just spoken.
Katie had just spoken actual words out loud.
They had been inspired by Evan Dorsey’s accent.
Was that weird?
Who the hell cared?
He’d just heard his little girl’s voice for the first time.
She’d called him Daddy.
And he was about to seriously lose his shit right there in front of his entire team.
Why had he forgotten his sunglasses today of all days? There’d be no passing off the suspicious moisture building in his eyes as anything but the tears they were. He couldn’t imagine how his reaction must seem to Katie, but there was no way he’d be able to speak over the enormous lump in his throat.
Evan’s gaze moved from Katie to Will. Whatever he noted in his scan of Will’s face had him looking back down at Katie.
“You like my accent, little lady?” he asked, making it more pronounced than usual.
She nodded.
“Your name’s Katie, right?”
She nodded again.
The question told Will that his teammate had been paying attention all this time despite it always seeming otherwise. It also told him he had misjudged the Aussie.
And when Evan took Katie and the little boy by the hands and walked them toward home plate to give Will a moment to collect himself, he knew he owed the guy a debt he could never possibly repay.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“What do you owe Cole for this?” Jasmine asked Will under her breath.
“One of my kidneys, should he ever have a need for it.”
Cole had come through on his promise to hook Will up with Void concert tickets and a backstage meet-and-greet with the band. Will had told her about the possibility of it weeks ago. Hoping it would happen for Katie’s sake—okay, and maybe because she wanted to go too—she’d checked in with him regularly, but Cole hadn’t confirmed it until right after the Family Fun Day ten days ago. Now she and Will were riding in a chartered car with Katie on the way to the concert venue.
Katie had no clue where they were going. Will only told her they were taking her somewhere special for her birthday, which was in eleven days. Jasmine had ordered her a Void T-shirt as part of her birthday present. It was safely stored in the bag she’d brought along. She would help Katie change in the ladies’ room once they got through security.