short when she saw Cody climbing into the passenger side of Zeke’s pickup. “Wait,” she yelled, but he didn’t hear her. The door slammed shut. She headed for the truck, ready to tell him to hop out, he was in the wrong car, only to draw up short.
The driver’s door opened, and Jared stepped out. He wore a pair of soft, faded Levi’s, a V-necked cotton shirt with the sleeves pushed halfway up his forearms, and a pair of Aviator sunglasses. His hair was still wet from the shower he’d taken after mowing the lawn.
No way.
She reached the side of the truck in record time. “I thought we agreed you weren’t coming.”
He rested his arm on the bottom of the door’s open window. “I never agreed to anything. You just assumed.”
“The answer is no.”
He dropped his arm from the door and stepped toward her. She backed up, then realized what she was doing and stopped. He wasn’t going to intimidate her. Or, at least, he wasn’t going to see how much he unnerved her.
“Then you tell your nephew. For some reason, the kid wants me there.”
Jenny paused, weighing the truth of his statement. All week he’d been doing everything he could to get under her skin; she was certain this was just another one of his antics. Avoiding Jared, she peeked her head into the cab of the truck. Cody was grinning from ear to ear.
“When I told Zeke we couldn’t all fit in your car or on Jared’s motorcycle, he said we could use his truck. Cool, huh?”
“You asked Zeke?” Her stomach sank.
“We needed a way for all three of us to get to the game. Jared said he’d help me warm up. And Zeke said he didn’t mind.”
Jenny drew in a breath. She knew when she was licked. Turning, she faced Jared again.
He stood closer than before. She tried to back away from him but ran into the hard side of the truck. “You win. But you’d better be on your best behavior.”
He leaned forward, took the grocery sacks from her and placed them in the front of the pickup’s bed. “I’m always at my best, Cotton Tail.”
“Stop calling me that.”
He grinned but didn’t say anything, only motioned for her to get in. As she climbed into the old truck, it dawned on her she would be sitting on the middle of the bench seat, right next to Jared.
The next twenty minutes were pure torture. Each time Jared shifted, his hand bumped against her, touching her thigh.
“Behave,” she hissed under her breath, shooting him glares from beneath her lashes.
“What?” His innocent tone didn’t fool her for a second.
By the time they pulled into the Whitman ball fields, it was 2:05. Five minutes late. She hustled Cody out and grabbed the snacks while Jared got Cody’s baseball bag. They rushed to Field A, only to find it empty.
Jenny looked around. “Don’t tell me we’re at the wrong place.”
“No, this is it,” Cody said as he took his bag from Jared and set it on the ground.
“But it’s after two. Where is everyone?”
Crouching, Cody unzipped his bag. “The game doesn’t start till three.”
“Three? But your mom said two.”
“Coach likes us here a half hour early.”
But they weren’t a half hour early. They were an hour early. Jenny gritted her teeth. It was just like her sister to give her an earlier time to make sure Jenny wasn’t late. And it was just like her sister to think nothing of using up more of Jenny’s day. She readjusted the sacks in her arms. “So,” she said to Cody, masking her annoyance. “Looks like we have a half hour to kill.”
Cody paused and shot Jared a hesitant glance. “You still want to catch some pitches? I mean, if you don’t want to, it’s okay.”
Jenny looked at Jared, afraid he would refuse.
“Sure, kid.”
Cody pulled two gloves and a baseball from his bag. “Here.” He handed Jared the larger of the gloves. “This one is my dad’s, but you can use it if you want.”
Jared took the glove and turned it over several times in his hands. “Thanks.” His voice was low as he stared at the glove. “I’ll make sure to take good care of it.”
Cody grinned, and the two of them headed out to the field. Jared’s long, confident strides had Cody doing a half jog, half run to keep up.
Setting the snacks next to her, Jenny took a seat in the bleachers. She tried to keep her eyes off of Jared