“Luke? You up?”
“Yeah.”
She started down the steps, her long legs coming into view first. She had awesome legs. Her shorts gave him the full effect. “Can’t sleep?”
“I never go to bed until midnight,” he said.
He had been shocked to see the time by the digital clock of his open tablet. 11:30. It seemed way later to him until she came down, working like a double shot of espresso on his energy level. She sat next to him on the old sofa. She could have sat in the desk chair, but she didn’t. She sat next to him. He liked having her there. That was the problem, in a nutshell.
Remember your rule
, he warned himself.
Her eyes checked out the open page on his tablet, then widened in surprise.
“I’m just so pissed at that asshole,” she said, turning away from the tablet. “Bettina had heartburn! So he drops them on you without a thought and cancels tomorrow’s plans, too.” She took a breath, filling her lungs and letting it whoosh out. This caused interesting things to happen beneath her T-shirt. “Thanks, by the way, for keeping an eye on them.”
“No problem. They’re good boys.”
She nodded.
“I know you can take care of yourself,” he said.
“Huh?”
He liked the way her eyes scrunched up when she got confused. “My mom. She called, wanting me to escort you and the boys to the game because it’s big, bad Detroit.”
Chloe laughed. “The Mom Plot continues.”
“I know.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not in on it.”
“I didn’t think you were.”
“Those two have no scruples when it comes to fixing us up. I mean, they figured we’d be alone in the house together all weekend.”
“Where did you go?”
“Nowhere important. I just didn’t feel like being manipulated by a senior citizen who’s read way too many romance novels. They’ll get the picture soon enough. I mean, see, already, their latest plot is falling apart. They thought we’d be alone all weekend, and we won’t be. You’ll be here alone, and the boys and I will be downtown all day. The game won’t get over until six or seven. If they’re still hungry after all the hot dogs and ice cream, we’ll go out to dinner. I will keep them out of your hair. They’ll be too tired and excited to bother you.”
“They don’t bother me,” he said. She still didn’t seem convinced, so he took a deep breath and admitted, “I lived with someone a few years ago. She didn’t want to get married because it would mess up her alimony. She had a little girl. I helped raise her. When we split up, she wouldn’t let me see her daughter.”
“Wow. How long did you live with them?”
Luke hoped Chloe understood him better now. It had been difficult for him to tell that story. “Three years.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah. So I kind of choke when I see kids.”
“You mean when you meet single moms?”
“That too.”
“What was your mother thinking?”
“She was thinking I needed to get over myself.”
They both laughed, and she rose and walked toward the steps.
“I wouldn’t mind going to the game with you tomorrow.”
She stopped on her way up the stairs and turned around.
Luke wondered if he’d said that right. Why so hard to figure out the proper words? “What I mean is, I love the Tigers and I’d kill for seats like those. Plotting mothers aside, there’s nothing that says we can’t be friends.”
“We can do that.” She had a tiny ghost of a smile on her lips, but he couldn’t tell if it reached her eyes because she turned away again and went up the stairs.
Only after he stretched out in bed did he realize the moms had scored a point after all. He was taking a day off, which meant he’d be staying a day longer than he’d planned. And call it whatever, this was a date with Chloe and her sons. He could almost smell the hot dogs and beer.
Chapter Six
Chloe contemplated the contents of her closet. Luke might be cute, but he was not for her. A guy like Luke—who didn’t know a good thing when he had it within reach, a guy who let his past hold him back, a guy who thought backward, not forward—a guy like that she could feel empathy for, even be friends with, but as for anything else, no. If he was too afraid of getting hurt to even try, he didn’t deserve her. Or her kids. And they were, it went without saying, a package deal.
The move to Seattle would just complicate things more. Sure, people worked out long-distance relationships all the time. Luke didn’t seem like the kind of guy to go for that, either. Just a small-town guy content in his little rural world.
So while the boys might be thrilled with Luke joining them at the game, to Chloe, well, she didn’t know exactly. And how did one dress for baseball games anyway? Delicious spring-like weather, sunny with a nice breeze. Sneakers and jeans and maybe a three-quarter sleeve T-shirt. Or should she wear short sleeves and bring a jacket? She stared into her open closet door and tried to close down the longing in her heart. For a husband. And a father for her boys. She wondered how many men felt the way Luke did about single moms. Probably lots.
The thought of men, of marriage, even dating, was new. She’d been too busy building her career and raising her sons to date. Now starting anything up seemed pointless since she and the boys would be moving cross-country.
Her protectiveness toward the boys made her wonder why could the men in their lives not see how great the boys were? Although, she had to admit, Luke had been stellar with them yesterday.
“Mommy, when are we leaving?” Josh came into her room and hopped on her bed, his legs kicking out one at a time, because of course impossible to ever be completely still, unless he slept. Both boys were that way. All kids, really. Now that she stayed home with them, she saw their friends more often, and she noted that little boys tended to be in constant motion.
Chloe checked the clock next to her bed.
“In about an hour.”
“Do you like Luke?”
Chloe turned away from her wardrobe. The shirt she wore worked just fine. She would kill her mother if she tried in any way to involve the boys in “the plan.”
“I do. We’re friends like you and Stephen.”
“But Luke’s a boy and you’re a girl. When boys and girls get big, they get married and go on dates.”
Chloe laughed. “Usually the other way around.”
Intuitive Josh. She predicted this wasn’t coming from her mother, who loved the boys enough not to involve them in her crazy schemes if there was any chance on earth they’d be hurt.
“Sometimes. But sometimes it’s like you and Emma.”
Josh made a face. “I don’t play with girls anymore.”
“But you used to. Emma was your best friend. And in a few years, you’ll have more girls who are friends.”
“Will not!” Josh jumped down off the bed and raced off, the mere thought of a female friend enough to induce a nightmare frenzy.
****
Chloe, Luke, and the boys went to the game in Luke’s big truck. He’d washed it that morning, just for the occasion, which touched Chloe. The extended back seat was as roomy as a sedan. From the rear, both boys kept up a steady stream of conversation.
“Luke, do you have one of those riding lawnmowers?”
“I do.”
“Where is it?”
“At home. In my box trailer.”
“What’s a box trailer?”
“Like that.” Luke pointed to a trailer without windows hitched to a truck. It did look kind of like a box.
“Do you sleep in there?”
Chloe smiled. Nice for someone else to answer the questions for a change.
“Nope. I sleep in a bed in my house, just like you do.”
“Oh.”
They’d already been through the favorite player question. Josh liked the only Tiger chosen for the All-Stars so far. Tommy liked Don-O. Josh teased that Tommy hadn’t known any of the players’ names until Luke said he favored Don. Then all Tommy could say was Don-O, Don-O, Don-O.
Chloe, determined to show her boys that men and women could be just friends, to model behavior for them that would ensure they understood that Luke was not a substitute for their dad, resisted the joy that wanted to break through. Except she enjoyed his company as much as the boys did. She started to add up how long it had been since she’d had sex. So long ago, she couldn’t remember. All this free time might be messing with her mind. Thinking about sex had nothing to do with Luke. Although he
was
sexy.
On arrival at the ballpark, the boys wanted to try the batting cages before they even found their seats. They had time before the game started because the kids had been so antsy at home, Luke and Chloe had decided to leave early.
There was plenty to do at the stadium besides watch baseball. While Luke supervised the batting cages, Chloe went to find a bathroom. On her way she kept seeing people with these neon-colored frozen drinks. The skinny glass had to be at least six inches long. Some were blue, others were a combination of colors. Since Luke drove, she’d treat herself to one. She probably should have worn a short sleeved top, because the day was warmer than she’d expected, and an icy-cold girly drink would taste good.
She stood in a short line and noticed the carousel with tigers instead of horses. Cute. They had a lot of things here at the park for kids.
“Mom, can we ride on the baseball?” Josh and Tommy had found her in line.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a ride.”
“Can I have that cup after you’re done?”
She could already tell that Tommy would insist on drinking his milk out of the funny shaped glass for the entire summer.
As she sipped her cocktail, yummy but light on the alcohol, they walked around the stadium, checking out the souvenirs, buying a program and a beer for Luke, and foam Tiger paws for the boys.
Tommy and Josh, still too excited to eat or drink anything, begged to go on the baseball Ferris wheel, so the four of them got inside one of the giant baseballs and off they went. They could see the entire Detroit skyline, including the river and into Canada, from their perch.
“That’s Windsor,” Chloe told Luke. “Drinking age nineteen.”
“Sounds like Detroit kids celebrate turning nineteen over there,” Luke said.
“Yep.”
“Including you?”
“Yep.”
“Canada’s a whole ’nother country,” Josh said.
Eventually, they even watched the game. Both boys wanted to sit next to Luke, and when they claimed their seats, Chloe realized she’d been expecting him to sit next to her. Amid the cacophony of vendors calling “Peanuts! Popcorn! Ice Cream!” fans cheering a run batted in, and the boys peppering Luke with questions, a secret unfolded itself inside Chloe. She could really be serious about Luke. She could see a future with him, all of them as a family. Everything she wanted in the whole wide world was right here in the ball park. The Tigers’ victory swept the crowd into a roaring final wave, and soon they were on their way home.
“What a great day,” Luke said.
“The best day ever,” Tommy agreed.
“I love baseball,” Josh enthused.
And I am falling in love with Luke, Chloe thought, before she could stop the progress of emotion rising up in her.
****
Later that night, after the boys had their bath and a snack before bed, after she’d read half a story before Tommy sagged and softly snored on her shoulder, after Josh closed his eyes and curled into his favorite sleeping position, she wandered into the kitchen to fix herself a sandwich and noticed Luke in the garage, trying to catch up, no doubt, on work he’d let slide today. She tried to talk herself out of the crazy idea that she’d fallen in love with him. How could she love him? She hardly knew him!
As soon as she opened the fridge, Luke came in from the garage. She admired how hard he worked.
“Want a sandwich?” she asked.
“Sure.” He reached for a beer from the back of the bottom shelf of the fridge while she had the door open.
“Mustard or mayo?”
“Can I have both?”
“Of course. You were great with the boys today. Thanks.” She tried to keep her voice as casual as possible when his fingers brushed hers as she handed him the beer he’d been reaching for.
“I love it. They made me feel a like a kid again.”
“Especially in that baseball-shaped Ferris wheel.”
He rolled his eyes. “You hid your boredom pretty well.” If he only knew. She slid bologna onto bread, then slapped the sandwiches together, finally setting them on the table with a flourish worthy of bologna on squishy white bread.
“I don’t really get bored when I’m with them. If they’re having fun, it’s enough for me. It’s what I want. It’s why I go camping and fishing and, now, to a baseball game.”
“You fish?”
She nodded. “I bait the hooks. And then unhook the poor guys and throw them back in.”
“You never cook your catch?”
“I draw the line at gutting and skinning.” She took a bite of her sandwich. “Spence used to do that, but now, if the boys catch anything, which is not all that often, we throw it back.”
“That’s no fun.”
“It’s some fun. Maybe not to you, but they seem to like it okay.” Wow. She must be tired. He hadn’t called her no fun, just the way she fished. She mentally shook her head. She was an idiot.
They didn’t say anything as they finished their sandwiches. Hanging out with Luke, being “friends” was not easy. Especially when his hungry eyes said she was dessert. “I’m gonna hit the sack,” she said.
“Don’t get lonely,” he said.
It took every bit of her courage to keep walking, to not turn around and sit herself down on his lap and kiss him dizzy.
Chapter Seven
Bettina always loved having the boys over, and she felt bad about dropping them off at their mom’s in such a hurry again, but Spence had some kind of reaction to his new medication. She wanted to take him to the emergency room, but he refused to go in.
“I just need to sleep,” he slurred.
She was so tired, too, that she finally turned the car around and they headed home to bed. In the middle of the afternoon.
The next morning, Bettina’s first morning of maternity leave, did not go well. She’d slept maybe four or five fitful hours. Still so tired. But she dressed and combed her hair. One good thing about Spence being out of work, they could have coffee together. Except no caffeine for her for the duration of her pregnancy. Decaf tea, then. Maybe she’d speak to Spence about giving his sponsor a call. He claimed that he could handle a few beers. He had a moderation program. But Bettina had read his prescription bottles, and they all said not to mix with alcohol. Now that she was home, everything would go back to normal.