Page 15 of Out of Left Field

Her eyes dropped to our hands. “Good luck with spring training.”

I reluctantly let go as she walked past me. Max babbled as he walked down the hallway. Kate turned back once to glance over her shoulder. When her eyes locked with mine, sending that electric jolt through my body once more, I knew this other part of me had been fully awakened—the part I put away a long, long time ago.

And it wouldn’t be put back to sleep as long as Kate was around.

I brooded the entire drive from the stadium to Calusa Key. I was half surprised the steering wheel was in one piece as I drove over the causeway to the island I had called home my whole life.

I was generally a laid-back guy. I always said it was the island in my blood. My life wasn’t boring. I went on dates and hung out with my friends. I was happy with my life, the ups and downs, and all the strange paths it took.

All it took was a few hours with Kate in my life to change that. My happy-go-lucky approach to dating had been thrown out in favor of a feverish need to see Kate again. I regretted not getting her number and my skin crawled every time I reminded myself it could be weeks before she came down to spring training.

Why her?

Why now?

The timing couldn’t be worse. Not only would we be working together for the foreseeable future, but this was the craziest, busiest time of my life. Not even when I played ball was I this busy or stressed. Back then I was a player. Tell me where to go and I go. Tell me what to do and I do it. Now I was the one in charge of the directions and that was a whole different level of work. There was a reason Everett and I swore off women for the season.

It was like the universe heard us and laughed.

I didn’t go straight to my house. Instead I went to the marina that had been in my family for three generations. It was weird pulling into the gravel parking lot and seeing the strange car parked on the side. For the first time since Mom and Dad took over the marina it was being managed by someone with a last name other than Anson. Everett’s pickup was in its usual spot, though. As were my parents. They still came and helped out every day even though most of the work was now handled by Larry Smolders.

I parked in my old spot under the tree and got out, stretching my legs and cursing the fancy clothes I wore for the press conference. It was interesting watching Kate recognize me. The surprise, the appreciation, and then the touch of disappointment. At the bar I got the impression my messy appearance gave her doubts. The suit she liked. But then I swear that disappointment was for something she liked that was gone now. I wanted to know what it was.

I wanted to know everything.

“Dad!” Rosie came flying out the door and into my arms.

I held her tight and smelled her hair. I might be entranced by the beautiful Kate James, but the love of my life was right here. “Hey Rosie girl. How was school this week?”

She went limp as she groaned. “It was school, Dad. What do you think?”

“I missed you.” I kissed each cheek, her forehead, and the top of her head. The pull in my gut was the same but different as I switched from missing Kate to the guilt I felt every minute I was away from Rosie.

“I missed you, too.” She snuggled into my chest and sighed. Her dark curls tickled my cheek. “You did good. I saw your interviews.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yep. Megan has it on inside. We made popcorn!”

My mother went by Megan, Mama Megan, or Moms. Growing up she took care of all the boys on our teams, all the kids at the marina, and was always at school. Everyone on the island thought of her as the island’s mom, and when Rosie came along she saw no need to change that.

Plus she said she was too young to be a grandmother. Therefore my nine-year-old daughter called her grandmother Megan. There were things to fight in life, but what my mother chose to be called was not high on my list, even if I thought it was a little odd.

I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was. Ten people hovered around a laptop playing clips from the press conference. I stood in the doorway wondering if I should face the music or disappear into an office before anyone noticed. If I turned right no one would see me. All of the offices were down that hallway. If I went straight into the deli, I was toast. Maybe I could just duck behind the cash register instead.

“Come on, Daddy!” Rosie kicked me like a horse.

I glared at her. “Snitch.”

But she simply shrugged. Megan turned around. “Oh there you are!” She came across the room, through the arches that separated the deli from the shop and gave me a hug.

“Hey Moms. I see you’re having a viewing party.”

“I’m proud of my boys.” He patted my cheek then took Rosie’s hand as she slid out of my arms. “Go finish your homework so we can have a nice evening with Dad before he leaves.”

“Fine. But I’m not happy about it!” She shuffled back to the table in the corner of the deli where her homework was spread out and a bowl of crackers sat half eaten.

Megan was the first person to insist I take the job. She demanded it, actually. And even though we came up with this plan together, I still felt guilty that she was essentially raising Rosie for me until school started back in the fall. It made sense. I had no way of knowing if this gig would work out, so why uproot my daughter just to bring her right back? Plus, I was going to be slammed with work, more so the first year. So Mom and Dad would step in and keep Rosie here, in her class, and with her friends. If, at the end of summer things looked good, she would permanently move up with me and start the fall in a new school. If, for some reason, I failed spectacularly or Eli Stirling made it impossible to do my job, I could come back and Rosie would keep on with her life just as she always had.