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He imagined Bucky Lowell in this office and figured he probably had had pictures of his family on this desk, images that comforted and supported him. Bryce had no pictures to put here, no wife or children to think of while he made decisions that affected so many lives and dreams. Audrey had taken his dream of kids away from him.
He sighed. Maybe, if the house deal went through, he’d get a dog, a photogenic one. And maybe, if he got really lucky, he’d marry again and have those couple of kids he’d always wanted. And then quite unexpectedly, an image of Rosalie came to his mind, the way she looked now—grown up but still with a youthful sultriness that took his breath despite the sadness of the past in her eyes. He shook his head. “Don’t even go there, Bryce,” he said. “The woman has made her attitude about you perfectly clear.”
He left his office and wandered onto the practice field where the informal baseball session was still going on. The adult waved him over and stuck out his hand when Bryce approached. “Coach Benton,” the man said. “Welcome to Whistler Creek. Or, welcome back I should say.”
Bryce shook hands. “Thanks. It’s been a long time.”
“I’m Ted Fa
“Nice to meet you.” Bryce shielded his eyes and looked at the boys on the field. “I guess those are a couple of your stars?”
“That’s right.” He pointed. “Watch that pitcher. He’ll knock your socks off.”
Bryce observed the kid wind up and let loose with a curveball that seemed good enough to have been computer generated. “Wow. The kid’s good.”
“You bet he is.” Coach Fa
The boy obliged and Bryce whistled in appreciation. “Damn. That pitch had to be nearly eighty miles an hour.”
Fa
Bryce continued to watch the phenom pitcher with mounting admiration. “How old is he?”
“Hard to believe, but he’s only going to be a freshman this year.” Again the grin. “I’ll have him four more years. A coach’s dream.”
Yeah, and definite quarterback material. Bryce couldn’t help fantasizing about seeing the kid in a football practice jersey. He’d already determined that the quarterback spot on the Wildcats would be up for grabs at the end of the current season. And he had no good prospect coming up the ranks. Unless …
“Ah, tell me something, Coach,” he said.
“Sure thing.”
“Do you think this kid might be interested in playing football along with baseball?”
Fa
“I wouldn’t put it that way,” Bryce said. “Just thought maybe he could do both.”
Fa
“He’s got the arm for it.”
Fa
Bryce sensed a “but” on the tip of Fa
“I don’t want a football injury affecting his pitching arm. And …”
“And what?” Bryce said.
“I know this kid’s mother, and I don’t think she’d be in favor of him playing football. She thinks it’s dangerous.”
Bryce didn’t see that as a big problem. He’d persuaded reluctant parents into getting over football phobias before. “I’d talk to her,” he said.
“You could try, but she’s also a stickler for grades.”
“Is the kid smart enough to handle the load of schoolwork and two sports?”
“I suppose, but this mom is a special case.” Fa
He a
“Go ahead. Talk to him.”
Fa
The teen who’d been catching Da
“I’ve heard about you,” Da
“And I’ve been watching you,” Bryce said. “Good pitching style you’ve developed there.”
Da
Fa
The boy’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Well, we’ve been kicking the idea around,” Bryce said. “There would have to be tryouts….”
The instantaneous enthusiasm faded from the boy’s eyes. “I don’t know how my mom would like the idea. Her brother …”
Da
“She teaches at the high school,” he said. “You … ah, you know her. Miss Campano, the English teacher.”
Bryce could only gawk at Da
“Yeah.”
Damn. Bryce’s goal of nabbing the ideal quarterback suddenly didn’t even seem a remote possibility. Of course Rosie wouldn’t want her kid playing football. Of course she wouldn’t want him playing for Bryce.
He walked Fa
“I’ve heard, but I don’t want to get in the middle of this.” Fa
Bryce realized he must look witless. He tried to smile at Da
As he walked back to the athletic center, Bryce wondered how fortune could be so fickle. Show him a shining future star and then snuff it out behind a giant rain cloud. But what bothered him just as much was why he kept thinking about what Fa
When Rosalie pulled into the high school lot, she immediately noticed the familiar tricked-out black pickup parked under the shade of an old oak tree.
“Great,” she muttered to herself and chose a spot several spaces away. She backed in, turned off her engine and looked at her watch. A little before noon. If Da
Unfortunately the male figure she saw moments later wasn’t Da
She couldn’t look at Bryce without remembering that morning after the prom and the scent of peaches mingling with his crisp, clean aftershave. She couldn’t look at him without recalling the first mind-blowing kiss in the orchard, the first time his hands teased tingles of pleasure out of her eager young body. The first time he … She squeezed her eyes shut. As always, the most tender memory of all was obliterated by the image of her brother unconscious on the ground, the sound of her own sobs and the cry of anguish from Bryce’s lips.