Out of Her League (7 page)

Joe turned, and Evie
’
s gaze flew up to his face. He smiled knowingly, and she flushed, feeling like one of her students caught staring at the cutest guy in school. All the more reason to stop this interest before it got the better of her. Ray had been the cutest guy in school, and see where that had led her.

“
How do you tell them apart, anyway?
”

“
Wh-who?
”
she stammered.

“
Benji and Danny. It
’
s a secret that might come in handy to their coach.
”

Evie shrugged.
“
Like I told Benji, I
’
m their mother. I just know.
”

“
Hell. I thought it might be something like that. They
’
re gonna run me ragged.
”
He stalked to his sports car.

“
Count on it,
”
Evie called after him.

When the roar of the car
’
s well-tuned engine faded into the distance, Evie rejoined the party. The kids had filled their
plates with the multitude of of
ferings from the potluck picnic. Evie
’
s gaze searched out the twins to make sure they had gotten something to eat wit
hout undue disaster. After grab
bing her own meal, she planted herself in a lawn chair next to Toni, who had taken a seat at Adam
’
s table. She ignored the frown her son gave her for sitting by him, and addressed the girl.

“
Ready to start practice next week?
”

Toni paused in the act of cutting her submarine sandwich in half. After carefully laying down her
knife and fork, she nodded.
“
I
’
ve been throwing some to Joe here and there, but it
’
ll feel good to get into the swing of the game again.
”

The girl never seemed to call her father
“
Dad,
”
but that was none of Evie
’
s business, even though it made her curious.
“
From what I
’
ve seen so far you
’
re a great pitcher. You might even be the best hitter, too.
”

Toni glanced at the boys, who listened in on the conversation avidly. Her cheeks pinkened and she ducked her head.
“
I do all right, but I wouldn
’
t say I
’
m the best.
”

Evie followed Toni
’
s glance and understood. She
’
d had the same problem when she
’
d moved to Newsome eighteen years earlier. It wouldn
’
t do for the new girl to be better than all the boys. Even if she was, she didn
’
t need to flaunt it before the fact was proven.

“
Well, we
’
ll see how things go next week.
”
Evie turned her attention back to her plate. Conversation picked up around the table, and her gaze wandered over the backyard. She checked each table to make sure a food fight wasn
’t in the offing. So far, every
one was behaving, but she knew better than to let her guard down for more than a minute at a time.

Returning her gaze to Toni, Evie frowned. The girl wasn
’t just shy
she was timid. She had cut her sandwich, but she wasn
’
t eating. Instead, she stared at her plate and snuck glances at Adam from beneath her lashes.

Evie looked at her son. He wasn
’
t shy and he
wasn
’
t timid. He hadn
’
t cut his sandwich, but he was eating it. Like a pig. He wasn
’
t sneaking glances at Toni; he was studiously ignoring her. Same differ
ence.

Evie stifled a sigh. Not only did she have to deal with her own unfort
unate attraction to an insuffer
able man, but apparently she would have to endure her son
’
s first crush at the same time. From the looks of Toni Scalotta, Evie
’
s star pitcher had caught the same fever as Adam.

Evie cast a glance heavenward, hoping for divine intervention.

Puppy love. What next?

* * *

Toni
did
her
best
not to look at Adam. But she couldn
’
t help it. He was the cutest guy she
’
d ever seen.

He kept looking at her, too, which only made her nervous, and when Toni was nervous she got quiet. Then people thought she was stuck-up. She wasn
’
t. She was just terrified she
’
d do something stupid and ruin any chance she had for friends, or boyfriends, in this town. The only time she felt confident was on the playing field. Out on the mound she didn
’
t have a chance
to think about how dumb she ap
peared; she only had time to react.

Adam got up and, without so much as a glance at her, left the table
to dump his plate into the gar
bage can at the foot of the porch. Toni
’
s face heated. She
’
d turned him off, and she hadn
’t even said any
thing. In fact, not saying anything was probably the problem. She
’
d sat there like a lump. She was so
boring
.

Other girls always seemed to know exactly what to say to guys, how to flip their hair, laugh and wink without winking at all. Toni never could get the hang of that.

Since she was no longer hungry, Toni gathered
the remains of her lunch and went to the garbage can. She wondered if Mrs. Vaughn would hate her if she asked to call Joe now. No one was talking to her. She could tell they didn
’
t want her here. Tears pressed at the back of her eyes, but she forced them away. If she cried in front of the guys, she
’
d never be one of the team.

Toni turned and bounced off Adam Vaughn
’
s chest. He made a grab for her as she tilted backward. Her heart leaped into her mouth when his hands closed about her upper arms, steadied her, then clung. She cocked her head to look into his face, and he grinned. Her stomach twisted, and she couldn
’
t seem to breathe. For a long moment they stared at each other as if no one else in the world existed but them—it was the strangest thing.

“
Do you want me to tell you about the team?
”
he asked.

“
Team?
”
Th
e word came out of her mouth be
fore she could stop it, sounding as moronic as it was.

“
You know—
”
he waved his hand at the guys still stuffing their faces at the tables
“
—the team.
”

He had a man
’
s voice, and the contrast to her own childish repetition of his words made Toni shiver. He would never like her if he thought she was a baby. She very much wanted Adam to like her. So Toni took a deep breath, swallowed her fear and said,
“
Why don
’t we sit over there?”

She pointed to an empty table beneath the largest oak tree in the yard, far away from everyone else. He raised one eyebrow, as if he heard her heart beating too loudly and her breath coming in gasps, then he spun about and walked toward the table. Toni followed, praying with every step that she wouldn
’
t trip and fall on her face.

Why couldn
’
t she be more like Mrs. Vaughn? When Toni
’
s coach walked, she did so with grace and confidence. When she spoke, everyone listened. Toni doubted Adam
’
s mom had ever done anything stupid in her life. And with that example in front of him every day of his life, how could Adam ever think Toni anything less than a geek?

She reached the table without screwing up and sat on one side. Adam sat on the other. Her knee bumped his; then their feet clunked together. They both mumbled
“
Sorry
”
at the same time. Toni felt her face flush a painful shade of red. She wanted to die. This guy/girl stuff was way out of her league.

“
What can I tell you about the team?
”
he asked.

His voice was normal, just like she hadn
’
t done anything dumb. She glanced at him in surprise, and he smiled. Toni started to relax.

“
Uh, well, I was kind of wondering...
”

“
Yeah?
”

“
Are the guys going to ... uh, you know?
”

Adam shrugged.
“
What?
”

Her gaze fell from his face and focused on her hands, which were twisted together on top of the table.
“
Hate me,
”
she whispered.

“
Why would they hate you?
”

He sounded so su
rprised that Toni found the con
fidence to tell him the truth.
“
I
’
m different,
”
she said.
“
Always have been.
”

There was a long moment of silence, during which Toni waited for him to get up and leave—to go tell his mom she was a nutcase, tell the guys she was a freak. She
’
d never fit in, and Joe would know for sure she was worthless, then he
’
d dump her on someone else and pay that person to take care of her. The way her mom always had.

Toni didn
’
t realiz
e she was holding her breath un
til Adam reached across the table and put his hand on top of hers. She opened her mouth, and the breath rushed out. Adam
’
s one right hand was bigger than both of Toni
’
s put together, and for some reason that made her feel safe and not so all alone. He squeezed her hands. Warmth rushed through her, and she looked into his face.

“
I like different,
”
he said.

Toni was a goner right then and there.

“Man
,
oh
man
,
”
Evie muttered as her son touched Toni Scalotta
’
s hands.
“
Trouble like this I do not need.
“

The look on Adam
’
s face flashed her back so fast to Ray that she got dizzy. Most of her memories of him were bad, but lately, maybe because Adam was the same age now that Ray had been when she
’
d fallen for him, she was starting to remember some of the good times. There had been some very good times.

Young love, fir
st love, hormones, passion—noth
ing was ever that wonderful, or that horrible, again. Funny, but she could still remember when Ray had first touched her hand.

Evie shivered despite the heat of the sun beating down and burning the bridge of her unsunscreened nose. She always managed to slather up the kids and forget about herself.

“
Mom, what should we do now?
”
The twins leaned against her back. With a bright red head on each shoulder, they announced in stereo,
“
We
’
re so
-
o-o-o bored.
”

Evie hunched her shoulders and hooked an arm around each squirming waist. Then she pulled their hot little bodies against her and rubbed her cheek first on the top of one sun-warmed head and then on top of the other. They squealed in mock dismay.

“
Hey, there are big guys watching,
” Benji whis
pered.

“
Sorry.
”
She let them go.
“
Why do sweaty little boys always smell like sunshine?
”