LORETTA WAS THRILLED to discover she hadn’t lost her prowess at first base.

Not all of it, anyway. After all, she wasn’t seventeen anymore, and she couldn’t do a split reaching for a ball. But she could still field and throw, and she could still hit. After she’d worked the kinks out at Sunday’s practice, she’d gone into tonight’s game with renewed confidence in her abilities. So far, she was two for three with a single, a double, and two runs batted in.

Right now she stood on second base and Zach Powers was up to bat. Deacon had scored on the double she’d just hit, so he was in the dugout, hollering and cheering for Zach to drive her home.

Her focus was on Jane, who was currently coaching third base. Jane would let her know whether to stay at second base on a hit or run for home. And when Zach singled to far right field, she took off. When she reached third base, Jane signaled for her to keep going.

She did, noticing the catcher crouching down to make a play at home plate. She dug in and ran for all she was worth, making a headfirst slide at the plate. She felt the tag, but heard the ump holler out, “Safe!”

Elated that she had scored, she leaped up and was surrounded by her teammates and friends.

“That was one hell of a hit,” Reid said, patting her on the back as she made her way back to the dugout.

“And an even better run and slide into home,” Sam said. “Though judging from your knees and arms, you’re going to pay for that slide.”

She looked over her skinned elbows and knees and grinned. “Totally worth it.”

They ended up winning the game by six runs, and everyone decided to head over to Bash’s bar for drinks and food to celebrate their victory. Deacon had picked her up after he got off work and brought her to the field, so he asked if she wanted to go to the bar to celebrate.

She definitely wanted to go.

“I haven’t felt this good in a long time,” she said as they got out of his truck and headed toward the door.

“Is that right?”

“Yes. A little exercise, some camaraderie. I’m really starting to feel part of Hope again.”

He stopped. “You’ve been here awhile now, Loretta. Are you saying you haven’t felt that before?”

She shrugged. “A lot of my friends from high school moved away. Some didn’t take too kindly to my return. I’ve lost a lot of friendships. It’s nice to have made new ones.”

He frowned. “Why would people be upset about you coming back?”

She moved forward, so he came with her. “Let’s just say not everyone is as friendly, as welcoming, or as forgiving as the new friends I’ve made.”

Deacon had no idea what to make of what Loretta had said. But since she had walked inside the bar, he didn’t get a chance to ask her.

He made a mental note to do that later.

Loretta looked around the bar. Jane and Will and Chelsea had already set up a big table for them. Jillian Reynolds walked in behind her. Her face was smudged with dirt from the ball field.

“Hey, Jillian,” Loretta said. “You have dirt on your face.”

Jillian gave her a crooked smile. “I do? I guess I should go wash that off. I’ll be right back.”

Jillian skirted to the restroom and Loretta headed to the table.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t play with us tonight, Chelsea,” Loretta said as she pulled up a chair.

“Oh, I never play. Sports are not my thing. But Bash plays when he has a night off, which he didn’t tonight, unfortunately. Good thing you were there, though. I was just filling him in on how good you were.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

Sam and Reid came in just as they got their drinks, followed by Emma and Luke and Des and Logan. Molly and Carter arrived shortly thereafter.

“Now it’s a party,” Sam said, lifting her glass of wine. “To Loretta, a great addition to the Blasters softball team.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Emma said, “even if it is just iced tea.”

“Between the nursing mothers and the pregnant women around here, there aren’t too many of us drinking alcohol these days,” Loretta said.

“Oh, we’ll more than make up for what the rest of them aren’t drinking,” Molly said with a wink.

“Agreed. I’m single, not pregnant, and more than willing to have a drink or two,” Jillian said.

Loretta noticed Jane was drinking a glass of water, but she’d heard no official announcement yet, so she wasn’t about to ask. Instead, she decided to order an appetizer or two for the table in celebration.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, then got up and headed to the bar.

“What can I do for you, slugger?” Bash asked.

She laughed. “How about an order of some nachos and potato skins?”

“I’ll have those right up for you.”

“Great. Thanks, Bash.” She turned and had started to push away from the bar when three women surrounded her.

“I cannot believe you had the nerve to come back here.”

Loretta blinked, then sighed as she recognized them. Tanya Baker, Piper Swift, and Krista Friedman had been her three best friends in high school. They had been on the cheerleading squad together. They’d done everything together. They had been the fearsome foursome. Inseparable.

But now it was like they were mortal enemies, and for no other reason than Loretta had divorced Tom Simmons. And that, in their eyes, made Loretta a social pariah. This wasn’t her first run-in with them since she’d returned to Hope. They’d made their feelings about her clear when she’d first opened the bookstore. She’d hoped it would be the last time she saw them.

Apparently not.

“If you’ll excuse me, ladies.” Loretta started to make her way around Tanya, but Tanya stepped in her path.

“If you think we’re just going to allow you to have friends in this town, to laugh and have fun and have a business of your own as if you didn’t totally break the code, then you are wrong.”

The code? The code? She fought back a laugh. “Oh my God. That was in high school, Tanya. Twelve years ago.”

“And it still holds true today. You stay true to your man. You fly the colors of fidelity and honor.”

What a joke. If only they knew what a cheating bastard Tom had been. Of course, to women like this, that code only worked one way. Social status was everything, and sometimes sacrifices had to be made. Like sacrificing their own dignity and self-respect.

“Get out of my way.”

Piper moved in and got in Loretta’s face. “You will not succeed in this town. We will ruin you.”

She knew better than to engage them, but frankly, they were pissing her off.

“You three should get a life. And maybe grow up in the process.”

“Oh, we have lives,” Krista said. “Rich, successful ones. So did you, once, until you threw it away by divorcing a fine man like Tom Simmons. What were you thinking, Loretta? And taking up with the likes of that group over there?”

Krista motioned her head over to the table where her friends were sitting.

She couldn’t believe these women in front of her were once her friends. Maybe she’d been blind back then.

Okay, no maybe about it. There were a lot of things she’d been blind to all those years ago. But cold reality had hit her now. “Those people are my friends, and if you insult them, you insult me. Not that you have any understanding about what true friendship is like. Now get the hell out of my way before I knock you on your ass.”

Piper huffed. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.”

Josie had come up behind her. “What’s going on here?”

“Mind your own business, shortcakes,” Krista said.

Josie moved up to Loretta’s side, and there was fury on her face. “What are you, twelve?” She looked over at Loretta. “Are these girls bothering you?”

Loretta noticed Josie’s use of the term girls, instead of women. “They’re definitely bothering me.”

Piper looked over at Josie with disdain. “Sugar, go back to your table before someone hurts you.”

“Oh, it’s on. I’m not wearing earrings and I left my purse in the car, so I’ll be happy to kick the shit out of all three of you right here.”

“Is there a problem here?”

Deacon had shown up. So had the rest of her friends. All of them. The women as well as the men.

Krista sniffed. “Yes, there’s a problem, all right. But you can have her.”

Just as Loretta had suspected, as soon as they were outnumbered, their bravado evaporated. All three women pivoted and walked away.

“What the hell was that about?” Chelsea asked.

“Snobby bitches that I used to call my friends. But it’s over now, especially since Josie threatened to beat them up.”

“A little firecracker, aren’t you?” Zach asked, grinning at Josie.

“I got into my share of scrapes when I was younger. And those women looked like a gust of wind wouldn’t hold them up. I could have taken all three of them.”

Deacon laughed. “You threatened to do just that.”

Josie was obviously still pissed as she glared after the women who had walked back over to their table. “Loretta would have backed me up, wouldn’t you, honey?”

“You bet.”

Chelsea shot the group a vicious look as they headed back to the table. “Do we need to finish them off? Because I might be pregnant, but I think I could still take all three of them down.”

Bash came over from around the bar and put his arm around Chelsea’s shoulder. “Calm down and keep your heels on, tiger. I don’t think we’re going to have a girl brawl in the bar.”

“We’re not?” Zach asked. “Because I was about to lay money on our women. Those three looked like they wouldn’t dare do anything to break a nail.”

Loretta grinned. “Thanks for coming to my defense, all of you.”

“Want me to ask them to leave?” Bash asked. “Because I don’t have a problem booting their designer-clad asses out the door.”

Loretta laughed. “No, I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

Frankly, Loretta was surprised they had even shown up in Bash’s bar. Krista, Piper, and Tanya tended to congregate at the Hope Country Club, and she wouldn’t have thought they would ever stray to a bar like this. She got the idea this had been an ambush.

And a failed one, at that.

Chelsea was still shooting visual daggers at the women. “Well now you have to tell us all about them, because I love gossip.”

They took their seats, and Deacon sat next to her. “I’m going to want to talk to you about this later.”

She nodded, and smiled when he laid his arm around the back of her chair, as if he half expected the three women to come at her from behind.

She felt protected by her crew, and she couldn’t be happier about that.

She noticed the women had gotten up and walked out. Just as she’d surmised, they hadn’t come to the No Hope At All bar to hang out. They’d come here specifically to confront her.

“Well, the air is so much more breathable now that cloyingly designer-perfumed group has left,” Sam said with a wrinkle of her nose. “Who wants a drink refill?”

While Sam and Reid went to refill their drinks, Josie turned to Loretta. “So what is it with those women?”

Loretta grabbed her beer and leaned back in her chair. “We were best friends growing up and all through high school. We were cheerleaders together. We did everything together. But I guess their idea of friendship and mine don’t exactly mesh. After I divorced my ex and moved back to Hope, they stopped in the bookstore to . . . express their extreme disappointment in my life choices.”

Josie frowned. “What? Why?”

“Because they’re all about social status. My ex is running for Congress. His family is well connected here in Hope.”

“They’re the country club type,” Chelsea said.

“Oh.” Jillian wrinkled her nose. “So money and status mean more than lifelong friendship.”

She stared down at her bottle of beer. “I suppose so.”

“Well, screw that,” Molly said. “You don’t need them when you have us. We may not be fancy money people, but we’ll always have your back.”

Emma nodded. “Absolutely. Consider us your lifelong friends now.”

Sam held up her glass of wine. “Let’s drink to true friendship, where we don’t give a damn about money or social status or how fancy your shoes are.”

Chelsea nodded. “This is true. I have fancy shoes, and you all love me anyway.”

Loretta laughed. “I really like you people.”

“Give us time, Loretta,” Chelsea said. “You’ll fall madly in love with us.”

She glanced over at Deacon, who gave her an enigmatic look.

Loretta gave the entire table a grateful smile. “Oh, I have no doubt of that.”