Chapter 6

Luke

“Thanks, Coach.” Danny waved from his mom’s car as I got in my old truck that I used to carry equipment.

He was the last of my players picked up for practice. Some of the parents didn’t get off work until six, so I’d made it a habit of staying around to throw the ball with their kids until they showed.

“Take care, Danny.” I cranked the old beast and drove her out to the local dive, so I could get a nice iced cold one.

Finn had our usual table full of peanut shells, and I walked up and pushed them aside spilling them to the floor. The owners preferred it, and it did wonders for the floor. “You’re making a mess.” I held out my hand, and he took it giving it a shake.

Finn, who was a few years older and constantly down on his luck with everything in his life except for women, had been a friend for years.

“Yeah, man. I’ve been sitting for an hour now, can’t you tell. Let me guess; you was babysitting again?” He’d given me a hard time about coaching Little League, but some of the best memories I had as a kid involved a baseball diamond.

“Yeah, man. I can’t leave the kids sitting out there all alone. They’re eight-year-olds.” I motioned to the waitress who knew my usual and headed off to get it.

“When I was eight I was driving a car and working.” Finn was also one of those men who had walked to school uphill both ways barefoot in the snow to hear him tell it. He always had a story and an opinion.

“I saw you at the fair with that new girl, the doctor’s kin. Is she staying next door too?” Finn rubbed his whiskers and knocked the dust off his cap before putting it back on his head.

“Yeah, her name’s Harper, and I’m not ashamed to admit that while I’m interested, she’s not.” I took my beer from the waitress and turned it up. The amber liquid quenched my thirst, and with any luck, it would quench my hunger for Harper.

“You’ve got to keep pushing, man. Women want two things, to be heard and to be told. Be that guy and trust me you’ll get what you’re after.” I thought about Harper and what she might want, but I couldn’t help thinking his advice, however sincere, would get me slapped. She wasn’t the local pushover, she was Nora’s sister and had city street smarts to boot.

I took another pull from my beer and cracked a peanut tossing the shell to the floor with the others. “She’s only around for another week or so.”

Finn kicked my leg under the table. “Then what they hell are you doing here? You better move fast. There’s no better lay than a woman on her way out of town. Hell, you won’t even have to date her. Go get you some.”

“I just might.” I downed the rest of my beer and then a couple more before leaving. By the time Finn was done with me, he’d given me enough determination to believe that Harper was going to give in.

I drove home and finding her wasn’t hard. She’d wandered to my property like a lost lamb not knowing it was dangerously close to the wolf’s den. I drove up beside her, and she crossed her arms over her front, closing the billowing sweater around her. “Either you really like it here, or you’re reconsidering my last offer?”

She gave me a sideward glance and shook her head. “You’re impossible and no. As for the first part, yes, I do quite like your yard better.”

“Then how about I take you on a proper tour? I could take you fishing tomorrow and show you my creek.” She stopped if only because I was running out of road and headed straight for my house.

“I don’t know.” She glanced off into the setting sun as it shone off her brown hair making it look lit with flames.

“I know you said you think friendship is best, so let’s be friends. Friends go fishing; it’s no big deal.” I patted the seat beside me. “Get in, and I’ll take you down to the creek and show you where we’re going.”

She huffed out a laugh and then gave me a look telling me she knew better than to get in the truck with me. “I’m not getting in your truck. I know where that leads.” She turned and started walking back down the drive, so I threw it in reverse.

“You’re going to make me wreck. Get in; I’ll take you home. It’s a long walk from here.” Her house was a good way across the field, but she shook her head and waved me off.

“You’ll make yourself wreck. No one told you to drive backward.” She stopped, and I could see the apology in her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

I sat and stared a moment thinking that I should probably keep pushing, but instead, I threw the ball in her court. “Do you want me to give up?” I had a feeling I knew the answer. This one wanted to play hard to get, and maybe for that, she was a lot like her sister who’d done quite a dance with Tanner.

Her eyes met mine with a dead stare. “No, I didn’t say that, but maybe it’s for the best.” She took a few steps and stopped. I hit the brakes, threw it in park, and got out. She stood across the drive with her hands on her hips. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“If you won’t let me drive you, then I’ll walk you. You can’t stop me from walking in my own yard.”

“You’re persistent. I respect that, even if it is pathetic.” Her gaze slid toward me, and she giggled. Her playfulness was refreshing, and I hoped that was a sign I was making better progress.

“Ouch. Right for the kill. You’re a brutal woman.”

“So I’ve been told.”

I took hold of her arm and pulled her to my chest. “Let me take you fishing.”

“Are you still asking?” She shook her head and averted her gaze.

“Would you rather be told what to do? I’m up for it.” I held her firm and glared deep into her eyes. There was a spark of something wild when I mentioned telling instead of asking and maybe my old buddy Finn was right. This one might not mind being led. But then she pulled away took off running ahead of me. Before I could run to catch up, she stopped and turned around.

“Keep asking; maybe you’ll catch me when I’m up for it too.” She broke into a jog, and I let her go. I didn’t have to go after her to pull her in. She wasn’t hanging around my house for nothing, and I had a feeling she’d be back.