Summer Nights

“I see. A person with principles. How annoying.” She passed over the paperwork. “Make sure I have a number where you can be reached. I’ll be in touch as soon as the courts process the paperwork and the divorce is final.”

* * *

THE FOOL’S GOLD MOUNTAINEERS were a short season A-league baseball team with a reasonably good win-loss record. Or so Shane overheard as he waited with Rafe. The stadium was on the small side, but recently refurbished, with an enthusiastic midweek crowd.

“I told you,” Rafe said, pushing Shane toward the ticket collector. “It’ll be good for you.”

“I don’t have time for a game. I have work to do.”

“You’re moping. You need to get out.”

“Get off me.”

Shane really wanted to say something else, but there were too many old ladies in the crowd, not to mention kids and just ordinary people who probably wouldn’t appreciate him swearing loudly in public.

Damned good manners, he thought grimly.

“She’s already talked to a lawyer and had the paperwork filed,” Rafe said, handing over his ticket, then accepting the torn half back.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shane insisted, following him into the stadium.

“You’re acting like you’re five. Annabelle. I’m talking about Annabelle. The petite redhead who’s got you seeing stars?”

Shane looked past him. “It’s weird. There’s a buzzing sound in my head. Like an annoying fly or something.”

Rafe chuckled. “You can pretend you don’t care all you want but I know the truth. You’re pissed. I’m just saying, she didn’t do anything wrong. She really did think she was divorced, the papers have been filed with the court and then it’ll be done. Some lawyer in North Carolina screwed up. You shouldn’t blame her for that.”

“Did I say I wasn’t talking about this?” Shane asked, wondering why Rafe was trying so hard. Heidi must have put him up to it. After all, Heidi and Annabelle were friends.

Just when he was starting to trust Annabelle, too. He’d begun to tell himself that despite having seen her dancing on a bar, she wasn’t into drama. He already knew that she could go fifteen minutes without needing to be the center of attention. But the minute he let down his guard, her ex showed up, insisting they weren’t divorced.

His gut told him it was okay to trust her. His head reminded him that he’d been fooled before.

Once inside the stadium, Shane looked around. The ads on the inside of the fences were the old-fashioned painted kind. Only the scoreboard was electronic. There was a handful of vendors set up by the stairs to the seats and an old guy in a yellow T-shirt selling programs.

“Over there,” Rafe said, pointing.

Shane glanced in that direction and saw a group of men sitting together. Ethan Hendrix was waving at them. Shane saw Kent next to him. There were a few other guys he recognized. Josh Golden, the former world champion cyclist, was talking to Raoul Moreno.

“That guy on the end is Tucker Janack,” Rafe told him. “His company is building the casino and hotel just outside of town. Next to him is Simon Bradley.”

“The doctor. Right. We met him when Montana’s baby was born.”

“The man on the other side of him is Finn Andersson,” Rafe continued. “You know Cameron.”

Shane nodded at the local vet.

They walked up to where the other men sat. There was a lot of handshaking and backslapping. The oldest one of the group was Max Thurman, boyfriend of the Hendrix mom.

Shane found himself seated between Cameron and Kent. The beer vendor was waved over and a fight nearly broke out as everyone offered to pay. Shane chuckled as Raoul and Josh tried to arm wrestle for the privilege of picking up the tab and he figured the guy selling beer probably walked away with a fifty-dollar tip.

Kent passed him a beer. “You getting settled okay?”

Shane nodded. “I’m having a place built on the land I bought. Until then, I’m staying with my mom, Glen, Heidi and Rafe. The house is a little crowded.”

Kent chuckled. “I won’t make fun of you, dude. I stayed with my mom when I moved back.”

“When was that?”

“Last year.” Kent sipped his beer. “I’m a math teacher at Fool’s Gold High School.”

“No way. Seriously?”

“Yup.” Kent chuckled. “I never expected that to happen. But in college, I really enjoyed math. The summer between my sophomore and junior year, I worked at an academic camp for middle school kids in Colorado. That was it for me. When I went back to college that fall, I changed my major, got my credentials and now I’m a math teacher.”

“Sounds like you enjoy your work.”

“I do. I teach a range of classes, including the advanced students, studying calculus, and the kids who can barely add. Both are satisfying, in different ways.”

“Not just the smart kids?”

He shrugged. “The smart kids are probably going to do well regardless of who’s running the class. The ones who are having trouble need me. When I can take a kid who hates math and then get him or her to understand a few principles, they light up. Suddenly they realize they can be good at something difficult. It’s not that they’re dumber than everyone else, it’s that no one took the time to help them. With the fundamentals in place, the world opens up.”

Kent shifted in his seat. “I get carried away.”

“Impressive,” Shane admitted. “You’re the teacher everyone wants to have.”

“I like what I do. I’m also the assistant baseball coach in the spring, but that’s only part-time. Math is my thing.” He glanced at the field where the players were warming up, then back toward Shane. “Too bad being a math teacher isn’t exactly a chick magnet.”

Shane grinned. “Is that a problem? Aren’t there plenty of single women in Fool’s Gold? I keep hearing that.” Although he was really only interested in one. Unfortunately, nothing about Annabelle was easy.

“I guess.” Kent took another sip of his beer. “I’m not interested in dating, really. I was, ah, married before.”

“Me, too,” Shane said in a low voice. “Divorce is hell.”

“Tell me about it. My parents were in love until the day Dad died. All my sisters are happily married. So is Ethan. The only reason Ford doesn’t have the perfect wife is because he’s in the military, traveling all the time. Otherwise, I’m sure he’d be married with a couple of kids. Now Mom has Max. I’m the relationship screw-up.”

Shane wanted to offer comfort, but he was in no position to do so. It wasn’t as if he had figured out his personal life, either.

“You’ve got a kid,” he pointed out instead. “That’s something.”

Kent nodded. “Reese is great. I’m lucky to have him. It’s just…”

He looked around, as if making sure everyone else was busy with their own conversations. “It’s been over a year and I still miss her, you know?”

“Your ex?”

“Yeah. Lorraine was ‘the one’ and now she’s gone. I keep thinking she’ll come back. That she’ll realize she needs us. But I’m kidding myself. She doesn’t need anybody. It’s hard on Reese.”

“Doesn’t he see his mom?”

Kent shook his head. “She walked out on both of us. She’s never around, never calls. He doesn’t say much, but I know he misses her.”

Shane swore under his breath. He couldn’t imagine a woman acting like that when it came to her own child.

“Have you started dating?” he asked.

“No.” Kent shrugged. “My mom’s been on me about it and my sisters mention it now and then. Even Reese says I should move on. But why? So I can date someone I’ll never care about? What’s the point?”

The point was to heal and then have a life. Kent sounded like he was caught up in the past and that was never good.

Sure, Shane had suffered through a tough divorce, too, but he’d managed to move forward. It wasn’t as if his ex still got to him. He didn’t use her to define the other women in his…

He tightened his hold on his beer as the uneasy truth settled on him. He wasn’t as different from Kent as he would like. The truth was that Rachel was the yardstick by which he’d carefully measured Annabelle. All of Annabelle’s actions were judged according to what his ex would have done. The two women had never met, had almost nothing in common, yet in Shane’s mind, they were exactly the same. Hardly fair to any involved party.

“Attention, everyone,” Josh said as he rose.

The group went quiet.

“This is the first time we’ve all been together without the women around,” he said with a grin. “Not that we don’t love our ladies.”

“Charity deserves a whole lot better than you,” Ethan yelled.

Josh laughed. “Yes, she does, but she loves me. Which makes me the luckiest man here.” He held up his plastic cup of beer. “Every man who got some last night, raise your glass.”

Shane and Kent groaned as all the married men, and Rafe, lifted their beers.

“And that, gentlemen,” Josh said to Shane and Kent, “is why it’s good to be married.”

Cups were raised and toasts accepted. Shane patted Cameron on the shoulder. “Beats looking after goats or giving cats vaccinations, doesn’t it?”

Cameron grinned. “It’s nice to get away, but by the time the game is over, I’ll be happy to get back to my girls.”

“How old is your daughter?”

“Almost nine.”

“So you’re a long way from worrying about her dating.”

Cameron winced. “I hope so. I was dreading that. Most teenage girls don’t want their dads tagging along on the date and that’s pretty much the only way I was going to let her go out. Now Rina can help keep me calm.”

“Fool’s Gold is a great place to raise kids. I grew up here,” Shane said.

“Rina and I are looking forward to having children together and Kaitlyn is very excited about being a big sister.” Cameron drew in a breath. “When my wife left, Kaitlyn was a newborn. I was terrified. What did I know about taking care of a baby? But I got through it and Kaitlyn and I became a family. Then Rina came along and she made everything complete. Life is funny that way. Little miracles show up when we least expect them.”

The players moved to the baselines and the announcer asked everyone to stand for the national anthem. Shane rose, along with his friends. They sang together.

When the last notes died, everyone cheered. The players took their positions and the game began.

The Mountaineers’ pitcher struck out the first three at bats. The first hit for the home team was an over-the-fence home run. Shane yelled with everyone else, enjoying the home team’s skill. Josh and Raoul joked about who was more famous in town. Ethan offered Shane advice on the house Shane was having built. Simon and Cameron talked different breeds of dogs with Finn. Tucker and Kent debated mathematical averages in trying to beat the house in casino gambling.

Shane enjoyed the afternoon, the game and the company, but in the back of his mind, he couldn’t stop thinking about Kent and Cameron and the women in their lives. Both men had suffered through disastrous marriages. Kent was stuck—still hurt, still waiting for Lorraine to return. He had his kid and his work, but was he happy? Was there contentment, or just a sense of longing for what he would never have again?

Cameron had gone another direction. He, too, had dealt with a child as a single father. But instead of retreating, he’d opened his heart to Rina and was now happily married. He’d let go of the past—something he had to do before he could move on.

Shane knew he could go in either direction. He could stay lost in anger and bitterness, remembering what had happened until he didn’t have room for anything else. Or he could let go and move on. The choice was his, and whatever he chose, there would be consequences.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“YOU MUST REALLY LOVE HER,” Shane said as Khatar tossed his head after flawlessly executing the complicated step sequence they’d been working on.

The horse pranced a couple of paces to the left, then went to the right, starting the steps over again.

“You don’t need me here, do you?” Shane asked. “You can do this all on your own.”

Khatar moved closer and gently butted him. Shane rubbed the horse behind the ears.

Since falling for Annabelle, the once-difficult stallion had become a friendly, easygoing animal. Shane wasn’t about to turn him loose in a playschool, but the change was remarkable. He wondered if Khatar’s previous trainers had simply assumed he would be difficult and had treated him accordingly before he’d had a chance to prove himself. He’d reacted to their assumptions. Or was he giving the horse too much credit?

He led Khatar across the yard, toward the large pen next to Priscilla’s. After a morning of hard work, Khatar deserved a little freedom in the big one-acre fenced area.

A black Mercedes drove up by the stable and came to a stop. Shane recognized the vehicle and the man who stepped out of it. His good mood faded and he was ready to put his fist through something. Or someone.

“Good morning,” Lewis called. “I’m here to see Annabelle.”

Shane felt Khatar tense. The horse raised his head, as if trying to appear even bigger.

“Right back at you,” he muttered to the horse, then glanced over at Lewis. “She’s not here.”