Page 43 of Mom Ball

“We’re not—” Brooke and I answer in unison.

We face each other, and I’m tempted to say “jinx,” but act my age. I’m more focused on the “not” being part of both our answers.

“Nate’s kind enough to help us get this team going. He’s being a good friend.”

Mom nods, looking a little sad. When we don’t give her any more grains of gossip, she turns and heads for the door.

“Okay, Timothy, you’re up first.” I hand him a bat and have him stand at the plate.

“Hey, Mama?” he calls while I’m adjusting the pitching machine.

“Yeah?” Brooke asks.

“Why did Ms. Miller say it was good to see you and Nate together again?”

I take a deep breath. Kids ask a lot of questions, and I’d been prepared to answer them all day. But the questions I rehearsed concerned baseball, not my past love life.

“We grew up together and went to the same school.” Brooke half smiles at Timothy.

He nods. “Oh yeah.”

She turns to me and bites her bottom lip. I swallow. That should not make me want to kiss her, but it does. However, I need to focus on helping these kids and not helping myself win back Brooke.

Just because we grew up together doesn’t mean we’re destined to grow old together.

CHAPTER 10

Brooke

After Anne’s slight interrogation, I could really use a cookie. Too bad she took off as soon as we shut down her idea.

I can’t say whether she would want me to be with her son after I broke his heart once. Still, Anne has never been anything but sweet and supportive of me and Timothy. Even though she has no clue he’s her grandson.

Nate turns off the pitching machine, and I start collecting the rubbery balls we used for it. He points to the ground where Reece dropped his cape.

“Don’t forget your cloak, bud.”

Reece ducks back under the net and grabs the cape, then hurries toward the center of the floor with everyone else. I smile at Nate. “That was pretty impressive how you got him to take off the cape.”

“Thanks.” He grins. “It might backfire on me later when he figures out there are no Quidditch games to save it for.”

I laugh. “Whatever works. When you’re a parent, you do what’s best for the present and worry about the repercussions when they come.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” He grabs the bucket I filled with balls and holds the net up for me.

“Thanks.” I duck under it and wait on him.

“For what it’s worth, you’ve done a great job with Timothy.”

“Thanks.” My voice is almost a whisper. The guilt of knowing he doesn’t know Timothy belongs to him is almost too much. Speaking of later repercussions, I’m afraid the day he finds out will be brutal.

Luckily, Nate leaves me to round up the rest of the kids. I hang back and watch while Reece hands his cape to his mom. She almost tears up and mouths a “thank you” to Nate. Now I almost tear up.

He would make a great dad. Not that I ever had any doubt. My only hesitation was making him a dad before he needed to be.

Morgan stands in the center of the parents while the kids follow Nate and Ethan outside. By the time I reach the group, only Georgia and Aniston remain. Everyone else is out the door.

Georgia’s arms are folded and she narrows her eyes on me. Aniston wears a mischievous smirk, and I’m a little scared to know what’s going on.

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