Page 25 of Second Chance for the Single Mom

“We need to go,” I told Bran, squeezing his shoulder and turning him around. “When I tell you to stay in the car, that meansstay in the car. What if something happened to you?”

“Nothing happened! I was with Coach Jordy!”

“You know you’re not supposed to talk to strangers,” I added.

“You’re notlistening,” he whined. “He’s not a stranger. He’s Coach Jordy!”

I glanced over my shoulder. Jordan gave a little wave while watching us leave.

The two buyers were standing halfway between my car and the baseball field. “Maybe having a park so close isn’t a great idea,” the wife said with a laugh.

“This is a good problem to have,” I said with a chuckle. “I’d rather him want to play outside than sit in front of the TV all day!”

Fortunately, the scene at the park didn’t derail their enthusiasm about buying the house. By the time Bran and I got home, my office had sent them the paperwork and they had signed everything. If it went through—a big if—it would be the easiest commission of my life.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about my run-in with Jordan.

I didn’t really believe in fate. Random things sometimes happened in life, and it didn’t necessarilymeananything.

Yet this was too crazy of a coincidence to ignore. I hadn’t seen Jordan Mayfield in seven years, and then suddenly I ran into him twice in one week. It was so unlikely that I would have assumed he had orchestrated it as a way of seeing me, except that it was impossible. He couldn’t have predicted that I would get a last-minute showing at the house next to where he was coaching little league.

What were the odds?

“I’m looking at his Facebook profile,” Sara said one evening while we hung out on her front porch. “He’s been coaching little league for two years.”

“What does he do for a living?” I asked. “He was wearing dress clothes at the baseball fieldandat Lucas’s place. Like he’d just come from work.”

Sara scanned the page. “Doesn’t say. Actually, his page is mostly blank. He posts about little league practice and tryouts, but that’s about it.”

“Small world,” I muttered. “I have my first foursome, and then immediately run into one of the guys within a week.”

“Almost like it’s a sign…” Sara said.

“Don’t,” I warned, pointing a finger at her. “This is just a crazy coincidence.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences.”

“Easy to say when your whole life has gone according to plan,” I replied.

She blinked at me. “Woah. Asshole alert.”

“Sorry,” I said, glancing out at the yard where Bran was playing. “I’m not trying to take it out on you. The whole thing has me rattled.”

“Really? Why?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I had so much fun at Lucas’s place that night, and I convinced myself it was just a one-time thing. But then when I ran into Jordan today…”

“It’s because you saw him doing something fatherly,” Sara pointed out. “Last week, Harper replaced the doorknob on the bathroom door. And I pretty much jumped his bones.”

“Sara!” I hissed.

“What? You’re allowed to talk about your sex life but I’m not?” She waved a hand. “The point is, you saw Jordan coaching little league. Of course you can’t stop thinking about him now.”

I wanted to deny it, but I knew she was right. The simple act of doing something fatherly made me think about Jordan in a totally different way. He wasn’t just the goofball interrupting class every single day—he was an adult. He had matured.

Combined with the fun we had the other night…

“Have you thought about texting him?” Sara asked.

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