Page 27 of Second Chance for the Single Mom

She gave me a pointed stare. I glared right back at her. This wasn’t arandommeeting. It wasn’t a sign.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Well, I came here to give that seven-year-apology to your sister.” He grinned broadly. “Now that’s over with, I can finally move on with my life.”

I chuckled, and he laughed with me.

Jordan unfolded a piece of paper from his pocket and reached up to hand it to me. “Your son mentioned he wants to play baseball. Tryouts were last week, but it’s not too late to join.”

I took the paper from him. It was a sign-up sheet.

“That’s why you came here?”

He nodded. “I think he’d do well in our Coach Pitch league. The minimum age is five, but we sometimes take boys his age. Especially when they show talent.”

I gave a start. That’s right: I had lied about Bran’s age in order to keep Lucas from figuring out he was the father.

“I havetalent?”Bran asked.

“Boatloads of it, kiddo,” Jordan said, mussing the boy’s hair.

“I don’t know,” I said. “This seems like a big commitment…”

“It’s really not,” Jordan replied. “If Bran realizes it’s not the right activity for him, you can pull him anytime.”

“Well… money’s tight right now,” I said. “I’m saving up for tuition in case he gets into the Worthington Academy.”

Jordan smiled. “Tell you what. Bring him to practice for a week, and then make a decision.” I hadn’t noticed until that moment, but he was holding a black leather glove and a baseball. “You can borrow these while you decide. Here you go.”

“For me?” Bran asked, eyes as wide as if this was Christmas morning.

“You bet, kiddo,” Jordan said. “If you practice really hard, your mom might bring you to practice next week.” He looked at me. “We meet every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”

“Thanks, Coach Jordy!” Bran exclaimed.

Jordan gave me a little wave, then walked back to his truck and drove away.

“That’sthe Jordan Mayfield you slept with the other night?” Sara said, rejoining us on the porch.

“What do you mean? You said you remembered him.”

“I remembered the string bean teenager who was a goofball half the time, and an asshole the other half,” Sara said, licking her lips. “I didn’t realize he had grown up to look likethat. No wonder you can’t stop thinking about him.”

“I never said that!”

“A sister can tell,” she replied. “Are you going to sign Bran up?”

“You know how Bran is,” I whispered. “He gets excited about hobbies for a day or two, then grows bored. By next Monday, he will have moved on to something else.”

But Bran didn’t move on. He spent the rest of the evening playing with his baseball and glove, then slept with them that night. Over the weekend, he recruited me, Sara, and Harper to throw the ball with him. It was all he wanted to do, all the time.

By Monday, I couldn’t deny it. This wasn’t a phase he was going to drop.

I was still resistant to putting him on a team coached by someone I’d slept with, so I spent Monday morning doing research while I was stuck greeting people at an open house. Unfortunately, tryouts had ended last week. If Bran wanted to play baseball, he would need to wait until the fall.

Or play for Jordan’s team.

“You can’t come,” I told Sara that evening while Bran and I got ready to go.

---