Page 48 of Once Upon a Summer Night

After stepping from his truck and following the voices out back, he soon found the Brooks out by the duck pond, Faye and Hannah on the chief’s wooden bench and Noah sitting cross-legged on the ground with Sunny the duckling in his lap. The chief’s growing flock of ducks waddling in a sea of yellow, black, white, and brown around him.

“Chase is here!” Noah set Sunny aside and came running to greet him. “Did you bring Smokey with you?”

Chase laughed, easing a black duffel bag from his shoulder. “No, I’m afraid cats aren’t usually big fans of car rides. But I did bring you something else.”

“You did? What is it?”

Hannah waved to him from her seat, one brow arched with curiosity. He gave her a wink, then knelt to pull a small baseball mitt from his bag. Noah’s eyes widened.

“Whoa, is that for me?”

“Sure is,” Chase said. “Try it on.”

With Chase’s help, Noah tugged it onto his left hand. It seemed to be the right size, but Noah worried that he couldn’t close the mitt fully around a baseball Chase also handed him.

“It will in time, it just needs to be used and broken in. Do you like it?”

“Iloveit.” Noah threw his arms around Chase’s neck to give him a tight hug, then half skipped, half ran to show the others. “Hannah! Aunt Faye! Look what Chase brought me!”

“Wow, that looks like a very nice, new mitt.” Hannah caught Chase’s eye. “What’s the special occasion?”

He shrugged. “Every boy should have a mitt. Noah admitted at the park the other night that he didn’t have one, so I thought it was time to remedy that.”

“That was very thoughtful of you, Chase,” Faye said. “You know, Hannah, I believe your old softball mitt is around here somewhere. Let me see if I can go find it.”

“You’re the best, Aunt Faye,” she said.

“Where’s the chief?”

“Inside napping.” Faye winked as she rose from the bench. “I guess I was too tough on him this afternoon.”

Chase chuckled as she headed inside. Once she was out of view, he took the open seat beside Hannah, snuck a quick kiss, and squeezed her knee. “Good day so far?”

“Better now.” She offered him a smile. “Great call on the mitt.”

Better now?Damn, he hoped the guys at the station hadn’t given her too hard of a time today.

“Thanks. And don’t worry, we’ll practice tossing a tennis ball around to begin with.” No way did he want Noah getting an accidental black eye in the midst of their custody dilemma.

“Perfect. And I hear congratulations is in order?” At his look of panic, Hannah laughed. “I meant that you talked to my dad and he didn’t run you off. What did you think I was going to say?”

Heat rose in his cheeks, unwilling to spill that her father had been thinking much longer term than they had previously discussed. “With you, angel, I never know.”

Soon, Hannah’s mitt was found and the three of them spread out to play catch. Chase’s attention was divided between the boy he was coaching, and the woman with tension etched into her features. If she didn’t spill on what was bothering her soon, he’d have to find a way to drag it out of her.

Thankfully, the longer they played catch, the more relaxed she became. And though Noah struggled like all kids did at first, he was soon catching and trapping the ball like he’d been playing longer than a single afternoon. Chase said as much to Hannah when Noah ran inside for a bathroom break.

“Not sure if you knew this or not, but Bill Falco and I coach a T-ball team each summer that the station sponsors. I’ve worked with a lot of kids over the years, and Noah’s got some natural talent.”

“He did pick it up quicker than I’d expected,” she agreed.

“Next time you guys are over, maybe we can walk to the ball diamonds around the corner and I can bring a bat and stand. Curious to see how he swings.”

“No idea—baseball isn’t something we’ve done with him before.” She offered him a half smile. “Feeding the ducks was a little more Beth’s speed around the time he was old enough to try any of this.”

Chase pulled her into his side. “I’m sure it meant the world to her, having him there by her side.”

“Yeah, but she felt bad about it sometimes when she’d see other families throwing frisbees or playing catch. So, if Noah wanted to do sports, that’s when I would step in. Otherwise, I left him to be with his mama.” She looked out over the pond. “I miss her, Chase.”

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