Page 14 of Sliding Into Love
Or do what they came to do and play ball.
Together, Ethan and Jase walked to where the balls were kept. Ethan filled a small bucket and held one out to Jase. For some reason, his face had gone red again.
“Got your glove?” Ethan asked and started jogging backward to toss the ball back and forth.
Jase nodded, adjusted his hat, and shuffled his feet in the clay, sending up a puff of red dust.
“Go on, throw one to me. I’m ready when you are,” Ethan called.
Jase remained silent, and though Ethan wouldn’t have thought it possible, his face turned a shade redder.
As Ethan remembered what he’d learned about the kid, realization jolted through him. Jogging over, he got down at eye level with him.
“Jase, have you ever thrown a baseball before?” Ethan asked, lowering his voice. He fought to keep his voice steady at the answer he already knew was coming.
With a tiny movement, Jase shook his head and looked down, scuffing the toe of his shoe. “My—nobody ever taught me.”
Well, that he could do. “I’ll teach you.” Ethan held out one of the balls from the bucket. “Hold it like this.”
For the next fifteen minutes, Ethan showed Jase how to hold a ball properly, and they started with easy underhand throws and quickly worked up to overhand. Ethan had just begun to teach Jase how to throw a real pitch when Derek and Ivy came over to watch. Jen followed them with raised brows.
Ivy gave Jase a big smile and a wave, and Derek did a double thumbs-up. Jase waved back and turned to face Ethan, and while he wasn’t smiling, exactly, a lot of the tension in his face had disappeared. Ethan’s own anxiety had nearly drained away, and the realization was… interesting.
Shoving his hand into his glove and flexing it, Derek joined Jase and Ethan before calling Jen over too.
“Hey, buddy, do you want to throw with me and Jen?”
Jase looked at Ethan as though he were asking for permission, which completely bewildered Ethan.
“Go ahead,” Ethan said. “I’m going to go…over there.”
Derek, Jase, and Jen tossed the ball in a triangle formation, and Ethan tried not to think about what kind of shitty parent wouldn’t even spend the time to teach their little boy how to throw a ball.
“Ethan?” Ivy’s voice cut through the rage pulsing through him.
He stopped pacing but didn’t look at her, gnawing on the inside of his cheek instead.
“Is he okay?” she asked. “Did he have fun?”
“Yeah, I think so,” he said between clenched teeth, still not looking at her. “He’s doing pretty well for someone whose parents wouldn’t teach him.”
“Oh,” Ivy said. “I didn’t know.” Her voice cracked, sadness wreathing her soft features.
“At least that’s the impression I got. But he’s having fun now. Look.” Ethan pointed to where Derek was dancing around, pretending to drop the ball Jase threw at him. Jase wore a proud grin, while Jen egged him on, yelling mild insults at Derek.
Once again, Ethan’s breath was knocked out when Ivy wrapped strong arms around him. This time, when she squeezed him, he awkwardly patted her back until she let go.
He tried not to notice how perfectly her soft curves fit against his hard planes.
“I’m sorry.” Ivy took a step back. “I’m a hugger. Derek and Lily are too, so sometimes I forget other people…aren’t.”
Is she apologizing for hugging me?
“No, no, it’s okay,” he stammered like an idiot. “It’s nice.”
She dimpled up at him.
“Thank you, again,” she said, stopping him before he responded. “I know I’ve said it a lot, but as a former foster kid myself, you making time to spend with him is incredible, and it means a lot to him. And to me.”
