Page 67 of Forbidden Love

“Why are you just hanging out?” Tyler said when his group took a break.

“It seemed like you had a lot of hands already, and I thought it would be good for me to talk to the parents.”

“In my fantasies, you were helping out, holding tools—you know, hammering something.” He cocked his head to the side, a sparkle in his eye.

“Hmm. That does sound nice.” For him. It sounded like my working with him was a fantasy of his. “Do you have something for me to do?”

He turned so his hips were facing the area we’d been working. “As the boss, I think you should hammer in the first beam.”

“Are you sure about that? I don’t have any skills with tools or anything.” My abilities began and ended with blueprints of houses.

He gave me a look. “You’re the face of this project.”

“I don’t know about that. I’m more the money person. I’m really great behind the scenes.” I enjoyed being here and celebrating, but building something? I hadn’t expected to have much involvement in that. “I’m more eye candy than someone who’s useful.”

He drew me in to his side. “You’re the best eye candy, but that’s not going to fly.” And then louder to the group, he said, “It’s time to start hammering in the first few pieces. I think Miss Kylie should do the honors. What do you think?”

The kids cheered.

Tyler grinned. “Don’t be afraid. This is going to be fun.”

“I’m not afraid.” I was a little worried, but I’d seen the way Tyler patiently explained the process to the kids. Surely, he would help me too.

“Before we get started, I wanted to let you know the math behind this build. The dugouts have to be along the first and third base lines. They can’t be too far down or the players could be at risk of being hit by a ball.” Tyler gestured to the areas. “That’s why when we’re done with the building, we’ll add a fence to the front. If you’ve ever watched a major league game,”—a few kids nodded their heads—“the players hang on a half wall, but since this is for kids, the fence will go to the ceiling of the dugout so no one gets hit by fly balls. The dugout itself is an enclosed space, and there’s no way for you to escape if something happens.”

The girls’ eyes were wide as they took in everything he’d said. It was important that they understood the safety issues surrounding what they were building. Tyler wanted them to understand every aspect of the build, and I could already envision these kids being able to recite the information to their friends when asked about it.

I noticed a reporter hanging around. I’d reached out to the paper about the baseball game, and I was pleased she’d come.

“Major league fields have sunken dugouts so fans can see over it, but we don’t need that here. The bleachers are to the side, so we always build them on grade, which means level with the ground.”

A few of the kids were hanging on his every word, and I wondered if he’d created a desire to build in some of them.

“Since this is a softball field, this corner of the dugout should be no closer than thirty-five feet from home plate.” Tyler pointed to the corner, where they’d already built what would be the base of the dugout.

I remembered from the specs that the building itself would be eight feet deep, ten feet tall, and twenty feet long.

“These are concrete blocks we placed before you arrived. It provides a sturdy foundation for the rest of the building. We also placed the steel frames so that our build will survive winds and storms once it’s up. Now, who’s ready to build the dugout?”

The girls and parents cheered, and Tyler motioned for me to come closer. I was nervous but hopeful that I could do it. He handed me safety goggles that I placed over my eyes.

Mac and Sam arranged the beams how they were supposed to go, and Tyler handed me a drill and a screw.

“We’ll use screws to connect the joints to make it sturdier,” Tyler said as he showed me where to place the screw and how to use the drill. The kids gathered around, but I felt confident with Tyler’s instructions to give it a try.

My nerves kicked up when the drill powered on, but I remembered that the kids were watching me. If I didn’t try something new, why should they?

I bit my lip as I slowly held the screw in place and then used the drill to screw it into the wood. When it was flush with the wood, I sat back on my heels and turned off the drill. “I hope you have extras in case I screwed that up.”

“That was perfect,” Tyler said. “Why don’t you work on the next one? Mac and Sam will get more of you started on the hammering and nails and the other corner.”

“Was it really perfect?” I asked him when the rest of the group moved to the side to get started on another part of the project.

Tyler smiled proudly. “Couldn’t have done it better myself.”

“You’re a good teacher.” An unexpected tenderness curled around my heart.

“I’ve always led a crew but never really thought about whether I was good at instructing. Most people come to me with experience.”

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