Lachlan
“Where are we?” Julia asked as I put my SUV into park, bright lights visible in the distance.
I killed the ignition, turning to her. “Somewhere important to me.”
I jumped out of the car, then hurried around to open her door, helping her down. Thankfully, I had the foresight to stop by Julia’s house first so she could change. As incredible as she looked in the dress and heels, I wanted her to be comfortable tonight. And in the white, linen sundress, Egyptian-style sandals laced up her legs, hair in loose waves, face relatively free from makeup, she definitely seemed much more at ease.
“‘Hale Field. Home of Little Dreamers Little League,’” she read through squinted eyes as we neared the field house, the sound of bats hitting balls intermingling with clapping and cheers of encouragement. “What is this?”
“My good deed.”
As I led her through an opening in the chain-link fence, two baseball fields came into view, both currently in use.
“Your good deed?” she repeated, looking around in amazement.
“This island may be a paradise to some, but away from the tourist attractions and posh beach houses, there’s a lot of poverty. The school dropout rate is high. As is the crime rate. There are a lot of at-risk youth. Kids who, if they learned discipline, learned how to work as a team, might have a chance at a future. So that’s what I give them.” I gestured at the fields. “An opportunity to play baseball at no cost, other than their time and effort.”
Mouth agape and eyes wide, she slowly scanned her surroundings, taking it all in.
I wasn’t sure what compelled me to bring her here. For some reason, I wanted her to know this part of me. Didn’t want her to only see the Lachlan Hale everyone else knew. Wanted her to understand what made me tick. What drove me to keep doing what I did.
Maybe to see that, despite what she’d learned about me last night regarding the role I played in Piper’s death, I was still a good person.
That I was worthy of her forgiveness. Her acceptance.
“How big is your league?” she asked.
“We sponsor twelve teams. We play other leagues on the island throughout the spring and summer. For most of these kids, baseball is the only good thing in their lives. They were at risk of failing out of school, turning to drugs or crime. But once we got them into baseball, taught them the importance of being a team player, of taking responsibility for their gear and showing up on time, it filtered into all other areas of their life. Kids who could barely muster Cs and Ds were suddenly getting As and Bs. All because of baseball.”
With every word I spoke, my passion increased.
“That’s something people don’t give sports enough credit for. Yes, we tend to glorify these amazing players, myself included. But we all started here. On a field just like this. We all put in thousands of hours of hard work to get to the point where people idolize us. But even without dreams of playing professionally, organized sports can still change a person’s life. Look at these kids.” I waved my arm at the dozens of teenagers in uniforms, cheering on their teammates, working together to play the best game they could. To “leave it all out on the field”, as my high school coach always said.
“All these young men were just one decision away from turning to a life of crime. Now they have bright futures ahead of them.
“And we have the same exact program for girls. A softball program where—”
Before I could finish, Julia flung her arms around me, pressing her lips against mine. Now it was my turn to be taken by surprise. But it only lasted a second before I melted into her, savoring in her warmth. Her taste. Her everything.
“The more time I spend with you, the more you surprise me,” she confessed.
“Good surprise or bad surprise?”
“Good surprise.” She smiled before her expression fell, a vulnerability about her. “And, if I’m being honest, a scary surprise, too.”
I cupped her cheek, resting my forehead on hers. “You’re a scary surprise, too,” I admitted in a rare moment of honesty. But if she was willing to be vulnerable, so was I.
I peered at her, wanting to ask what she was thinking, see where her head was after the events of last night, but before I could, a familiar voice interrupted, bringing back memories of my own early baseball days.
“I heard rumblings through the crowd you were here.”
Stepping away from Julia, I looked up as a man wearing a baseball cap and polo shirt bearing the league’s logo walked toward us.
“I knew you were on the island, but shit, man. You could have given me a heads-up.”
“Sorry, Coop,” I offered, taking his hand as he pulled me in for a hug. “It was kind of a last-minute decision.”
“No apology necessary. It’s good to see you.” He pulled back, looking at me with pride. Then he stole a glance at Julia before raising a brow in my direction, obviously surprised to see me with a woman. I couldn’t blame him. Considering he’d been like a father to me during my high school years and even after, he was more than aware of my reasons for not dating.