here—the grass was well-maintained, and the clubhouse looked bigger and freshly painted. His eyes landed on the sign above the entrance: Chase Taynor Field. He dropped his head back against the leather of his headrest. Great. The expectations just kept getting higher. His parents had never mentioned that the field had been renamed.
He’d spent the day driving around Parker Falls, reacquainting himself with all the changes that had happened in the years he’d been gone. Though he’d teased Jess about nothing being different around town, there were a lot of things that he’d noticed just weren’t the same. He had managed to go all day without being recognized, which had been a relief.
Now, taking a break from his tour, he scrunched down in his seat and checked his messages. Nothing. Nothing from Spencer, and nothing from Heather. After he’d ignored her call at the diner, he’d tried several times to call her back, only to be sent straight to voice mail.
Chase let his mind drift to seeing Jess at the diner. He guessed he’d been hoping that she’d somehow lost her appeal since their breakup. It would have soothed his bruised ego. Petty, but he was starting to get the picture that the person he’d grown into these past few years wasn’t the most upstanding of guys anyway. And that realization was gnawing at him more and more. This trip home was supposed to have been an escape, not another headlong leap into old misadventures, but he couldn’t keep himself from wanting to see Jess again.
Between worrying about his career, his failing relationship, and the friction with his dad, he didn’t need a complication like Jess popping into his life, but the pull was definitely there. Chase rested his head on his steering wheel, feeling overwhelmed. It honked loudly. As if he’d conjured her, across the park, Jessica appeared and noticed Chase. He slunk down farther in his seat.
Jessica squinted. “Chase? Chase!” She waved and then walked over to his car.
Be cool, Taynor.
“Hey!” she said with that million-watt smile on her face. He had been stupid to think that her attractiveness would have waned at all in the years he’d been away. If anything, she was prettier.
Chase faked having just seen her—probably poorly—and gave her a big smile. “Oh, hey. How’s it going?”
“Good!” She looked at him slightly askance.
“Good,” he responded somewhat dumbly.
“What are you doing here?” There was a small crease between her eyebrows. She eyed him warily.
She thinks you’re a stalker. Chase scrambled for an explanation.
I’m checking out my field. No, that sounded arrogant.
Just cruising around town! What? Why? Because he wasn’t actually a middle-aged man, but a teenaged boy?
“I’m just, uh, I have a…there’s a loose wire underneath my dash here.” Smooth. It’s got rental plates, genius. She knows it’s not yours.
Jessica’s expression hadn’t changed. “Right. Do you need me to call for a tow?”
“No. No, I just fixed it. It’s all fixed now.”
Jessica, thankfully letting him off the hook he was squirming on, said, “So any news on the job front?”
“It’s percolating. It’s going to take a few days, though, but it’s looking really good.” Was he getting any better at lying? He didn’t think so.
“So in the meantime, you’re”—she searched for the words—“hiding out?”
Chase put on his dealing-with-the-press face. “Please. I’m not ‘hiding out.’ I am ‘lying low.’” That didn’t sound convincing, even to Chase.
“Besides, I mean, who doesn’t like the solitude of a plush sports car with a great stereo system?” As if he were really selling it, he rubbed the leather-encased steering wheel lovingly.
Jessica’s eyes narrowed. She’d always had the uncanny ability to see right through him—and his bravado.
“Come on. Out with you. There’s someone I want you to meet.” She beckoned a young boy over as Chase craned to see over the hood.
“Get out of the car. Come on!” she insisted.
Chase was pretty sure she had just used her mom voice on him—and, again, he was surprised at how attractive he found it. He climbed out of the Mercedes, giving the boy a genuine smile. He recognized the kid from the photo at the diner.
Chase asked, “And who’s this big guy?”
Wes skidded to a stop beside his mother. His eyes widened. “I’m Wesley.”
Jessica said, “Wes, this is Chase. We went to high school together.”
Chase held out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Jessica nudged Wes, who shook Chase’s hand. “Chase is a baseball player, too,” she explained to Wes.
Realization dawned. Wesley said, “Wait. You’re Chase Taynor? From Boston?”
“Yep, little man. One and the same.”
Chase braced for the kid to ask him about that ill-fated pitch, but instead, Wesley was silent with awe. When the boy had recovered, he seemed to need a little more verification than just his mom’s introduction.
“The Chase Taynor? We’re on Chase Taynor Field!” Wes exclaimed.
Chase laughed and found himself grinning wider. It had been a while since anyone had genuinely been impressed by him. Most of the platitudes he heard on a daily basis back in Boston came with strings attached. “Guess they had to call it something, right?”
With another gentle nudge, Jess moved Wes in the direction of the playing field. “All right, buddy. Let’s get back to work.”
Wesley whispered something to Jessica, eyeing Chase.
“No, honey,” she responded to the boy. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“But, Mom, just ask him,” Wesley pleaded.
Chase didn’t like the looks of this.
“Sweetie”—her voice had become stern—“I’m sure that he has other commitments.”
“But, Mom, you don’t know how to pitch. And there’s a real pitcher standing right here!”
Jessica sighed. “Wesley would like to know if you could help him with some baseball tips.”
“Uh, well, I am kind of busy,” Chase stammered.
Jessica said, “See, he’s kind of busy.”
“But he was just sitting in his car,” Wesley whined.
Chase couldn’t help but break into a laugh. “Kid’s got tenacity, huh?”
Wesley put on a pretty major case of puppy dog eyes. “C’mon.
