Cowboy to the Rescue by A.J. Pine

Author:A.J. Pine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2019-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Ivy pulled her cap over her eyes and stared at the batter, then glanced at Casey, who was pitching. Her friend gave her a subtle nod, which meant she was sending the ball right over the plate, which in turn would mean a line drive to Ivy, who was covering first base. If she caught the ball, it would be the third out and a win for the Midtown Sluggers. If she didn’t, the bases would be loaded, and a grand slam would sink them.

No pressure.

Not like this was the big leagues or anything, but the Main Street Loungers from Quincy—aptly named after the pub who sponsored them—were their biggest rival. The Loungers had creamed them the last time they played each other, and tonight the Sluggers were on their home turf.

Ivy breathed in the fresh scent of the ponderosa pines that rose in the distance. Even in the small residential park, you could see the tree-lined hills that gave Meadow Valley its name. It was more than her grief that had swallowed her up in Boston. It was the city itself. Beautiful as it was and steeped in history, Ivy had longed for the comfort of home—for the place where she and Charlie grew up, where she could feel closer to the brother she still missed.

She wasn’t expecting a new reason to solidify Meadow Valley as the place she was meant to be. But there was Carter Bowen, climbing into the bleachers. He said he would come as soon as his shift ended—his boring cubicle office job shift—and there he was. They’d been seeing if this thing between them was real for three full weeks now. She counted the week they avoided each other in there because she’d spent each day thinking about him and wishing they weren’t avoiding each other.

These days they were very much not avoiding each other. Whether it was at her house, his room at the inn, or the afternoon she found him waiting in her office after she closed the shop—he’d snuck back there while she was helping one last customer—they’d pretty much not avoided each other all over town.

She smiled at the thought. No one had hit any home runs yet, but they’d been enjoying the game nonetheless.

And now he was here, watching her play softball of all things, and all she could think about was how much brighter Meadow Valley seemed with him around. Others would say it had to do with the incessant sun and lack of rain, but not Ivy. She’d smiled more in the last three weeks than she had in the past two years, and the summer sun had nothing to do with it.

Oof! A burst of pain in her shoulder woke her from her stupor.

“Foul!” she heard the referee call.

She saw Carter bolt up from his seat and then sit back down, like his instinct was to go to her, and despite how much the impact had hurt, her stomach flip-flopped.

“Time out!” Casey called, and she jogged over to first base.

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