Not just a little nervous, either; he had multiple butterflies in his stomach, sweat was beading on his forehead, and his knees were noticeably shaking.

Closing his eyes, he did a few of the visualization and breathing exercises that a professional sports psychologist had taught him when he’d been a young pitcher but until now had never needed. Even while pitching in a post-season game, he didn’t remember being as anxious as he was right now. He might even find the whole thing funny if he wasn't so sure that he was about to throw up.

As he was trying to calm his churning stomach, Mark jogged over to talk to him.

“How are you doing?” he asked. “You look a little pale.”

“I’m okay. I’m just not used to playing infield, I guess. My nerves are catching up with me tonight.”

Mark grinned and patted him on the shoulder. “Well, we’re happy you could finally clear some time in your schedule to play tonight. It looks like you’re good for attendance too. The stands are full, and I doubt it’s me they’re here to watch.”

Scott looked around uneasily and jumped when a bright flash suddenly went off from the stands. Mark turned and smiled at the man holding the camera.

“Oh, and look, the town paper has even come out to see you play. You really are big-time,” Mark added teasingly. His smile dropped when he saw the look of distress on Scott’s face, and he placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. “Just ignore everything and focus on the game. You’ll be fine,” Mark said, smiling sympathetically. “No one expects an ex-pitcher to hit anyway. As long as you don’t completely miss a grounder, the Larkin Bay press corps should be kind.”

Scott grinned weakly. Mark’s words weren’t making him feel any better, but he just dropped his hand and jogged away, chuckling. A few minutes later, the national anthem was sung by a few girls from the local Girl Scout troop, and after scattered applause for their efforts, the game began.

“Doesn’t Scott look so cute in his small-town uniform?” announced Candy in the stands to those seated around her. “I could just eat him up; he’s so sweet.”

A few of the spectators at the game turned to smile openly at her, but many others simply gazed at her in wonder. Most of the crowd sitting in the bleachers were dressed in blue jeans and simple T-shirts with hoodies thrown on top to ward off the evening chill. Candy also wore jeans, but hers fitted her snugly all the way from her tiny waist down to her exposed ankles and were patterned with sparkly Swarovski crystals. Her ensemble was completed by patent white Jimmy Choo stilettos and a hot-pink tank top that strained at its buttons to hold in her ample cleavage. As she excitedly watched the game, she was as oblivious to the men around her sneaking peeks at her as she was to their wives, who were rolling their eyes.

Candy had never been quiet at baseball games, and she quickly became one of the loudest fans cheering for Scott’s team. She bounced up and down in her seat to show her approval or disappointment with every play and soon held everyone’s bemused attention. She was as much the night’s entertainment as the tight, low-scoring game on the field.

Scott, meanwhile, was busy concentrating on the game, and now that he knew that a few of the spectators had come specifically to see an ex–major league player in action, he was extra careful to make sure he executed every play cleanly. At the end of the fifth inning, he glanced at the stands before shaking his head and looking down at his feet, lamenting the fact that his team was one run behind.

Mark ran past him and commented on his dour expression. “Hey, buddy,” he said, “loosen up! Try not to worry so much about the score and just have fun. Besides, everyone is busy watching Candy in the stands, not you, anyway. You could probably lie down on the field right now and play dead and no one would notice.”

Scott looked over at the stands and saw that Mark was right. He winced as Candy used both hands to wave enthusiastically at him when she saw him look her way. He would have to talk to her after the game and tell her that she was going to have to tone down her excitement a bit.

The next few innings passed quickly, with Scott’s team managing a few excellent plays, and his shoulders relaxed completely after his team took the lead. Checking out the bleachers again at the end of the seventh inning, he watched the fans settle themselves back into their seats after following the volunteers who led them in stretching exercises as the song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” blared through the tinny speaker system.

The stands were almost full, and Scott shook his head in appreciation and disbelief that so many people had come out to watch a small-town baseball game. Looking over at the bleachers, he waved at Kara and Maeve and grinned when he saw that Jamie wasn’t with them.

Soon Scott was finally relaxed enough that he was starting to enjoy himself and had even decided that it was good for his law practice that so many of his new neighbors were watching him play tonight. As the umpire called the game to order, he settled in at second base to play the bottom half of the inning.

Two plays later, Scott had just taken his eye off the batter for a second to check on the position the lead-off runner was taking when the crack of the bat let him know the ball was coming hard and fast toward the pitcher. Bracing himself, Scott placed himself in the perfect position to back up the play when the ball suddenly took a tricky hop off the pitcher’s mound. It ricocheted into the air, then bounced up and over Scott’s mitt, hitting him hard in the forehead.

Reeling from the impact, Scott stayed upright for a moment before collapsing straight down—knocked out cold. This was a blessing, several people informed him later, since because he was unconscious, he didn’t have to hear Candy’s ear-shattering, piercing shrieks that followed.

Chapter Nineteen

Jamie’s steps were slow as he entered the conference room. He wasn’t feeling quite as confident as he had been the last time he’d met the development firm in the city, but he forced himself to stand tall and pull back his shoulders while smiling assertively. Straightening the cuffs peeking out from under his suit jacket’s sleeves, he addressed the gentlemen seated around the boardroom table. “I don’t think anything has changed except a family member has taken ill, and that’s moved the attention away from our offer,” he reassured them. “We may, however, want to consider talking to their lawyer and let them know we are willing to extend the timeline as we understand and sympathize with the family’s new circumstances.”

His suggestion was greeted with silence. Jamie frowned while steadily meeting the four pairs of eyes studying him.

Finally, after glancing around quickly at the others, one man spoke. “Of course we can be sympathetic, Jamie, and we are. But you led us to believe that this would be a quick and simple deal as well as a lucrative transaction. That’s why the terms were so favorable both for you for bringing the deal to our attention, and for the sellers. We’d be willing to extend the offer for a few more weeks, but after that, I’m afraid we’ll be looking at moving on to other investments.”

Jamie bobbed his head. “Of course. I understand completely. And I assure you that you have nothing to worry about; this deal should move along very quickly now. I’ll make sure of it,” he assured them as he looked down at the table in front of him. His fist opened and closed rapidly as he scowled.

I need to step up my game quickly and make Kara see the light.

Sighing, he raised his chin and looked around at the men again. He smiled grimly. “We’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” chuckled Mark, recounting the story again, his face still flushed from laughing. “It wasn’t even that hard a hit, but he went down like he’d been smacked by a freight train.”

“You weren’t laughing when it happened,” another teammate drinking at the bar reminded him.

Mark grinned. “I sure wasn’t. I was scared to death. I’ve never seen anyone go down after being hit in the head with a bounced ball before. I thought we’d killed him. No siree, at the time it was certainly not funny.”

The other men shook their heads and chuckled.

“But what was funny was you,” Mark continued, pointing at Candy, “yelling like a banshee as you kicked off those heels and ran onto the field. That was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen! And you gave poor old Sue Thompson quite the bruise when one of those darn shoes flew up and hit her in the arm. Boy, is she mad at you,” he chortled.

Candy blushed and gave a half smile as she recalled how she’d reacted so dramatically after watching Scott fall to the ground. “Well, I was terrified too,” she told the crowd around her table, widening her big blue eyes and batting her long lashes. “I didn’t come all the way to Larkin Bay to see my Scottie get killed before my eyes. A girl gets emotional when she sees the man she loves get struck down.”

“Not emotional enough to stay at the hospital with him, though,” another teammate muttered loudly from the far end of the bar.

Candy narrowed her eyes slightly and took a long drink from the glass in front of her. “Well, he’s in good hands at the hospital,” she responded loudly. “And the doctor told me Scottie’s going to sleep for the whole night as they’ve given him so much in the way of drugs. He’s out cold and will have no idea if I’m there or not. So I figured I’d just come down here for a smidge and then scoot right back up there in the morning before he’s awake. He’ll never even know I wasn’t there all night.”

Mark rolled his eyes and turned to check on the restaurant’s service and kitchen staff. “He’ll know you weren’t there,” he told Candy before walking away. “We men can always tell these things.”

When Evelyn wanted to take Maeve home after the baseball game, Kara had agreed. However, she also wondered if Jamie’s mom would have been so eager to take the little girl had she known Kara would go straight over to the hospital to check on Scott. But it was the least she could do, Kara reasoned with herself. Scott had helped her with Maeve when she needed emergency care, so it was only right that Kara should check up on him and return the favor now.

Walking through Pineland County Memorial Hospital’s emergency department, Kara waved at the nurses she knew working at the reception desk and walked the hospital halls until she found the room where Scott was being kept for observation overnight.

The ER nurse had let it slip that the doctors believed the concussion Scott had sustained was mild. But Kara still wanted to check on him herself and make sure he didn’t need anything. After that, she planned on heading home for a good night’s sleep. It would be nice to have the entire house to herself and not have to worry about getting up during the night with Maeve. Kara was tired; getting up several times a night to check on her daughter’s glucose levels was taking its toll on her. The idea of being able to get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep tonight sounded wonderful.

Kara knocked lightly before pushing open the door to the hospital room. When she entered, she saw two beds. The one closest to the door was empty, but the bed beside the window held Scott.

As Kara tiptoed closer, he gingerly turned his head at the sound of her steps. “Hey,” she whispered. “That was some hit you took. How do you feel?”

“Groggy, but okay. I feel like I should have a major headache, but they’ve given me so much stuff my whole head just feels muffled instead,” he replied.

Kara nodded. “That’s probably for the best after getting hit that hard. I’m sure if you didn’t have strong medication, you’d be feeling pretty awful.”

Scott nodded tentatively. “It was nice of you to come and see me,” he said and yawned widely.

Kara smiled at him. “No problem. It seems like I’ve spent a lot of time at this place recently. Besides, you were a lot of help when Maeve was here after her fall, so the least I can do is try and return the favor.”

“That’s nice,” Scott slurred quietly. Kara chuckled.

He’s probably so drugged that he won’t even remember me being here.

“I should go and let you sleep. I just wanted to pop by and make sure you were okay,” she said, pulling up the sheet to cover him better.

Scott looked at her with eyes glazed over from the effects of the painkillers. “No, don’t leave me all alone,” he said, reaching out and unsteadily grabbing one of her hands. “I’ve been alone for so long now. I thought maybe you’d be the one who’d stay with me.”