Once again, Zane gave her a long look. “How do you know?”

“I try to catch a couple innings when I can. Maybe a practice after work. All right, Gabe!”

Gabe walked to the plate, shuffled, tested the bat, took his stance.

The kid had really good form, Zane thought. Excellent focus and instincts. He remembered standing in that same spot on a sunny afternoon with the smell of grilling meat, green grass, brown dirt, white chalk. How he’d blocked out the noise of the crowd, or used it.

How, in that moment, those smells, those sounds, the feel of the bat in his hands, the sight of the white ball winging toward him comprised the entire world.

Gabe didn’t waste time, and banged the first pitch past the diving first baseman.

As Darby had predicted, the solid single put runners on the corners. She hooted, whistled, exchanged high fives with Zane.

“Bring ’em in, Luke!”

“Do you know all the kids?” Zane wondered.

“If you’re going to live and build a business in a community, be the community. Plus, baseball.”

The count built to 2–2 before Luke popped a one-hopper to left center. It brought in the run, advanced Gabe to second.

While the coach called time and walked to the mound with the catcher to settle down the pitcher, Darby turned back to Zane. “Depending on your schedule, we can stretch my appointment Wednesday if you want to go over options. Or you can come by my place tomorrow, or I can come by yours. Either way around ten in the morning, or after three.”

She waited a beat. “Unless I’ve scared you off the whole thing.”

“You don’t scare me.”

“Good. Just let me know when works for you.”

Emily leaned forward. “You’re talking about Zane’s place. He showed me your drawings. It’s like a movie!”

“But livable,” Darby returned with a smile.

The conference at the mound worked. The pitcher worked the batter to a 1–2 count before crowding him into an easily fielded pop-up.

The next looped one to second, couldn’t outrun the throw to first, and ended the inning.

“Two up.” Darby slapped her hands together. “It’s hot dog time.”

“Zane, give her a hand.”

Darby waved Emily off. “I’m good. A deal’s a deal.”

Darby worked her way down, then over to the cook shed to get in line. The woman in front of her turned.

“Hey, Darby.”

“Laurie.” Who worked at Best Blooms, and knew her stuff. “How’s it going?”

“Going good. My husband’s sister’s boy’s playing, and we’re winning. I saw you in the bleachers.” She gave a quick eyebrow wiggle. “I didn’t know you were with Zane Walker.”

“Sure, we’re—Oh, no, not with-with. I wanted to see Gabe play for a bit. I’m just sitting with the family.”

“Well, that’s a genuine shame, because you sure look good together.” Laurie shook back flyaway curls as she glanced back at the stands. “It’s good to see him out here, at a game.”

They shuffled up in line, paused as the crowd cheered a long fly ball snagged by the center fielder for an out.

“I was a few years ahead of him in school,” Laurie continued, “but my sister was in his class. He was the star of the team, won State Player of the Year, two years running.”

“That’s big stuff,” Darby commented.

“Oh, yes, indeed. He’d have won it again if it hadn’t been for…”

She seemed to catch herself, shifted her feet. “He had an injury that took him out.”

“For the season?”

“For good, from what I know. Bad broken arm or something like that. Anyway, it’s good to see him back in Lakeview, back at the field.”

Laurie gave her order, leaving Darby to think it through.

Broken nose, father, she thought. Broken arm? The same source? Maybe. And maybe it explained why no one ever mentioned his father, or his mother, come to that.

And why he and Britt had lived with Emily and Lee.

Laurie gathered up her cardboard tray loaded with drinks, dogs, fries. “You come and see us at Best Blooms, now.”

“You know I will.”

Darby ordered the dogs, doctored them as specified. And thought of a teenage boy, star of the team, player of the year, one who’d dreamed of playing in Camden Yards.

Her heart broke a little.

She had to push it away as she carried the food up the bleachers. If he wanted her to know, he’d tell her.

She passed out the dogs, with napkins. “Down payment,” she told Zane. “We still have to negotiate your million-dollar fee.”

“Didn’t I mention that’s my hourly fee?”

“You did not. Will my LLC come gold-plated?”

“It’s the only kind I do.”

She ate her dog, stayed through the fourth inning.

“Gotta get back. Emily, be sure to take a look at reception. Good seeing you, Chief. Zane.”

Once again she worked her way down the bleachers, started toward the road.

“Hey!”

And turned back when Zane came after her.

“Where are you parked?”

She pointed, tapping her finger in the air a couple times to indicate distance.

“I’ll walk with you, stretch my legs.”

“Well, you’ve got a lot of them.”

The little guys had wrapped it up, and the next age group looked about to. Zane paused a minute, watched the center fielder misjudge a fly by about a mile and a half.

“Coach used to take us out for pizza, win or lose, after a Saturday game.”

“Good coach.”

“Yeah. So, I’ve given your staggeringly ambitious plans for what would have to be termed my estate considerable thought.”

“As you should. But I think you need more acreage, a guest house, and an infinity pool to qualify as an estate. Possibly a tennis or squash court.”

“I’m getting a freaking waterfall,” he reminded her. “I’ve given it thought, started after my admin managed to bring me out of the fugue state induced by shock, and a little awe.”

She shifted, hooked her thumbs in her front pockets. “I considered giving it to you in smaller bites, but it felt like cheating. Why don’t you tell me what’s an absolute ‘no, forget it, are you crazy,’ and I can adjust the plans and the costs?”

“Nothing.”

She stopped dead. “You don’t want any of it? It’s your place, Zane, but I have to tell you, you need, at minimum, the foundation plantings, a couple of trees. With that, I could handle the work myself and give you a better break on labor.”

“You misunderstand me, though that was exactly my first reaction. Absolutely no, forget it, she’s crazy. Then I made a couple of mistakes.”

“What kind of mistakes?” She wasn’t entirely sure where he was going, even though she started to get a little buzz under her skin.

“First? I showed the plans to some friends, my family. Big mistake there. Next, I did a little tour of the bungalows you’ve finished. I even ran into a couple of guests outside one, a couple who’ve come every spring for the last three years. Emily gets a lot of repeats.”

“Having been a guest myself, I can tell you why. Good accommodations, stunning view, exceptional and personal customer service.”

“Which is pretty much what they said. Then they added that with the work done on the outside, they liked sitting on the front porch and looking out at the yard as much as the lake. Or having a drink on the back patio after spending the day on the lake. How everything looked so nice, how it felt like—I quote—their ‘little private Eden.’”

“That’s very nice.”

“Then I still went home and thought: No, no, and no, maybe here, maybe, I’ll consider that one. I got to the game today, after thinking more, with: No and no, maybe, okay, probably. And then…”

He stopped by her truck, looked around. He could see the mountains, shining under the pure blue of the sky, the houses, green grass, painted porches, flowers planted. He could hear the game—sound carried.

He knew the ground under his feet, the taste of the air.

“Then watching the game, sitting with Emily and Lee, saying hey to people I know, who know me. Who knew me. I thought, This is it for me. This is it. That’s my house up there, this is my home, these are my people. That’s why I came back. That’s why I’m staying. That’s why, fuck it. It’s mine. And I want it all.”

“All of … this.”

“Of this,” he agreed when she gestured around her. “And all of your staggeringly ambitious plans.”

She held up a finger, turned away, walked a few steps away. “This is unexpected.”

“Are you saying you can’t do it?”

“Of course I can do it.” She spun back. “I don’t offer what I can’t deliver. I didn’t expect you to—I didn’t expect. Well, hot damn.” She came back, punched him lightly in the arm. “Hot, steaming damn. This is going to be great. You’re not going to regret it.”

“I better not. I just said yes to everything you wanted.”

She shook her head. “You wanted it, too, or you wouldn’t say yes.”

“Regardless, I said yes, and all I get’s a punch in the arm and I won’t regret it.”

“You’re right. You are completely right. You deserve better. I can do better.”