14. Catherine

14

CATHERINE

Sitting in the stands, waiting on Cole’s game to start, I’m surprised to see Holden talking to the coach by the dugout.

I wrap my arms around my knees and try to focus on the kids warming up on the field, but I can’t help but watch Holden. He stands out among all the men surrounding him.

There are other moms sitting close to me on the bleachers, and they’re whispering about “the new guy with the coach.” I don’t think any of them realize he’s Holden Gray, the catcher for the Jasper Bears.

I hear the words “hot,” “sexy,” “whose dad is that?” and “I’d like to take him home with me.”

Instantly, I feel anger and bitter jealousy rise inside me. It’s not like I have the right to be jealous. There’s nothing going on between Holden and me, and I have no claims to him whatsoever. Probably if he did know that I had even a hint of jealousy, he would fire me on the spot. So I sit here quietly and just let myself simmer.

I watch as Holden walks away from the coach. Two of the moms stop him at the bottom of the bleachers, and I barely resist rolling my eyes. I mean, can they be any more obvious? Their giggling and flirting carries across the stands for everyone to hear.

“Are you a new coach?” I hear Anita ask. “My son is Timmy, he plays short stop.”

“Nope, not a coach,” he says, giving away nothing.

Of course, Kylie is not having that. She’s the biggest gossip of all the moms, and she’ll sleuth out all the information she can so she can pass it around. “Are you the dad of one of the boys on the team?”

Holden shakes his head. “Nope, not a dad. I’m friends with Cole and Cat.”

All heads turn to me, and when I finally brave a look at Holden, he’s staring straight at me. I didn’t even realize he saw me here, but it’s clear he did. He found me immediately without even searching. The way he’s smiling has me melting in my seat. Why does he have to be so dang handsome?

He steps away from the two women and walks up to where I’m sitting. He sits right next to me, his leg against mine. “Hey, Cat.”

Goosebumps. I have freakin’ goosebumps on my arm, and it’s eighty-five degrees outside. “Hey, Holden.”

He nudges his shoulder against mine. “How you doing?”

I clear my throat and am about to answer him when he leans down to whisper into my ear, “You have goosebumps. You cold? Or is it something else?”

I hold my tongue because everyone around us is eager to find out what is going on. The way Holden's looking at me, he knows exactly why I have goosebumps. I whisper harshly at him, “What are you even doing here?”

He measures me with a look and then stares out at the field where the game is starting. “I came to watch Cole play. If you want me to sit somewhere else, I can.”

I put my hand on his leg and then jerk it back really quickly. I don’t need to add any fuel to the fire. “No, stay, I’m sorry. I’m sure Cole thinks it’s the coolest thing ever that you’re here.”

I wrap my arms around my knees and look at my son standing next to the dugout. He’s waving up at us, and I’m shocked, but I wave back. With a grimace, I mutter to Holden, “He usually ignores me. I guess the wave was thanks to your presence, but I’ll take it any way I can get it.”

His voice is low. “Trust me, if there’s a kid that loves his momma, it’s Cole. You two have a good relationship.”

I don’t know why it matters, but his opinion goes straight to my heart.

Holden looks around the field. “Where’s Jeremy?”

I don’t take my eyes off the field. “He’s not coming. He doesn't like baseball.” I inhale deeply. “Plus, I broke up with him.”

His head whips around so fast. “You did?”

I nod, and he’s smiling ear to ear. “So you’re a free woman?”

Oh God, I’m not even sure what to make of that comment or the way he’s looking at me. Does he think since I broke up with Jeremy that I’m going to fall into his bed now? I mean, of course I want to, what woman wouldn’t? But he’s a player… an d I’m his physical therapist. “I’m still your therapist,” I remind him.

He grunts. “For another month.”

I look into his big brown eyes and repeat what he said. “For another month.” I already know that leaving his house and not seeing him every day is going to be hard, and I don’t want to think about leaving him or our time being over.

He opens his mouth, but something catches his eye. He smiles and then apologizes to me.

“What are you sorry for?”

I should be curious what he’s looking at, but I’ve found that when Holden is around I stayed glued to him. It’s not until I feel the bleachers shaking that I look, and I can’t contain my surprise. King, Haven, Chrissy, Gabe, and Dom are all coming up the steps, and they greet me and Holden before sitting down surrounding us.

“Where’s Cole?” King asks as he searches the field.

I’m about to answer in the dugout when Holden replies, “He’s pitching the first two innings.”

My mouth falls open. “How do you know that?” We’re up to bat right now, but the coach is notorious for not letting anyone know when they’re pitching .

Holden clears his throat and looks at me with a guilty expression. “Cole mentioned that the coach never told him when he was pitching and would usually throw him in without letting him warm up. I got here early today to work with Cole, and I talked with the coach about it.”

“What did you talk about, exactly?”

He scrunches up his nose. “Well, I explained to him the importance of stretching and warming up and the impact it has on keeping the arm healthy. I just asked him that when he has Cole pitch that he gives him a heads-up.”

I stutter and point to myself. “I had that exact conversation with him last season, and nothing changed.”

Holden nods his head. “That’s what Cole said. Look, I don’t want you to be mad. I wasn’t trying to overstep…”

I put my hand on his forearm. “Mad? I’m not mad. I appreciate what you did, Holden. I mean, yeah, it sucks that the coach blew me off, but what’s important is my son’s arm. So yeah, thank you. I really appreciate you doing that.”

I’m looking at him, and automatically I’m even more attracted to him. This is crazy, and I know it is, but no one has done something like this for me and Cole before.

Haven taps me on the shoulder. “Look, there he goes.”

I watch as Cole jogs to the mound. I’ve seen it plenty of times, but I can see a difference in him this time. He has a swagger to him, and he’s holding his head high with confidence, and I know exactly who to thank for that.

I watch Cole on the mound in awe. He strikes out the first batter. The second batter hits a ground ball to the shortstop and gets thrown out at first. The third hitter hits a ball over the second baseman's head, and the runner makes it to first. I gasp and watch Cole, waiting for him to react. I know he worries if someone gets a hit and it puts more stress on him, but he seems to shake it off. The fourth batter gets up to the plate, and I’m holding my breath. He swings at the first pitch and the ball comes right back to him. He catches it and jogs off the field.

Holden puts a hand to my back. “Breathe, baby. You gotta breathe.”

I shake my head. “That was—”

I stop talking when Cole looks up at us into the stands before he goes into the dugout. He gives us a short head nod, and Holden gives him a thumbs-up in return. “What? How?” I start, but I don’t even know what I’m asking.

Holden shrugs, but the pride on his face is clearly there. “I worked with him on his pitching.” He holds his hands up. “And no, I didn’t throw with him; I just helped him with his mechanics, that's all. But it’s him that put the work in.”

Our next three batters strike out, and in no time, Cole is back on the mound. He throws a nine pitch inning allowing no runs. He’s so proud of himself I can practically see him vibrating with it. As he comes off the mound, Holden pumps his fist in the air. “Way to throw it, Cole.”

Cole's smile gets even bigger, and I want to throw my arms around the man sitting next to me. I know I can’t do that, though, so instead, I put my hand over my heart. “Thank you, Holden. You don’t know what this means to me… I mean, just… thank you… really.”

He reaches over and squeezes my knee. “You’re welcome, honey.”

I have to force my eyes back to the game because if I keep sitting here, looking into his big brown eyes, I’m going to kiss him, and I know that would be a mistake.