Chapter 28

Phoebe had a good arm…. Well, she had when she left Lyntacky all those years ago. She'd always played second base.

"You Stanways better be as good as you were because I hate losing to Dukes," Beau Keller said from beside her.

"That whole feud shit has to be getting old by now, surely?" Caleb said. He wore the Lemon Levelers shirt and black shorts.

Beau was a firefighter in Lyntacky, and her father had been his chief. Her dad had said Beau Keller was a good guy, funny and fair, unless a Duke was around, and then he was like a feral raccoon.

"It'll be old when one of us is in the ground," Beau said with a sneer on his face.

"Anyway," Phoebe said. "Have you guys been winning since I left?"

"Always," Beau's brother Noah said. "And you better make sure you keep up your end, sweet cheeks so that continues. "

"I'll try my hardest, Noah." Phoebe fluttered her eyelashes at him.

"I'm glad my uniform still fits," Caleb said, looking down at his legs.

"You'll split those seams if you run too much," Phoebe said, looking at his shorts that appeared a little snug around the thighs.

Caleb proceeded to do some lunges. "They're stretchy."

"Caleb!"

The Stanway siblings looked to the bleachers at that shriek and saw Jonathan. He was wearing a Levelers shirt and ball cap and held a sign saying, "Caleb is the best," on it. Beside him was their father, dressed the same. Barry wore his Levelers cap and scarf between them.

"I wonder who he's here supporting," Beau drawled.

Caleb waved, as did Phoebe.

"Let's warm up, Pheebs, in case you've forgotten how to catch a ball," Caleb said.

"It won't be me who forgets." She jabbed him in the ribs before running backward.

She threw the ball to Caleb when she'd put enough distance between them and enjoyed hearing the thwack of it hitting his glove. It felt good to be back out here. She and Caleb had played a bit in New York, sometimes going to a park to throw the ball around, but she'd missed this—the competitive side.

These games were once the only times she'd not been trying to please Brody.

A wolf whistle had her looking left, and she saw Dan Duke and raised her glove. Brody was there, too, as were all the members of the Lavender Leaders team. She watched Jed's tall, lanky frame run backward, trip, and land on his ass .

"He should get a certificate for just turning up week after week," Beau said as he moved to where she stood. "He's hopeless."

"Winning is important, but so is just turning up, Beau. Jed loves this game, and the others love him, so he's on their team."

"Is that a lecture, Phoebe?"

"Do you need a lecture, Beau?"

They were standing close enough that she could see the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. Why couldn't she feel for this guy, or any guy for that matter, what she did for Brody Duke?

"Your ex is glaring at me. Want me to kiss you, Phoebe?"

"No, thank you." She shoved him in the chest. "Now move. I need to practice, and my brother will bean you with the ball if you don't walk away. He's really protective of me when I'm around men he doesn't trust."

"Awww, honey, I'm totally trustworthy." He then planted a loud kiss on her lips before she could stop him.

He backed away, laughing when she swung her hand at his face. She didn't want to look in the direction of the Leaders. Brody didn't own her, but she could imagine he'd seen what Beau did, which was the point. The pissing contest had begun, it seemed, but she wasn't going to be the one they fought over.

"And they say women play games," she muttered.

She warmed her muscles up and tried not to focus on Brody a short distance away, doing the same. He wore cutoffs and his Leaders shirt and looked really good. Too good. That body had turned her bones to liquid a few nights ago, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't ache for more. But Brody was a complication she wasn't sure she'd ever be ready for again .

"Okay, let's play ball!"

These words came from Tripp Lyntacky, who had a white megaphone.

"When did he get that?" Caleb asked Noah. "And more importantly, who was the idiot who gave it to him?"

"Larry Limpet found it when he cleared out that rat-infested bakery of his. He thought Tripp might have a use for it. Turns out he was right, and our mayor uses it constantly," Noah drawled.

"No one's thrilled about that fact," Beau added.

"I bet," Caleb said, wincing as Tripp yelled into it.

"We're doing things differently today. Seeing as there is a lot of emotion in these home games between our two teams, we thought a dance would start things off on the right foot!"

Some of the crowd cheered, others moaned, and a few even whimpered.

"We've discussed this, Tripp. Not on game day!" Brody roared.

But the music started, and their fate was sealed.

"This town," Caleb said, taking Phoebe's hand. "There really are no words."

"I can think of a few," Beau muttered.

Those seated in the bleachers linked hands, like a long conga line, and danced down to the field, and it was suddenly full of people dancing.

"No one outside Lyntacky borders would ever believe this," Red Heckler said, looking around him. He was turning out for the Levelers today, along with Bradford, who…. Actually, Phoebe was never really sure what Bradford did, because he seemed to have a lot of jobs. She'd gone to school with him, and not much had changed as far as she could see. Still a shy and sweet guy who was tight with Cill and Nina .

"Read your latest book, Phoebe," Bradford said. "I need you to sign it for me."

"No worries, I can do that."

"I like Trickles."

"Trickles?" Beau asked Bradford.

"It's a cat in Phoebe's books. Magic cat."

"You write books?"

"You been living in that cave again, Keller!"

She turned to see Brody, in the group closest to them, had been listening. He smiled at her, and she ignored the flutter in her belly and nodded back. He then glared at Beau.

"Fuck off, Duke!"

"We don't have that language while respecting Aunt Shelly!" The words came through the megaphone from Tripp.

"Fair to say we're not going to start off in the right mood," Caleb said to her. "If anything, the Dukes and Kellers are using this time to annoy each other more."

"You losers ready to go down?" Sawyer roared.

Rather than the usual talk about recipes and what people were up to, dancers were taking the time together to discuss who would win and generally heckle one another. Levelers and Leaders supporters were passionate, and if Tripp thought this was in any way going to neutralize that, he'd seriously misplayed his hand.

Mayhem was breaking loose.

"Larry Limpet, you're a fool if you believe that!" Klaus Becker said. "Everyone knows that pitcher of yours can't throw!"

"I'll put twenty on my kids," Robyn Duke said, winding her way through Cill and Nina. She was tugging the hand of Abilene Copeland, who used to own Zoe's home decor store, with more force than was required. "Put your money where your mouth is, Abilene," she snapped.

The music, for the first time in the history of it being played, or at least for as long as she remembered, was cut off before the end.

"Everyone, get to your places!" Tripp roared, looking red in the face. "And behave yourselves!"

She couldn't help it. Phoebe giggled.

"We're looking at buying a house and moving here permanently," Jonathan said, slapping Caleb and then Phoebe on the butt. "I love this place!" He then galloped away like a horse to the bleachers.

Phoebe started snort laughing. Shaking his head, Caleb wandered away, leaving his sister to her unhinged laughter that was clearly brought on from all the crazy happening around her.

"You okay there?"

She turned and found Brody.

"Fine." Phoebe inhaled a deep breath to regain control.

"How's the cheek? I heard how you got it. So, not a door then?"

"Wasn't it? That night was a blur after all the drinks I poured down my throat," she said airily.

"Liar." He leaned in close. "Behave yourself, and don't take any shit from anyone with the surname Keller, and never again let that man kiss you, or I will break his face."

"You don't get to tell me who I can kiss anymore, Brody Duke."

He leaned in close, dark eyes locked on hers. "You don't get to kiss anyone but me, Phoebe."

She tried to push him back, but it would have been easier to move an apartment building. "No man tells me what to do, and especially not you. I have a brother if I need anything—two, actually. Plus, my dad."

"I'm not your brother, Phoebe, but I am something, and I want to be that and more."

His words surprised her. After the talk in the Do-Si-Do, Phoebe thought he'd back away. Because she'd made it clear she wanted nothing more to do with him.

"I told you, I don't want?—"

"I've never been one to give up on something that's important to me, and that's you." He touched the brim of her cap and turned away. Only then did she exhale slowly.

What the hell do I do now?

She watched his long strides walk away from her in those worn shorts and refused to acknowledge how good his ass looked.

Phoebe worked really hard after Brody broke her heart to not be that gullible girl anymore. Then she'd come home to Lyntacky, and now she felt cracks appearing in the hard shell she'd encased herself in.

I'm not letting him weaken who I've fought to be. But…. Hell, she was contemplating what he'd just said. Contemplating something with Brody. No!

"That's one hell of a frown you got going on there, girl."

"Life is really complicated, Red. Anyone ever tell you that?" Phoebe said.

"Daily," he said, moving to her side. He then slung an arm around her shoulders. "The trick is, Phoebe, not trying too hard to uncomplicate it. Just work on one thing at a time. The important things. The things that really matter to you. The rest will sort themselves out."

"That actually makes a lot of sense, Red."

"Everyone thinks Dee's the smart Heckler, but while she is, I'm smarter." He gave her a squeeze. "Now let's kick some Leaders ass and really annoy the shit out of Brody."

"I'm not gonna lie, Red. I like the sound of that."