Out of Her League (11 page)

Or at least that was what all the papers had said he was years ago.

Was he a womanizer? Evie chuckled. She
’
d know about any lingering tendencies if he chose to play the field in Oak Grove. There would be a full report at the Dairy Queen within a day of his first conquest.

Party animal? Evie shook her head. Not in Oak Grove. To find a decent bar he
’
d have to drive to Cedar City—and make sure it wasn
’
t Sunday, when the whole town went dry.

If Joe Scalotta wanted to be Wildman, he
’
d come to the wrong side of the Mississippi.

To be honest, he made
every appearance of mend
ing his ways. Still, something about the man rubbed Evie wrong. Thus
far he had been a bit of a chau
vinist. She didn
’
t like that, but as an offense it was relatively minor. Most likely, her exasperation with him was due to her own annoying response to his large, toned body and his icy eyes, which seemed to stare right into her brain, and

“
Hey, Coach.
”

And the deep, somewhat raspy voice, which sent shivers down her spine.

“
Coach?
”
she repeated.

The word came out sounding breathless, a little sexy, as if she were oh, so excited to see him. His light-blue eyes darkened to turquoise when they lit upon her face. Suddenly she was breathless, and it wasn
’
t because the bag of bats she
’
d lugged with both hands from the car to the diamond weighed about twenty pounds. Joe Scalotta, irritating as he was, could take her breath away with a mere look.

“
Isn
’
t
‘
Coach
’
what they call you?
”
he asked, single-handedly lifting the heavy bag of bats.

With a shrug, Evie let him.
“
I guess. If they aren
’
t calling me
‘
Mrs. Vaughn
’
or
‘
Adam, Danny and Benji
’
s mom.
’
I answer to just about anything.
”

“Except ‘
sweetheart
’
.
”

She peered at him from beneath the bill of her baseball hat.
“
A woman
’
s gotta have limits.
”

* * *

“Say
,
aren't
you
Iceman Scalotta?
”

Joe sighed, plastered a PR smile on his face and greeted the tenth person who had asked him that in the past hour. What he really wanted was to watch his little girl make her pitching debut. But so far Coach Mom hadn
’
t put Toni into the game.

“
Can I have your autograph?
”

“
Sure.
”
Joe reached for the pen and paper the man held out.

“
It
’
s for my boy,
”
the guy said.
“
Andy. He
’
s one of your biggest fans. Me, too. I didn
’
t believe it when I heard you were actually living in Oak Grove. What for?
”

Joe finished scribbling his name. As a kid he
’
d often practiced giving autographs. Now, after the eight-thousandth time he
’d signed his name to pa
per, football, shirt or poster, he wondered why he
’
d ever thought it would be fun. He liked talking with people usually, but the signature thing got old fast.

He handed the autograph to the man, flicked his gaze toward the game and shrugged.
“
Why not here? It
’
s a nice town.
”

“
Sure. Nice but boring. Nothing ever happens in
Oak Grove. What about New York? L.A.? Heck, even Chicago is better than here.
”

“
Ever visited any of those places?
”

“
No, but I
’
d sure love to.
”

“
No, you wouldn
’
t. Too many people. Too many cars. Smells like...
”
Joe thought a minute.
“
Like burned-up rubber tires and month-old bananas. And loud, so loud your ears hurt.
”

“
Sounds exciting to me.
”

Joe grunted.
“
To each his own, I guess.
”

“
Yeah.
”

The guy looked puzzled, and Joe couldn
’
t blame him. You always wanted what you didn
’
t have. He
’
d been the same way as a kid. Couldn
’
t wait to get out of Missouri. Then he
’
d lived the express version of
“
If it
’
s Tuesday, it must be Philadelphia
”
and Missouri had started to look pretty darn good—as good as Oak Grove did right now. He already loved this place.

“
Well, thanks for the autograph,
”
the guy said.
“
See ya
‘
round.
”

“
I
’
ll be here.
”

Joe returned his attention to the game, just in time to see his daughter take the mound.

Toni
swallowed
, but the lump in her throat didn
’
t move. She hadn
’
t b
een this nervous since the cham
pionship game last year. Why would taking the mound in the first game of a new season, when her team was up 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, make her so nervous?

She focused
on home plate and saw her prob
lem—Adam Vaughn. Toni had never cared what a boy thought of her as a girl—until now. Boys had been her teammates, her buddies, her pals. But this season, something was different. Was the difference in her? Or in the boy behind the mask?

Toni threw a warm-up pitch, hard and wild. Adam let the ball go by, since there was no batter to worry about. But before he went to chase it, he lifted his mask and frowned in her direction.

Toni
’
s fair skin went hot. She wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there. Why on earth had she asked to play ball in this town? Why had she ever started in the first place?

Her mother had gone ballistic when she
’
d first discovered Toni sp
ent her spare time playing sand
lot baseball. But Toni loved the game, and she was good. Since she was good at very little, according to her mother, Toni
had stuck to her guns with base
ball, even when her mom had ranted and raved about Toni
’
s tomboy tendencies. Mom had gone so far as to say that Toni was trying to get her father
’
s attention through sports. By winning games, she thought she could win Daddy
’
s love. She also said Toni could never win enough to make that happen. Toni was a girl, and Joe just wasn
’
t interested.

Because her father saw her rarely, and when he did he was so stiff and uncomfortable it was painful to watch, Toni half believed her mother was right—and it had hurt. But she kept playing. Though she might not be able to win her dad
’
s love, she could feel good about herself whenever she won a game.

Adam brought the ball back to the mound, rather than throwing it
. Toni held her breath as he ap
proached. He was so cute. Dark hair, dark eyes, tall and lightly muscled. Not big like Joe, but toned.

“
You okay?
”
he asked.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. He
’
d been really nice to her, but she wasn
’
t going to make the mistake of thinking he liked her or anything. He was the most popular guy in town. She could tell from the way kids called
“
hello
”
and the way the girls sitting on the home-team bleachers whispered, pointed and scowled in her direction.

“
Toni?
”

Adam bent at the knees so he could look into her face. She tried a smile, but the attempt no doubt appeared as stiff as it felt. Adam shook his head and put a hand on her shoulder.
“
Calm down. It
’
s the first game.
”

She could feel the warmth of his hand through her team jersey and resisted the urge to step closer. The whole town was watching—or at least it seemed so.

“
No big deal.
”
He dropped his hand, and she could think straight again.

“
You want to tell that to your mom?
”

“
My mom? What does she have to do with this?
”

“
She
’
s the coach.
”

He laughed.
“
Yeah, so?
”

“
She
’
ll yell if I screw up.
”

“
She will?
”

“
Won
’
t she?
”

“
Did your coach in Chicago yell at you?
”

Adam seemed mad. Toni didn
’
t know if he was mad at her, or what. She stared at the ground and squashed a clump of dirt with her spikes.
“
If I screwed up, yeah. He yelled at everyone.
”
She didn
’
t mention that when her coach yelled at her, she
’
d wanted to cry. She hadn
’
t, but she
’
d wanted to.
“
My coach liked to win.
”

Adam made an exasperated sound.
“
I
’
ve never seen my mom yell yet. At a player, anyway—
”

Toni glanced up in time to catch his wink.

“
The twins are another story. She does like to win. Who doesn
’
t? But she likes to teach kids even more.
”
Adam held out the ball.

“
Really?
”
Toni asked.

The ball dropped into her glove.
“
Really.
”

They smiled at each other, and suddenly Toni felt just fine.

Toni
pitched
well
and got the save. Joe was a nervous wreck by the time the game was done.

When Toni walked a batter, some bozo shouted,
“
Take out the girlie-girl.
”
Joe had been on his way to rearrange the guy
’
s world, when he caught Evie
’
s glare.

He hesitated, and she turned to the bozo.
“
Put a sock in it, Randy. You know the rules.
”

“
...Watch nice or go home!
”

“
...Be an adult or at least pretend!
”

“
...Set an example or get out of town!
”

The admonitions came from different sections of the bleachers, both home and away. Randy did put a sock in it, and the rest of the inning passed without incident.

Evie seemed to have control over more than her team. Joe had to admit he was impressed, and a bit embarrassed that hi
s first instinct was toward vio
lence. How would his behavior have looked to Toni?

He wasn
’
t used to worrying about how he be
haved all the time, but he
’
d better start. He had his first T-ball game in less than twenty-four hours.