Summer in Good Hope (A Good Hope Novel Book 2) (22 page)

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Deb looked up from the book she was reading aloud and zeroed in on Prim. “Where are you going at this hour?”

Callum and Connor were nestled beside their grandmother on the sofa, with Mike reading the paper in a nearby chair.

“It’s only seven.” Prim waved a careless hand. “I’m just going next door to speak with Max. We need to iron out a couple of last-minute parade details.”

The twins straightened, their attention instantly diverted from the book.

“Can I go with you?” Callum asked.

“I want to see Mr. Brody,” Connor announced.

When the boys started to rise from the sofa, Deb pulled them back down.

“Not this time.” Prim’s tone brooked no argument. “Stay here with Grandma and Grandpa.”

“Couldn’t you simply call and ask your questions?” Deb called out when Prim turned to go. “Or text him?”

Prim turned back, resisting the urge to sigh. Of course she could call or text Max. But the fact was, she wanted to see him, and without her in-law chaperones present.

“I won’t be long.” Prim shifted her attention to the twins. “Be good.”

Deb said nothing further but Prim clearly read her expression. Deb suspected this wasn’t a business meeting and she didn’t like it one bit.

Max answered after the first knock. His eyes lit when he saw her and a slow smile widened his mouth.

“My Christmas wish has come true,” he announced, in a tone worthy of a showman.

Prim laughed. “As this is July, you’ve had to wait a—”

Before she could finish, Max enfolded her in his arms and began kissing her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with all the stored-up passion inside her.

When they came up for air, her knees felt like jelly.

“Oh, wow,” she said, her heart hammering. “That was quite a welcome.”

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Max lowered his head and scattered kisses along her jawline.

She arched her neck back and let him nibble, but when she was seized with an overwhelming urge to rip off his clothes, Prim forced herself to step back. “I can’t stay. I need to get back.”

He took her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. “So soon?”

“Deb is reading to the boys now, but it’s almost their bedtime. I told her I needed to work out some parade details with you.” Her lips twitched. “She didn’t believe it, of course. But other than calling me a liar, what could she say?”

“Just in case she asks, everything is set with the parade. By the way, I just updated Eliza a few minutes ago, so we shouldn’t be getting any more texts from her, at least not until tomorrow. I told her you and I will be in constant contact with several spotters along the route during the parade so we can make any last-minute adjustments.”

“Good to know.” Prim smiled. “This whole process wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

He lifted their joined hands. “We make a good team.”

“Yes, we do.” Oh, how she wished she could stay. “How was Green Bay?”

He blinked.

“The IRS visit with your mom?”

“It feels as if that trip was a thousand years ago.” Max shook his head. “It went well. The agent was satisfied with the documentation. I’m glad it’s done and behind us.”

“How is your mother?”

“She’s dating again.” Max tossed the words out there as if they were of no consequence, but something in his voice put Prim on alert.

“Is it serious?”

“He’s Beck’s age.”

“Who is Beck’s age?”

“The man my mother is dating.”

Prim took a moment to clear her throat. “Have they been dating . . . long?”

“She says three months. In Vanessa Eden time, that’s an eternity.” A muscle in Max’s jaw jumped. “She told me once it quits being fun, she’ll end it. I’ve never understood that kind of mentality.”

“What do you mean?”

Max gazed down at her. With great gentleness he moved a lock of hair behind her ear with one finger. “I can’t see why anyone would invest the emotional energy in dating someone if they aren’t a person you might consider marrying in the future.”

“You picked a great week to spend time in Good Hope,” Max said to Deb and Mike as they climbed the bleacher steps. “Next to the parade, the vintage baseball game is one of my favorite events of the Independence Day celebration.”

Prim agreed. She’d been looking forward to attending the annual event with Max and her sons. Since Max had played last year, this was his year to sit out.

The game always drew large crowds. Everyone loved seeing the players in period reproduction uniforms using equipment common to the era while following rules from the nineteenth century.

The fact that Rory’s parents had decided to tag along, while not unexpected, was disappointing. Prim consoled herself with the knowledge that her in-laws would soon return to Appleton. Life would then return to normal.

For now, the six of them sat at the top of the metal bleachers. Though they’d arrived early, the upper row was the only spot left with enough space for six.

She saw Max slant a sideways glance at Deb and Mike, their chaperones for the evening.

As long as Rory’s parents were around, Prim knew there would be no personal conversation. In fact, it was difficult to have any kind of conversation at all, considering Deb seemed to be wired as tightly as the Energizer Bunny today.

When they’d reached the ball field, she’d tried to maneuver it so Max sat on the other side of Mike. Prim did her own maneuvering, making sure Max sat beside her.

As Deb rose from her seat to wave and call out to someone she knew, Max gave Prim a conspiratorial wink.

“You look extremely pretty this evening.” His voice was low, for her ears only.

Prim’s heart gave a skip and she suddenly felt quite breathless.

Sensing Mike’s curious gaze on them, she gave Max a smile, then focused on the field.

Just before Deb resumed her seat beside Prim, Connor slipped around his grandparents to sit on the other side of Max. When Max lowered his head to listen to what the boy was telling him, Deb’s lips tightened.

“You know, Primrose,” Deb said in an offhand tone that Prim guessed was anything but offhand, “you were fortunate to find a great love early in your lifetime.”

Prim simply smiled, not sure where Deb was going with this.

“You need to honor that love and the commitment you made to my son.” Deb gestured with her head toward Max. “Rory hasn’t even been gone two years and it’s obvious you’re already looking to replace him.”

“Yes, she is.” Callum spoke loudly in response to his grandfather. “Aren’t you, Mom?”

Startled, Prim turned toward her son.

“You are so going to play baseball next year. Grandpa Mike doesn’t believe me.” Callum’s eyes—as blue as his father’s had been—flashed. “Tell him. Tell him you’re going to do it.”

“It’s true.” Grateful for the distraction, Prim eagerly turned from Deb to Mike. “I may embarrass myself, but I’ve already agreed to play in the vintage ladies’ game next year.”

“Told you.”

Callum’s comment drew a censuring glance from Prim, but Connor fist-bumped his brother.

“Katie Ruth Crewes has been pushing to have a ‘Bloomer Girls’ team for several years.” Prim wasn’t about to let the topic end, not when it kept Deb at bay.

Deb frowned. “Bloomer Girls?”

“That’s what the clubs that played back in the 1890s were called,” Max answered before Prim could. “Ladies’ baseball actually thrived until the—”

“Great Depression,” Prim finished the sentence for him, and they both smiled.

Deb’s gaze turned sharp and assessing. “I never realized, Primrose, that you were so interested in sporting events. I seem to recall my son had to practically beg you to attend his soccer matches.”

Somehow, Prim kept a smile on her lips. When she spoke her tone was easy. “I’ve always been a baseball fan. When Katie Ruth called and said she was attempting to get enough women to field a couple of teams next year, Ami and I both volunteered.”

Deb turned to Callum. “Your daddy never liked baseball.”

“Really?” Callum tilted his head. A puzzled frown furrowed his brow. “Me ’n’ Connor like it a lot. Mr. Brody is our coach.”

The child grinned at Max, who returned the boy’s smile.

“Is that so?” Deb glanced pointedly at her husband, but Mike was busy watching the game.

“Put on your glasses,” Prim’s father-in-law bellowed so loudly several people sitting nearby turned to stare. “That ump is blind. That was clearly a foul ball.”

“Michael, you’re making a scene,” Deb hissed.

Prim only sighed. Mike was a nice guy, but he had been a sideline coach when Rory played, too. It had been only one of the reasons she’d shied away from Rory’s events.

“They’re playing by 1860 rules. Those rules say fair or foul batted balls caught on the fly or one bounce retire the batter,” Max explained.

“Ridiculous,” Mike muttered and refocused on the game.

Callum’s gaze turned thoughtful. “They aren’t wearing gloves. And Uncle Beck is throwing the ball funny.”

“Gloves weren’t worn until the mid-1880s,” Max clarified when everyone remained silent. “Beck is throwing overhand, which is how they did it back then. Watch your uncle.” Max gestured to his friend atop the pitching mound.

“I want to throw like that.” Excitement filled Callum’s voice. “Can I, Mr. Brody, please?”

Max ruffled his hair with obvious affection. “How about I give everyone a chance at our next practice?”

The boys cheered and high-fived each other.

Prim gave Max’s arm a quick squeeze.

Deb cleared her throat. “Rory considered baseball too slow.”

Knowing her mother-in-law was trying to steer the conversation back to Rory, Prim said nothing.

“I’ve got to go to the baffroom,” Connor announced.

“Me too,” Callum said.

Prim looked at her father-in-law, but he was busy speaking with an older man in front of him. She was about to ask Max if he’d take the boys when she felt Deb’s tight grip on her arm.

“They’re your responsibility. Not his,” Deb chided, her voice barely above a whisper.

Heat flooded Prim’s face. “Come on, boys.”

As she slipped past Max on her way to the aisle, she briefly rested a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and Prim felt herself steady at his warm look of reassurance.

Max settled back in his seat and watched her trim figure navigate the steps with her sons.

“Rory and Prim were so close, so in love.”

He turned to Deb. “Pardon?”

“I said Prim and Rory were so in love. You were around back then. You must remember how she used to look at him, as if he was the only one in the world.”

Max remembered.

“She won’t find anyone like my son again and she’s wise not to try. Prim has only to look at your mother’s life to see how foolish that would be.”

Though outwardly Max displayed no sign that her arrow had hit its mark, he felt the sting. He cleared his throat before speaking. “My mother?”

“Like Prim, Vanessa found her soul mate at a young age. Sadly, they both lost their spouses early on.” Deb glanced over as if to make sure her husband’s attention was still on the game. “But Prim is smarter than your mother.”