Playing for Keeps (20 page)

Olivia looked at her young friend and said, “We can’t choose when, where, or why, but when it comes our way we need to accept love with open arms. For in this life, if we could choose
just one thing
, love would always win.”

“Stop quoting me.”

“Madison, it’s true.”

“To quote
you
, it’s . . . bull
feathers
.” Madison pounded a fist on the speckled counter so hard that the silverware jumped. “If you don’t agree, then just what are you going to do when Noah leaves at the end of the summer? Huh?”

Olivia toyed with her straw and watched the ice twirl in a circle.

“I know you’re falling for Noah too. So don’t even try to deny it.”

“I won’t deny that there is an attraction. Noah suggested that we play it up for the sake of the production. Create some Hollywood-style buzz.” She lifted one shoulder. “I’m having fun. It’s working. End of story.” She tilted her head sideways and began folding her napkin like a fan.

Madison took a swallow of her tea and then crunched some ice. “You are so full of it.”

“As my father would say, it is what it is and it ain’t what it ain’t.”

“Would you leave Cricket Creek if he asked you to?”

Olivia looked at Madison with surprised eyes. “Well, we’re putting the cart way before the horse, but to answer your question, no. This is my home.” Olivia stopped fiddling with the napkin and swallowed hard. “My father lives here and he means the world to me,” she added and then could have bitten her tongue when Madison’s eyes widened. “Oh, Madison, how callous of me!”

“No problem.” Madison waved a dismissive hand at her. “Olivia, I know we share a bond where parent abandonment is concerned. It truly sucks and it’s shaped our way of viewing the world. But, look, I can’t control the fact that my father chose not to be a part of my life or that my grandparents were so narrow-minded. And you can’t change what your mother did.” She inhaled sharply and looked up at the ceiling. “My mother and aunt Myra taught me to be fiercely independent and to never rely on others.” She shook her head. “I know they meant well, but it sure is nice to have a soft place to land . . . a shoulder to lean on. I just hate to feel weak and needy.” She inhaled deeply once more. “The past is difficult to shake.”

Olivia reached out and finished for her. “But we can’t let it rule our lives. Make us afraid to let go and love.”

“Oh, boy”—Madison shook her head slowly—“I talk a good talk, but I sure don’t know how in the world all of this will play out. And speaking of plays . . . fiction sure makes a hellava lot more sense than reality.”

“Yes, too bad we can’t write our own ending,” Olivia responded.

“So true—but one thing I know for certain. We’ve got people who love us.” She smiled softly and said, “I just told your father that we might not have had traditional upbringings, but love comes in all shapes and forms. One isn’t better than the other. Just different. I truly believe that.”

“As usual, you’re right.” Olivia took a sip of tea and then sputtered. “Wait—you were talking about this to my father?”

“Does that upset you?”

“No, I suppose not,” Olivia replied evenly, but then leaned forward on her elbows. “Oh, there’s more?”

Madison suddenly seemed to be gathering her emotions. After a moment she cleared her throat and said, “That simple statement seemed to somehow set your father free.”

“Oh, my goodness.” Olivia looked down at the speckled countertop and expelled a shaky sigh. “I know that he always blamed himself for my mother leaving. He thought that in his own way he wasn’t good enough to keep her here, and he always assured me that I wasn’t the reason she left either, although I sometimes think that I was.”

“Olivia! ” Madison reached out and grasped her hand.

“And I do believe now that he hated my loss of a mother more than his loss of a wife and so he devoted himself to me instead of ever looking for the love that he so deserves.” She felt tears well up in her eyes and looked up. “Oh, you are so right! His love and devotion more than made up for my mother’s absence. Why didn’t I ever tell him this?”

Madison shook her head and then shrugged. “I’ve been thinking the same thing about my mother and aunt Myra too. Olivia, don’t you see? We couldn’t have understood any of this until we experienced the thrill of falling in love in our own lives. It’s a powerful emotion.”

Olivia nodded firmly. “Here I’ve been trying to set up matches for everybody I know except for my very own father.”

“Well, speaking of”—Madison arched an eyebrow—“it’s a good thing you’re sitting down because I have something to tell you.”

“About my father?” Olivia’s heart kicked it up a notch.

Madison nodded.

“Don’t keep me in suspense!”

“Your father and my aunt Myra are over at Sully’s having a mint julep.”

“Together?”

“Yep.”

“Wait—a mint
julep
?” Olivia blinked at Madison and then glanced up at the clock. “At four in the afternoon?”

“Your father decided it was five o’clock somewhere.”

“My father said that?”

“Uh-huh, and Aunt Myra was wearing a skirt and carrying a bunch of mint like a bouquet. It was priceless.”

Olivia smacked her hands to her cheeks.

“I know!” Madison continued. “They were bantering with each other as they headed out the door. They make such an odd but cute couple. I think they have potential.”

“Truthfully, I had recently wondered the same thing.” Olivia could only shake her head in amazement. “So you really think so?”

Madison took a swallow of tea, then opened a bag of chips. “She had him laughing so hard he had to grab the counter.”

“Oh . . . my.” Olivia felt her eyes fill with tears again.

“And when Aunt Myra sashayed in here with her hair down and wearing a skirt, Owen couldn’t take his eyes off of her. I’ll tell you, Olivia, I was overcome with emotion.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “It was a beautiful thing. Now I know why you enjoy matchmak-ing. Meddling is so satisfying.”

Olivia snagged a potato chip from the bag but shook it at Madison instead of popping it in her mouth. “Your Southern roots are showing, you so-called city girl. You just might belong here more than you think.”

Madison munched on a chip and then said, “Well, now that I know I can get a perfect dirty martini, I might just have to reconsider.”

“See, there’s more here to offer than you even know,” Olivia said in a light tone, though they both knew that Madison’s dilemma was a real issue. There weren’t many opportunities in Cricket Creek for playwrights.

“I do like my condo overlooking the river,” she admitted. “Water just seems to get my creative juices flowing. It’s a shame that beautiful building is basically empty. In Chicago waterfront property goes for big bucks.”

Olivia reached for another potato chip and sighed. “The project came to a screeching halt when the economy tanked. The marina just isn’t enough of a draw to keep it going. We need something more.”

Madison dusted salt off her fingers and said, “It’s a shame. The view is fantastic and it’s some prime real estate.”

“Well, if you come up with any brilliant ideas let me know,” Olivia said with a shake of her head but then swiveled in her seat when the bell over the door jingled. Her pulse quickened when Noah entered, still looking way too amazing in his Cricket Creek baseball jersey. His butt was built for baseball pants.

Noah gave them a rather perplexed grin. “Guess what I just witnessed.”

“What?” Olivia asked and Madison angled her head expectantly.

“Your father and your aunt singing karaoke over at Sully’s.”

“They don’t have karaoke over at Sully’s,” Olivia said.

Noah raised his eyebrows and grinned. “They do now.”

Olivia tried to picture this in her head, but she simply could not wrap her brain around her father singing in front of a crowd.

Madison clapped her hands. “I love it. What were they singing?”

“ ‘Islands in the Stream.’ ”

“Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers?” Olivia said softly, more to herself than to them.

Noah nodded. “Yes, but as I was leaving someone shouted for them to do some Johnny and June.”

“Priceless,” Madison said once more with a chuckle. “I would love to be a fly on the wall. I would suggest heading over there to watch, but it might make them feel self-conscious and quit.”

“I don’t know about that,” Noah commented. “They seemed to be on a roll with no stopping them. Of course the crowd was egging them on.”

“Were they any good?” Olivia had to ask.

“No, not at all,” Noah admitted with a grin. “But highly entertaining.”

“Mercy me,” Olivia mumbled. “Somebody put some crazy in the Cricket Creek water tower and we’ve all been drinking it.” She gazed up at Noah.

“Hey, don’t look at me.” He raised both palms in the air. “I’m afraid of heights.”

“Maybe.” Olivia glanced at Madison and then gave Noah a pointed look. “But nothing has been quite the same since you roared into town in that little red Corvette.”

Noah took his baseball cap off and ran his fingers through his hair. “So you’re blaming me?”

“No,” Olivia said, “I’m giving you credit.”

When Noah tipped his head back and laughed, Olivia had to smile. “Hey, I’ll take all the credit I can get. So, are you ladies ready for some baseball?”

“You two go on without me,” Madison said. “I have to wait for my mom to come back before I can leave. Save me a spot in the bleachers. And tell Jason I’ll be there as soon as I can scoot out of here.”

“Will do,” Noah said and then extended his arm toward Olivia. “Ready?”

“Yes,” Olivia said and put two dollars down on the counter for her tea. She shook her head when Madison opened her mouth to protest her paying. “See you in a little bit,” she said and slipped her hand into Noah’s warm, firm grip. It was beginning to feel so natural to be at his side that she wondered how she could possibly cope with not having him in her life. Madison’s question about what if Noah asked her to leave Cricket Creek entered her head. While she couldn’t fathom moving away from her home, the thought of life without Noah seemed pretty doggone bleak.

“Whoa there,” Noah said and tugged on her hand. “It might be the only traffic light on Main Street, but it’s red.”

“Sorry—my mind was elsewhere,” she admitted with a short laugh.

Noah frowned at her. “Hey, you’re not upset about your dad and Myra getting a little crazy over at Sully’s, are you?”

“Oh, no, not in the least. In fact, I’m thrilled to hear that they’re having a good time. They both deserve it. I’d pop on over there, but like I said, I don’t want to ruin their revelry.”

Noah responded, “It would be worth it to don a disguise. They were really singing up a storm.”

“I would never have believed it.”

He gave her a crooked grin and then squeezed her hand. “Life is full of surprises.”

“It sure is,” Olivia agreed and laughed when he took his baseball cap off and put it on her head. When she started to take it off he shook his head.

“No, it looks sexy on you. Keep it on.”

“A baseball cap? Sexy?”

“On you.” Noah leaned over and said, “Then again, everything looks sexy on you. Or even better yet, nothing at all.”

“Oh . . .
right
!” Olivia hoped that the bill of the hat hid her blush, but she felt a feminine thrill at his comment.

After they crossed the street, Noah drew her to a halt. “I hope you know I was serious.”

Olivia looked at him and then nodded. “The feeling is reciprocal,” she replied in her best teacher tone, knowing it would make him laugh.

“Ah . . . Olivia, what am I going to do with you?”

“Everything,” she answered this time in a slow Southern drawl, but then she giggled.

“Oh, just what you needed to say while I’m wearing tight baseball pants!”

“Are you complaining?”

“Hell, no!” he told her. “You continue to keep me completely off-balance. But just so you know, I’m going to hold you to it.”

Olivia laughed, but she wondered what she would do if she were truly faced with making a choice of losing him or leaving Cricket Creek.

A
fter sitting down on the bleachers directly behind the backstop, Noah turned to Olivia and smiled. He loved the aroma of hot dogs, the smack of the baseball hitting the catcher’s mitt, and a perfect pitch breaking over the plate. The chatter of the players and the shouts of the coaches took him back to a place and time that he truly treasured. Major-league baseball had been an amazing ride, but playing here had simply been for the love of the game.

“You miss it, don’t you?” Olivia asked with a soft smile.

“Yeah, I do.” Noah hadn’t realized just how very much until now. Olivia was right. He had lived and breathed baseball for so long that the game was a part of who he was, and without it in his life something was missing. He smiled back at her, and as if reading his thoughts, she put her hand on his thigh and squeezed. She looked so damned cute in the baseball cap, and it suddenly occurred to him that Olivia filled another void in his life. It felt good having her by his side. He wondered how he could go on without her.

“Hi, Miss Lawson!” Chrissie shouted with a wild wave in their direction. She and her posse of giggling girls hurried over to the side of the bleachers. “Would you just look at you in your cap?” She looked at her friends and they all nodded in agreement. “Isn’t this just exciting! Oh, I wanna beat those Morgan County Colonels so bad!”

“Me too,” Olivia replied, so hotly that Noah grinned. So his sweet little schoolteacher had a competitive streak. Nice.

“Thanks for extending the deadline for the essay.”