Stef Ann Holm by Lucy gets Her Life Back Page A

great on her own, keeping busy and making a life for herself after Gary left. But strangely, since coming to Red Duck, she’d had a few bouts of single-blues. Maybe it was because the town was so small and intimate and, as a stranger, she sometimes felt like an outsider. Who was to say? And it was silly to waste time dwelling on it.

    “There’s Drew!” Susan exclaimed. “He’s the best coach our sons have ever had. He’s doing seniors, and you’re just going to love him,” she repeated. “We all do.”

    Lucy had gathered that all the inhabitants of Red Duck could see no wrong, find no flaw, in Andrew Tolman.

    She still had his card in her purse, never having called him. She’d found out on her own when to sign Jason up for baseball at the high school, so she had no reason to contact Drew personally. Although that card had burned a hole through her wallet leather. She’d taken it out a few times, looked at the script and the phone number, then slid it back inside.

    As he strode onto the field, she couldn’t help admiring him. He was a very handsome man, one who drew her undivided attention. Tall and broad, he filled out a polo shirt and khaki pants like nobody’s business. He wore a newer, blue baseball cap, his eyes unreadable beneath the shade the bill provided. But his lips were in full sunlight, looking soft and wide. Made to capture and settle over a woman’s mouth. It thrilled her to think about what they’d feel like next to her own.

    “So what do you think?”

    Lucy snapped out of her decadent thoughts, turned to Susan and blurted, “About what?”

    “About Red Duck.”

    Wayward fantasies about Drew kissing her evaporated—thank goodness. They had no place in her mind. Why she even contemplated how his mouth would feel over hers distressed her. She was far too sensible to fall for a man with Drew’s shameless charms. “I like it, so far. It seems like a nice place to bring up kids.”

    “It is. I’ve lived here all my life. My father bought property back in the seventies. It’s the only way Dave and I could afford to build.”

    Lucy had wondered. “What does your husband do?”

    “He’s in landscaping. He’s quite busy.”

    “I’d imagine so with the resort and golf course expanding.”

    Whistles blew from the field as the boys were taken into groups for practice. Lucy tried to keep her gaze equally on each of her sons, but found her eyes straying toward Drew.

    Sitting up on a bleacher and having a full view of him almost felt wicked. She could watch him for hours. Lucy hated to admit she was just as infatuated with him as the entire town. What was it about the man that got so many people to smile? She took a harder look at him.

    He walked with a masculine stride she couldn’t help but notice—relaxed and void of arrogance. He stood out in a crowd because of his height, which was perhaps about six feet four. But what was it? What was it beyond the superficial? She couldn’t peg it, not at this moment. But it was on the tip of her tongue, like a thought or a memory one went after that hung around the edges, illusive and niggling. So Lucy stopped trying to figure it out and settled in to watch the tryouts.

    But a long moment later, the answer hit her. The reason Drew caught her attention was that he wasn’t looking for it. He was secure enough in himself that he didn’t try to get women’s attention. Women went out of their way to get his.

    And, she realized, she was no different. She wanted it, too.

     

    The covered dugout smelled like paint; the plywood bench was cluttered with athletic bags and discarded tennis shoes. Bats and mitts were strewn on the concrete floor. The boys suited up in gear and wore turf shoes with rubber darts. Water jugs with last names printed in marker were thrown into the mess. Getting kids up this early was almost like having them play hungover. They wanted to be in the game, loved it, but more than likely, most had been up half the night