LITMIR.BIZ

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But as much as he’d enjoy female companionship, he needed his privacy even more. At least for a while. Until he’d come to terms with being back home. Until he decided what he was going to do with the rest of his life, now that his major league career was over.

      Sooner or later he would get tired of being alone out here. Sooner or later he’d want female companionship even more than he did right now. But the thought of bedding some starry-eyed fan didn’t appeal to him. Just once, he’d like to make love to a woman who genuinely cared about him, the way Sheila had cared about him all those years ago.

      

      Sheila increased her pace as soon as she rounded the bend in the road and knew that Caleb could no longer see her. Breaking into a run, she raced homeward, wanting to put as much distance between Caleb Bishop and her as she possibly could.

      She hadn’t meant for him to find her at his house; she’d meant to be long gone before he arrived. Now, as the March wind whipped loose strands of her hair against her cheeks and her heartbeat roared in her ears. tears that she could not—would not—shed lodged in her throat.

      Breathless and damp with perspiration, she bounded up the steps to her front porch. Slumping down on the top step, she covered her face with her hands and rested her elbows on her knees.

      When Tallie had phoned from Nashville to ask her to open up the house for Caleb’s return, she’d wanted to tell her friend no. But she couldn’t refuse. What excuse could she have possibly given Tallie? Even though Tallie had known Sheila had a crush on Caleb twelve years ago, she didn’t know anything about that one night they’d spent together. And she didn’t know the truth about Danny.

      Tallie probably thought she’d play matchmaker and throw Sheila. and Caleb together, giving Sheila a chance with the guy she’d been in love with at eighteen. But the last thing Sheila wanted was Caleb Bishop back in Crooked Oak for any length of time.

      If Caleb ever found out exactly how old Danny was, if he ever took a good, hard look at her son, he just might start to wonder. A man at loose ends, his once-glamorous and exciting life ended, Caleb was probably searching for something to fill the empty days. But once he came to terms with his disability and had a chance to decide what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, he’d leave Crooked Oak. When he’d left her twelve years ago, she had survived. But she didn’t want her son to have to suffer over Caleb Bishop’s second departure. Danny had gone through enough when Daniel had died five years ago. He had already lost one father. She wasn’t going to run the risk of his accepting Caleb into his life and then losing him, too.

      Sheila stood, dusted her hands off on her hips and went inside the small, wooden house she’d lived in with her husband. She heard the television in Danny’s room and knew he was watching “Nickleodeon.” She allowed her son a great deal of freedom, and with each passing year she let him make more and more of his own decisions. If he was watching TV, that meant he’d finished his homework and was probably ready for dinner. They usually ate around five-thirty during the months when Danny didn’t have baseball practice, and it was already past five now.

      She walked down the hall and stopped in front of Danny’s open door. Peeping in, she saw him spread out across the bed, his back braced against the headboard. He glanced away from the TV and up at her. He smiled. And for one endless moment Sheila’s heart stood still. He had his father’s smile. That lazy, smirking grin that curved the left side of his mouth. She was surprised that no one had ever noticed. If Caleb had been around all these years, someone would have put two and two together long ago.

      “Hi, Mom. Did you get Tallie’s house all fixed up for Caleb?”

      “Yes.”

      “When’s he supposed to get here? Sometime tonight?”

      “He’s already here. He came before I left.”

      “Did you talk to him? Gosh, Mom, I can’t believe that Caleb Bishop is living down the road from us.” Danny scooted to the side of the bed and jumped up. “Do you think he’d give me his autograph? The guys at school didn’t believe me when I told them that my mom was going to take Caleb Bishop his supper.”

      Danny rushed across the room, picked up his baseball and leather glove, then tossed the ball into the air and adeptly caught it in the mitt. “Do you think he’d mind giving me some pointers? You could tell him who I am, that Tallie’s practically my aunt, since you and she are such good friends.”

      Sheila grasped her son’s shoulder and forced a smile on her face. “We’re not going to bother Caleb while he’s visiting Crooked Oak. He’s come here to recuperate. But if he stays long enough, I’m sure we’ll run into him sooner or later.”

      “Ah, gee, Mom, couldn’t I just stop by his house and get his autograph?”

      “No, you may not. I don’t want you pestering Caleb.

      “Asking a famous person for his autograph isn’t pestering him.”

      “Danny Vance, I want you to promise me that you won’t go over to Tallie’s house and bother Caleb.”

      “Ah, Mom.”

      She had to keep Danny and Caleb apart if at all possible. The more they were together, the more likely it would be that someone would notice the similarities between the two. Even Caleb might notice that Danny didn’t resemble Daniel Vance in the least Danny had inherited her blue eyes, but that was all. His black hair and dark complexion were genetic gifts from Caleb, as were his natural athletic abilities.

      “I’ll tell you what,” Sheila said. “Promise me that you won’t bother Caleb and I’ll make sure you meet him and get his autograph before he leaves Crooked Oak.”

      “Okay,” Danny agreed reluctantly.

      “Go wash up and get ready for supper. We’re having barbecue.”

      “Great. Barbecue is my favorite.” Danny tossed the ball and glove down on his bed, then raced out of the bedroom and up the hall to the bathroom.

      Sheila ran her hand lovingly over the baseball glove she’d given Danny for Christmas. He’d been fascinated with the game since he was a baby, and Daniel had bought him his first ball and bat, both plastic, when he was two.

      Daniel had been a good man. A kind husband and a loving father to a child he’d known wasn’t his. She still missed him, and knew that Danny did, too. Surviving Caleb Bishop’s return would have been so much easier if Daniel were still alive.

      But Daniel was gone, and she had no one else to count on except herself. She and she alone would have to find a way to protect herself and her son from a man who could bring them nothing but heartache.

      Two

      Caleb hit the rewind button on the VCR and cursed himself for a fool. Why the hell had he brought along the tape of last season’s final playoffs game—the last baseball game of Caleb Bishop’s illustrious career—when watching himself in top form was an excruciating torment?

      “You’re a glutton for punishment, aren’t you, Bishop?” he said to himself. “How many times are you going to watch that damn tape?”

      When he stood, he tossed the remote control onto the sofa and headed for the kitchen. His stomach rumbled, as if on cue, the moment he entered the neat, white kitchen. Glancing at the clock on the microwave, he noticed that it was nearly noon. He hadn’t eaten a bite since he’d gotten up nearly four hours ago.

      For the past ten days he had shut himself off from the rest of the world. Living like a hermit, he hadn’t even answered the telephone for the first few days. But Tallie’s insistent messages warning him that if he didn’t pick up the damn phone before long, she was going to drive down from Nashville and personally kick his butt, encouraged him to make contact with the outside world.

      Caleb pulled a box of cereal from an upper cupboard, retrieved the milk from the refrigerator and prepared himself a bowl of comflakes. The supply of groceries Sheila Vance had brought

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