Finding Perfect (Fool's Gold #3)(66)

Raoul put down the boy and made a mental note to talk to Don about his plan. If he thought he could get some easy money out of the school district and keep it for himself, he was about to have a change in attitude.

“I’ve been practicing throwing,” Peter continued happily.

“Just throwing, right? No catching.”

The kid sighed. “I know. Not until my arm is better.”

“If you want to play football, you need to be strong all over. That means letting your arm heal.”

“Will I be as big as you?”

“I don’t know.” Raoul didn’t have any details about Peter’s real parents. He wondered if he could ask around and get some information. “Want to show me what you can do?”

“Uh-huh.”

Peter ran over to the box of balls. Several other boys spotted what he was doing and followed. Raoul quickly organized them into groups and had them throwing back and forth to each other, like in a training camp.

“Good,” he said, walking behind them, watching them throw. “Billy, straighten that arm. Your strength is in your shoulder, not your wrist. Nice, Trevor. Great follow-through.”

He felt someone tug on his jacket and looked down to see a girl in glasses and pigtails staring up at him.

“Can I throw, too?” she asked.

The boy closest shook his head. “No girls. Go away.”

The girl ignored him. “I want to learn.”

“Girls play, too,” Raoul said, leading her to the end of the line. He motioned for Jackson to throw him a ball, then get in position to catch. “Why don’t you show me what you can do.”

The girl took the ball, pushed up her glasses, then threw the baseball with enough power to make a pop when it hit the glove. Jackson winced.

Raoul grinned. “You’ve got quite an arm there, young lady.”

“I want to be able to hit my big brother in the head and knock him out. He’s always teasing me.”

“Okay. I’m happy to help you with your throwing, but you have to promise never to aim at your brother’s head. The way you throw, you could hurt him really bad.”

Her eyes widened. “He says I’m a weak, whiny girl.”

“Probably because you’re better than him.”

She beamed. “I never thought about that.”

Dakota walked up. “Creating dissension between the sexes at such a young age?”

“I’m not that young.”

She laughed. “You know what I meant.”

“I do.” He studied her, seeing that she looked rested and a lot less sad. “You’re feeling better.”

“I am.

“Good. Want to talk about what happened?”

“No.”

The bell rang, indicating that it was time to head back into class. The kids threw the balls and gloves into the box and raced past them. Peter looked back and waved.

“You did good with him,” Dakota said.

“He made it easy.”

“You hold yourself back from most of the kids, but with him, you’re different.”

They walked toward the main building. He wasn’t surprised she’d figured out the truth about him.

“Old habit,” he said.

“I’m sure there are a lot of reasons,” she said. “The fame, for one thing. You can’t know who’s interested in you for you or because they want something.”

“Less of an issue now.”

“Possibly. Plus I would guess there are just too many kids to help individually. You can’t be in more than one place at once. So you created the camp to help as many kids as you can. It has the added benefit of allowing you to keep your distance.”

“You really feel the need to use your psychology degree, don’t you?”

“Sometimes. It can be very flashy at parties.”

He knew she was right about all of it. He did hold himself back. He’d been burned plenty of times in college and during his first few years in the NFL. Finally he’d learned the lesson that helping from a distance was a whole lot easier.

Since things had gone bad with Caro, it was also smarter. Her betrayal had shaken him on many levels. She’d made him question his ability to read someone.

“You don’t have to do anything at all,” Dakota said. “It’s not required.”

“Sure it is. I was taught that if life gives you advantages, you give back.”

“Your former coach?”

“Uh-huh. If I wasn’t doing something, he’d come down here and kick my ass.”

She smiled. “Cheap talk. You didn’t buy this camp for him. You bought it because you wanted to.”

He shrugged. “Hawk can be the voice in my head, telling me what to do.”

“My mom is that for me. I think it’s a good thing.”

“Psychologically sound?” he asked.

She laughed. “Definitely. I think it’s important to stay on the side of sanity.”

“You’re the professional.” He held open the door to the main building.

“How’s Pia doing?” she asked.

“Good. Why?”

“Aren’t Hawk and his wife coming to visit for a couple of days?”