Summer Nights (Fool's Gold #8)(53)
“Doesn’t he see his mom?”
Kent shook his head. “She walked out on both of us. She’s never around, never calls. He doesn’t say much, but I know he misses her.”
Shane swore under his breath. He couldn’t imagine a woman acting like that when it came to her own child.
“Have you started dating?” he asked.
“No.” Kent shrugged. “My mom’s been on me about it and my sisters mention it now and then. Even Reese says I should move on. But why? So I can date someone I’ll never care about? What’s the point?”
The point was to heal and then have a life. Kent sounded like he was caught up in the past and that was never good.
Sure, Shane had suffered through a tough divorce, too, but he’d managed to move forward. It wasn’t as if his ex still got to him. He didn’t use her to define the other women in his…
He tightened his hold on his beer as the uneasy truth settled on him. He wasn’t as different from Kent as he would like. The truth was that Rachel was the yardstick by which he’d carefully measured Annabelle. All of Annabelle’s actions were judged according to what his ex would have done. The two women had never met, had almost nothing in common, yet in Shane’s mind, they were exactly the same. Hardly fair to any involved party.
“Attention, everyone,” Josh said as he rose.
The group went quiet.
“This is the first time we’ve all been together without the women around,” he said with a grin. “Not that we don’t love our ladies.”
“Charity deserves a whole lot better than you,” Ethan yelled.
Josh laughed. “Yes, she does, but she loves me. Which makes me the luckiest man here.” He held up his plastic cup of beer. “Every man who got some last night, raise your glass.”
Shane and Kent groaned as all the married men, and Rafe, lifted their beers.
“And that, gentlemen,” Josh said to Shane and Kent, “is why it’s good to be married.”
Cups were raised and toasts accepted. Shane patted Cameron on the shoulder. “Beats looking after goats or giving cats vaccinations, doesn’t it?”
Cameron grinned. “It’s nice to get away, but by the time the game is over, I’ll be happy to get back to my girls.”
“How old is your daughter?”
“Almost nine.”
“So you’re a long way from worrying about her dating.”
Cameron winced. “I hope so. I was dreading that. Most teenage girls don’t want their dads tagging along on the date and that’s pretty much the only way I was going to let her go out. Now Rina can help keep me calm.”
“Fool’s Gold is a great place to raise kids. I grew up here,” Shane said.
“Rina and I are looking forward to having children together and Kaitlyn is very excited about being a big sister.” Cameron drew in a breath. “When my wife left, Kaitlyn was a newborn. I was terrified. What did I know about taking care of a baby? But I got through it and Kaitlyn and I became a family. Then Rina came along and she made everything complete. Life is funny that way. Little miracles show up when we least expect them.”
The players moved to the baselines and the announcer asked everyone to stand for the national anthem. Shane rose, along with his friends. They sang together.
When the last notes died, everyone cheered. The players took their positions and the game began.
The Mountaineers’ pitcher struck out the first three at bats. The first hit for the home team was an over-the-fence home run. Shane yelled with everyone else, enjoying the home team’s skill. Josh and Raoul joked about who was more famous in town. Ethan offered Shane advice on the house Shane was having built. Simon and Cameron talked different breeds of dogs with Finn. Tucker and Kent debated mathematical averages in trying to beat the house in casino gambling.
Shane enjoyed the afternoon, the game and the company, but in the back of his mind, he couldn’t stop thinking about Kent and Cameron and the women in their lives. Both men had suffered through disastrous marriages. Kent was stuck—still hurt, still waiting for Lorraine to return. He had his kid and his work, but was he happy? Was there contentment, or just a sense of longing for what he would never have again?
Cameron had gone another direction. He, too, had dealt with a child as a single father. But instead of retreating, he’d opened his heart to Rina and was now happily married. He’d let go of the past—something he had to do before he could move on.
Shane knew he could go in either direction. He could stay lost in anger and bitterness, remembering what had happened until he didn’t have room for anything else. Or he could let go and move on. The choice was his, and whatever he chose, there would be consequences.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“YOU MUST REALLY LOVE HER,” Shane said as Khatar tossed his head after flawlessly executing the complicated step sequence they’d been working on.
The horse pranced a couple of paces to the left, then went to the right, starting the steps over again.
“You don’t need me here, do you?” Shane asked. “You can do this all on your own.”
Khatar moved closer and gently butted him. Shane rubbed the horse behind the ears.
Since falling for Annabelle, the once-difficult stallion had become a friendly, easygoing animal. Shane wasn’t about to turn him loose in a playschool, but the change was remarkable. He wondered if Khatar’s previous trainers had simply assumed he would be difficult and had treated him accordingly before he’d had a chance to prove himself. He’d reacted to their assumptions. Or was he giving the horse too much credit?