This Heart of Mine (Chicago Stars #5)(90)

Suddenly Kevin stopped walking in midstride. She saw right away what had caught his attention. A nine-year-old boy stood on the edge of the Common holding a football. His name was Cody. His parents had introduced him yesterday when they'd checked in to Green Pastures.

Kevin might not know they finally had younger guests. Between going up in the glider in the afternoon, then locking themselves in the bedroom at the cottage, he wouldn't have seen the children, and she hadn't thought to mention it.

He began walking toward the boy, Roo following along. His stride picked up as he got nearer, until he stopped in front of the child. Molly was too far away to make out what he was saying, but he must have introduced himself because the boy froze up a little, the way kids did when they found themselves in the presence of a well-known athlete.

Kevin rubbed the boy's head to settle him down, then slowly took the football from him. He tossed it back and forth in his hands a few times, spoke to the boy again, then gestured toward the center of the Common. For a moment the boy simply stared at him, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Then his feet flew, and he raced out to catch his first pass from the great Kevin Tucker.

She smiled. It had taken a few decades, but Kevin finally had a kid to play with at the Wind Lake Campgrounds.

Roo joined in the game of catch, yipping at their ankles and generally getting in the way, but neither of them seemed to mind. Cody was a little slow and endearingly awkward, but Kevin kept encouraging him.

"You've got a good arm for a twelve-year-old."

"I'm only nine."

"You're doing great for nine!"

Cody beamed and tried harder. His legs pumped as he ran after the ball, then tried unsuccessfully to duplicate Kevin's form when he tossed it back.

After nearly half an hour of this he finally began to tire, but Kevin was too caught up rewriting history to notice. "You're doing great, Cody. Just relax your arm and put your body into it."

Cody did his best to comply, but he began to dart yearning glances toward his cottage. Kevin, however, focused only on making sure this boy wouldn't suffer the same kind of loneliness he had.

"Hey, Molly!" he called out. "You see what a good arm my friend has here?"

"Yes, I see."

Cody's sneakers were starting to drag, and even Roo was looking tired. But Kevin remained oblivious.

Molly was just getting ready to intervene when the three O'Brian brothers—ages six, nine, and eleven, as she recalled—came running out from the woods behind Jacob's Ladder.

"Hey, Cody! Get your suit on. Our moms said we could go to the beach!"

Cody's face lit up.

Kevin looked thunderstruck. She really should have remembered to tell him that several of the families checking in yesterday had kids. She experienced a sudden, irrational hope that this somehow would make him change his mind about selling the place.

Cody hugged the football to his chest and looked uneasy.

"It's been nice playing with you, Mr. Tucker, but… uh… I have to go play with my friends now. If it's okay?" He edged away backward. "If you… can't find anybody else to play with, I guess—I guess I can come back later."

Kevin cleared his throat. "That's okay. You go on with your friends."

Cody was off like a shot with the three O'Brian boys following.

Kevin approached her slowly. He looked so disconcerted that Molly bit her lip to keep her smile within reasonable boundaries. "Roo'll play with you."

Roo whimpered and crawled under the gazebo.

She rose and walked to the bottom of the steps. "Okay, I'll play with you. But don't throw hard."

He shook his head in bewilderment. "Where did all these kids come from?"

"School's finally out. I told you they'd show up."

"But… how many are here?"

"The three O'Brian boys, and Cody has a baby sister. Two families have one teenage girl each."

He sank down on the step.

She held her amusement in check as she sat next to him. "You'll probably meet them all this afternoon. Tea in the gazebo will be a nice way to kick off a new week."

He didn't say anything, just gazed out at the Common.

She considered it a tribute to her maturity that only a small bubble of laughter escaped. "Sorry your playmate ran away."

He stubbed the heel of his sneaker in the grass. "I made a fool out of myself, didn't I?"

Her heart melted, and she rested her cheek against his shoulder. "Yes, but the world could use more fools like you. You're a very nice man."

He smiled down at her. She smiled back. And that's when it hit her.

This wasn't a crush at all. She'd fallen in love with him.

She was so horrified, she jerked away.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" She started to chatter to cover up her dismay. "There's another family. More children. Checking in today with… some kids. The Smiths. They didn't say how many—how many kids. Amy talked to them."

In love with Kevin Tucker! Please, not that! Hadn't she learned anything? She knew from her childhood how impossible it was to make someone love her, yet she'd once again fallen into that old, destructive pattern. What about all her dreams and hopes? What about her Great Love Story?