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He jumps off the bed and starts to put on his tennis shoes. “And maybe afterward we can play catch?” he asks, his entire face lighting up with hope at the question.

I ruffle his hair. His love for the sport is so refreshing compared to what I’ve become accustomed to over the years. By the end of my career, I was all about trying to make it through a game without thoroughly trashing my shoulder. Coaching the kids is bringing my love for baseball back to simpler times. “You read my mind, little dude. I’m glad I’ve got someone here to keep me in shape now that I’m not playing.”

“Do you miss it?” he asks, looking up to me with curious eyes.

“I don’t because I’ve got you and the team here, but maybe as time passes, I’ll miss it.”

He nods as if he understands exactly what I’m feeling.

Ryder and Lexie are nowhere to be seen downstairs when we step off the stairs, so we head out the back door. It doesn’t take us long before we walk under the canopy of trees and follow the slightly worn path I’ve made from my outings since I moved in.

I hand Beck his water and ask. “Do you like it here?”

“Yeah.” He nods. “What’s not to like? I’ve never lived anywhere with so many trees.”

“I like the trees too. It’s one of the main reasons I bought the house.” I’m not sure how to word what I want to ask him. I don’t want to cause him any undue worry, so I give it my best shot. “How would you feel about living here permanently?”

He turns to me with his brows scrunched together. “I thought I already was.”

“You are,” I’m quick to say. “But I don’t know how you feel about living with me.”

“I don’t want to leave. The man we used to live with wasn’t nice to me when Mama wasn’t around, and you’re always nice to me. You like to play catch and you’re teaching me about baseball.”

The way he speaks is more mature than his seven years of life.

“Did your mom know he wasn’t nice to you?” I ask, my temper flaring at the thought of anyone being mean to this boy.

“No,” he hangs his head. “He… he said he’d hurt Mama if I told her, but he ended up hurting her, and I didn’t say a word.”

I stop dead in my tracks and bend until I’m eye to eye with him. Placing my hands on his shoulders, I clear the anger from my voice. “What Bradley did to your mom wasn’t your fault. I know you didn’t say anything and so does he, but Bradley is a very bad man.”

One I’ll all too happily end if he comes near either one of them ever again.

Tears well up in his eyes, making them even bluer. “Why did he hurt Mama?”

I can’t tell him the truth, so I go with what I can say. “Because he’s a bad man and didn’t know what he had when he had it. I don’t want you to think it was because of you because it wasn’t, okay?”

“Okay,” he answers but sounds unsure.

“You know I really like you and your mom. That’s why I brought you to my house to live. You’re a smart kid, and I want to talk to you man to man. How would you feel if I was your mom’s boyfriend?”

He purses his lips and looks to the sky, making me think he’s about to say he doesn’t like the idea. I hadn’t thought about what I’d say or do if he actually didn’t approve of us being together.

He finally looks down and when his eyes hit mine, I suck in a breath at the little man I see standing before me. “I know you’ll treat her right.”

“I promise I will.”

I stand and start walking again. Beck runs to catch up to me. I’m quiet as I try to figure out how to talk to him about his mom sleeping in my bedroom now. I’m not sure how much he understands about boys and girls, and I realize I’m not as prepared for this talk as I thought. Maybe I should have waited for Delilah.

Beck points to birds and a few squirrels and rabbits he sees as we walk. When we come up to the end of the path I’ve made, I stop and look around us. We’re about a mile from the house that you can’t see through the thick trees.

“How would you feel if your mom and I shared a bedroom together and turned the one where she’s been sleeping into a playroom for you? We can put in a TV and maybe a game system, a ping pong table, or whatever you like.”

Closing my eyes, I groan. I can’t believe I pretty much just bribed the kid so his mom can sleep with me each night. That’s how desperate I am to have her in my bed every night. Delilah is not going to be happy with me once she learns what just spilled out of my mouth. I don’t even know how she feels about video games.

He turns his big blue eyes to me and asks so innocently. “Does she want to sleep with you?”

“Yeah, buddy, I think she does, and I want to sleep with her too. She’s a great cuddler.”