Small Town, Big Hope

Chapter10

Jackson had the boys back at the house around four-thirty, both of them looking completely worn out from the long day.

Christian, however, was running on pure adrenaline.

Not only had the Hawks won their first game, they’d gone on to win the championship. Christian came through the door carrying his trophy like it was the World Series, his baseball cap crooked on his head and a grin stretched so wide across his face Emma couldn’t help but smile.

“We’re champions, Mom!” he announced, holding the trophy up for her to see.

“I see that.” Emma laughed as she pulled him into a hug. “Okay, I want to hear everything. How did you hit?”

Christian’s whole face lit up.

“I got two hits in the first game. One was almost a double, but Coach made me stay at first because the ball got back in fast.”

“Almost a double still sounds pretty good to me.”

“It was,” Christian said confidently. “And then in the championship game, I hit one to right field and Carter scored.”

Emma raised her eyebrows. “An RBI?”

Christian nodded quickly, clearly pleased that she knew what he meant.

“What about your other at-bats?”

“I struck out once,” he admitted, his excitement dipping for half a second. “But it was a bad call.”

From behind him, Jackson gave Emma a look.

“It was not a bad call.”

“It was outside,” Christian argued.

“It was right down the middle.”

Christian crossed his arms. “You weren’t batting.”

Emma pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.

“Okay, okay. We’ll call that one disputed.” She glanced at the trophy again. “How did everybody else do?”

That was all the invitation Christian needed.

He launched into a play-by-play of nearly the entire afternoon—Carter’s catch in center field, Mason stealing second, a double play that apparently saved them from giving up two runs, and a bases-loaded moment in the final inning that had every parent on the sidelines yelling.

Emma listened to every word.

“And what was the final score?”

“Eight to seven,” Christian said proudly. “They almost came back in the last inning, but we got the last out at first.”

“So the whole team played pretty well?”

Christian nodded. “Yeah. Everybody did something.”

Emma smiled at that.

She would give Christian one thing—when that boy cared about something, he gave it everything he had. He was ambitious, competitive, and stubbornly headstrong. Traits that could drive her absolutely crazy at home but somehow became some of his greatest strengths once he stepped onto a baseball field.

“I’m proud of you,” she told him.

Christian looked down at his trophy, trying and failing to hide his smile.

“Even though I struck out?”

“Especially because you struck out and kept playing.”

For once, Christian didn’t have a comeback.

Jackson stepped inside behind the boys and gave Christian an approving nod.

Watching him play that day had filled Jackson with a kind of pride he hadn’t quite expected. He was always proud of his boys, but this felt different. With everything changing around them—the move, the separation, learning how to live between two parents—Christian was still finding something that was his.

And he was good at it.

More than that, he looked happy.

Luke had surprised him, too.

Ballparks weren’t easy for Luke. There were too many sounds, too many people, too much movement happening all at once. Jackson had watched him closely throughout the day, waiting for the signs that he was reaching his limit.

There had been a few.

Luke had covered his ears more than once. He’d paced along the fence when the crowd got especially loud, and at one point Jackson had taken him away from the field for several minutes so he could settle himself.

But Luke kept coming back.

He wanted to stay.

And then there was Blake.

Jackson had watched the two boys slowly fall into conversation, awkward at first, then easier as the afternoon went on. Luke had spent time with someone his own age without needing either of his parents to guide the interaction.

It was a small thing to anyone else.

To Jackson, it was huge.

For the first time since Emma had moved the boys to Hickory Ridge, Jackson found himself wondering if maybe she had seen something here that he hadn’t.

Christian had a team. He had friends. He had coaches who knew his name and parents in the stands cheering for him.

Luke had found someone who seemed to understand him without needing an explanation first.

And somehow, in a place Jackson had originally seen as Emma running away from their life, his boys were beginning to build one of their own.

He wasn’t ready to admit that to Emma.

Not yet.

But standing there watching Christian clutch his championship trophy while Luke talked about Blake, Jackson couldn’t deny it anymore.

Hickory Ridge might actually be good for them.