The Hardest Fight. Amy Vastine

gone the way he thought it would. Part of him had hoped Lucy would be a disheveled mess. The other part knew she would have thrived without him. She had definitely blossomed into a strong and independent woman.

      “They didn’t sign. No one wants to accept a loss, but they’re smart women, they’ll take the money and start over somewhere else, I’m sure.”

      Bridgette smiled. Her hair was a different shade of red than it had been the day before. She must have gotten it colored, but since she hadn’t mentioned a hair appointment yesterday, Dylan knew not to say anything. She was one of those women who told people she had never seen a gray hair on her head.

      “Well, if anyone could tell what they were thinking, it’s you,” she said, picking up his coffee cup from earlier this morning. She was always taking care of little things like that for him. “Have a good night and don’t forget that tomorrow your eight-thirty got moved to seven-thirty and your eleven is now three-thirty.”

      He couldn’t thank her enough for the reminder. Bridgette was excellent at her job. It often made him wonder if she had been assigned to him because his mother thought he needed someone like Bridgette or if he had worked hard enough to deserve her. Some people in the firm thought he was treated differently because he was the boss’s son, but Dylan had never considered that a good thing. Being treated differently didn’t always mean being treated better.

      Dylan managed to make it out of the building and all the way home without crossing paths with his mother. By six o’clock, he was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, sitting next to Eugene in the bleachers of Whitman Elementary’s gymnasium.

      Eugene leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. He was in his sixties and one of the gentlest souls to walk the earth. The man had been to hell and back, between losing his daughter to a world of drugs and his wife to disease, but somehow he’d maintained his positive spirit. He was a true inspiration and Dylan’s only real friend over the age of eight.

      Eugene gave Jeremy a thumbs-up when the little boy scanned the crowd for his two biggest fans. With his hands cupped around his mouth, Dylan cheered loud enough for the entire gymnasium to hear. “Let’s go, Big J!”

      “He’s nervous even though I told him all he had to do was have fun out there,” Eugene said.

      “He’ll have fun once they get started.”

      Jeremy was a bit of an anxious kid. He could be shy around new people, but once he got to know somebody, his true personality would shine through. The other kids on his team were joking around during warm-ups while Jeremy and another boy passed the ball back and forth.

      A man in a suit and tie entered the gym, eliciting the biggest smile from Jeremy’s new friend. The guy climbed the bleachers and joined a woman holding a baby girl a couple of rows down from where Dylan and Eugene were sitting. He kissed the woman and promptly stole the infant away from her, planting more kisses on the chubby baby’s cheeks. Dylan felt a tinge of jealousy at the sight of the happy family. As much as he wanted that life, the possibility of ever getting it seemed slim to none. There weren’t many opportunities to date when he worked eighty hours a week, and no one he had dated held a candle to the woman he had wanted to be the mother of his children.

      The buzzer sounded, cueing the teams to get ready to play. Jeremy gave them one more quick glance before paying closer attention to his coach’s last words of advice. Dylan had never bothered to look in the stands when he was a kid. He knew no one would be there. His dad had been a trader at the Chicago Stock Exchange, while his mother billed her hundred hours a week for Stevens and Ellis. The nanny dropped Dylan off and picked him up but never stayed for the game. That was why he swore he’d do things differently when he had kids. Jeremy wasn’t his but close enough.

      “How’s work going?” Eugene asked as the boys ran up and down the court, no one able to get the ball through the hoop.

      “Same as always,” Dylan replied. His phone rang and the caller ID told him it was his mother. He rejected the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket. If he didn’t answer, she might think he was busy with something work-related.

      Eugene chuckled. “That’s what I get for mentioning work, right?”

      “Yeah, knock that off.”

      “Maybe if I ask if you’ve met any pretty ladies lately, one will call you and ask you to dinner.”

      It was Dylan’s turn to laugh. “I wish.”

      Jeremy got the ball under the basket, but instead of taking a shot, he passed it off. The other boy scored and everyone cheered. The family with the baby screamed the loudest.

      “Good assist, Jer!” Dylan shouted.

      “So, met any pretty ladies lately?” Eugene asked.

      Dylan was about to answer when none other than Lucy Everhart slipped through the gym door. He pulled his baseball cap down to hide his face as she scanned the crowd.

      His chest tightened and his mouth went dry. What in the world was she doing here?

       CHAPTER THREE

      LUCY WAS LATE for Simon’s game and had no one to blame but herself. She’d spent the better part of the day talking Paige out of calling Mrs. Kerrington and taking her pathetic offer. Today’s meeting had planted dangerous seeds in Paige’s head and made all of the board members question if selling Safe Haven was the right choice or not.

      The thought of Dylan and his sparkling blue eyes, pleading with Paige to think of all the good she could do with the money from the sale, was enough to make Lucy scream. As if he had any idea what it took to make a difference in the world working at Stevens and Ellis. Years ago, he had sworn he’d find a way to fight for those without a voice instead of selling his soul to his mother’s affluent and avaricious clients, but it appeared he had done just that.

      Kendall waved to get her sister’s attention. Lucy smiled and began trudging up the bleachers. Kendall’s husband, Max, bounced their daughter on his knee. The man was completely smitten. Five-month-old Darcy had her father wrapped around her little finger already. Kendall was in for trouble when that one got big enough to ask for things.

      “Sorry I’m late,” she said, taking the spot next to Max and holding out her hands for her turn with the baby.

      “I just got here,” he protested. Darcy loved new attention more than anything and lunged for her aunt, so Max reluctantly let her go.

      The baby girl’s screech was earsplitting. It was her way of saying hello. Lucy made a funny noise in return and Darcy giggled, showing off the two cute baby teeth in her mouth. Her adorable laugh always made Lucy smile. Kendall made amazing babies. The tiny, delusional part of Lucy’s heart that wasn’t completely convinced she didn’t have a family in her future ached a bit more than usual.

      “Simon scored a basket.” Kendall reached across Max to give Darcy a toy. “Just before you walked in.”

      Of course he had. Keeping Safe Haven from going into foreclosure wasn’t going to be easy, and every minute Lucy spent working was a minute she wouldn’t get to spend with her family. Lucy’s anger toward Prime Developments and Dylan Hunt resurged.

      “Your little one dropped her toy,” someone said behind her.

      Max snatched up the elephant rattle and shook it in front of Darcy, much to her delight. Lucy tried to push the negativity she felt aside. She was here to watch Simon and enjoy her time with Kendall.

      “Thanks,” she said to the older gentleman behind them. The hair at his temples was gray and his beard was more white than brown. He gave her a nod and a gentle smile. Just as she was about to turn back around, Lucy made eye contact with the man sitting beside him and her temper flared. “Are you following me?”

      Dylan sighed and readjusted the brim of his hat. “No, I’m not following you.” He dared to sound indignant.