A very large child came up to bat and Lucas seriously thought about asking for the kid’s birth certificate. He was huge! The little kid on the pitching mound threw the ball with all his might and the kid smashed the ball. It went past the first basemen out into right field. Lucas stood quickly, excited because there was no way Aiden could miss the ball.

But he did.

It went right through his legs and Lucas fell back into the bleachers, smacking himself in the head.

“It had a bad bounce,” Fallon said as Aiden ran after the ball.

“Okay, Bill Buckner,” Lucas laughed.

“Who is that?” Fallon asked.

Lucas looked at her like she was the dumbest person in the world and when he looked at Audrey, she also had the same look on her face.

“I’m gonna act like you did not just say that,” Lucas said as he looked back out onto the field.

Fallon let out a little huff of air but he didn’t pay her any attention. He had a game to watch. Lucas learned quickly that baseball, for a bunch of six, seven, and eight year olds, was not competitive at all. While he wanted to scream his ass off at the little fat kid on second that let the ball go by him countless times, he knew he couldn’t. Moms awed over their little ones as the dad’s played on their phones. Even the coach just stood there, not giving any kind of direction what so ever!

“Oh God, this is terrible,” Lucas mumbled as Aiden made his way to the batting box.

It was the fifth inning and it was Aiden’s first time at bat. Every kid had struck out.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Audrey whispered. Fallon shot her a dirty look.

“One more time, Audrey, and I swear,” Fallon warned but Audrey just giggled as the pitcher got ready to throw the ball. Lucas saw that Fallon held her breath as the boy beamed the ball across the plate at their kid. It even made Lucas nervous. Aiden swung missing the pitch, but it was a good solid swing.

“Kid needs a hockey stick, not a bat,” Lucas observed when the pitcher pitched again and Aiden missed.

“I know, right?” Audrey agreed.

“Whatever,” Fallon mumbled as Lucas watch Aiden strike out. Fallon stood up, clapping her hands. “It’s okay, Aiden. You’re awesome honey.”

When Aiden glanced up at the stands, Lucas saw nothing but embarrassment in his eyes. Fallon sat back down and Lucas looked over at her. “Fallon, this is wrong. The kid hates this.”

“He loves it.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“I think I would know what my son likes,” she snapped, causing Lucas’ eye to twitch. He tried to calm himself down by counting to 10 but he felt his temper about to snap. He hated losing, and watching his son lose was making it really hard to keep his temper under control. Especially when he knew for a fact that Aiden hated baseball!

Lucas leaned back against the rail with his arms crossed against his chest. He would save Fallon the embarrassment of yelling at her in front of the whole baseball team. But, once they got to the car and Aiden was out of earshot, he wouldn’t hold back.

Chapter 15

Fallon knew she was pressing Lucas’ buttons, but her dad had her on edge. She could feel him watching them all through the game and she hated that he was disgusted in her. Why? She didn’t know. Maybe it was the need to make him happy, even though she knew that he would never be happy with her. Fallon was apparently the biggest f**k up in the world, and nothing she did would ever make him happy.

Fallon let out a long breath as she watched the boring baseball game. Aiden stood in right field, bored out of his mind but acting as if this was the biggest game in the world. He was showing off for Lucas, and Fallon hated that all Lucas could do was bitch about how bad Aiden played. Yeah, Aiden wasn’t the best baseball player, but damn it, at least he was trying.

The Cubs’ lost and Fallon was sure it was because of the 13-year-old pitcher from the other team. Someone should really check birth certificates out here, because that kid was huge. Fallon didn’t believe for a second that that kid was young enough to play in this age group.

Audrey and Lucas stood and started down the bleachers with Fallon behind them. She dreaded going anywhere near her dad. She had no clue what he would say to Lucas, and what bugged her all to hell was that she cared if William was rude to him. She didn’t know why, maybe because it wasn’t Lucas’ fault for her becoming pregnant. Like she told William, they both lay down and made Aiden. Even if it was an accident, it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Or maybe, it was because she still felt protective over Lucas. Don’t ask her why because she had no clue.

Fallon saw her parents get up and both of them looked right at Lucas. What surprised Fallon was that he actually stopped and held out his hand to Nora. Of course, Nora took it, placing a fake smile on her face as she shook his hand.

“My name is Lucas Brooks,” Lucas said. Nora nodded as William just glared.

“Nora Parker, this is my husband William,” Nora said sweetly.

Lucas smiled back, holding his hand out to William. “Nice to meet you both.”

William looked down at Lucas’ hand then back into his eyes before taking his hand in his. “Nice for you to finally make an appearance.”

Lucas chuckled. “Believe me sir, if I would have known I would have been here a long time ago.”

“Is that right? So this is all Fallon’s fault,” William said, and everyone turned to look at her. William was glaring, while Nora and Audrey looked at her with their eyes filled with sympathy. Lucas was looking at her as if she was the most beautiful girl in the world, and that bothered her. Why couldn’t he be mad at her, or fight and yell something! Why was he being so nice while she was the biggest bitch ever!