crazy.

"Where do you want me?"

She spared him a glance before looking back at Jake.

The count on the boy was three and two.

He had five swings in all coming to him.

She hoped that at least one would make contact with the ball.

"Loaded question," she couldn't help answering.

"Are you serious?"

"Don't I look serious?"

He spread his hands before him.

You look wonderful.

Caitlin cleared her throat.

"Okay, for starters, how about coaching first base? All you have to do

is tell them when they should run. One of the volunteer fathers didn'tshow. I've got kids ready to fly at every pitch."Graham was already heading for first.

"Gotcha, Coach."

Wary, burned more than once, Caitlin was afraid to let out the warm feeling that was trying to seep through.

He was here only because of Jake, nothing more.

The final score was thirty-one to twenty-six in favor of Jake's team.

They took the win the way only seven- and eight-year-olds could.

Ecstatically.

Walking on air, the children left the field of victory with their

parents, leaving Caitlin and company to collect the assorted bats, helmets and balls and pack them away until the next game.

"Who does all this belong to?"

Graham asked as he helped her gather everything together.

"Us. I decided to supply the essentials for the team. It was either that, or no game."

She glanced at Jake as he brought her the last of the stray balls.

"Jake would have been too disappointed if that had happened."

She really cared about the boy, Graham thought.

Perhaps almost as much as he did.

He hadn't really thought about that.

About Caitlin becoming entangled in Jake's life, as well.

It added another dimension to the equation.

Jake threw the remainder of the balls into the large black sack, his

eyes shining.

"Did ya see, Dad? Did ya see? I hit a home run!"

It was only the third time he'd announced it to them.

Delight soared through him at the sheer joy on Jake's face.

Graham laughed as he impulsively hooked an arm around his neck and

hugged his son to him.

"Yeah, I saw."

"That was for you, Dad."

Jake said importantly, as if he was capable of directing his hits.

"'Cause you came."

Jake danced from foot to foot, unable to contain himself.

"Are you gonna come to the next game?"

Caitlin tugged on the drawstrings of the large sack,@ waiting for an

answer.

He wondered if she felt as if he was.

barging in.

"I'd like that."

"Good. I could use a batboy," Caitlin said.

She dropped the drawstrings and the sack listed, the top drooping to the

ground.

"Why don't you carry that to the car?"

Graham hefted the sack, balancing it on his shoulder.

He looked down at Jake walking beside him.

"Gives orders well, doesn't she?"

"You bet."

His eyes shifted to Caitlin as they reached the cars.

"Can we go out for hamburgers and fries, Cait? Can we? 'Cause this is

such a special time?"

"You mean because you won?" she asked as she unlocked the trunk.

"No, 'cause we're all together."

He backed up as his father deposited the sack into the trunk.

Caitlin's eyes met Graham's.

This was his call.

"Ask your dad, Jake."

Jake's head seemed to swivel as he turned toward his father.

"Can we?"

Graham almost said no, that they had better head home, and then he

remembered Kane's photograph.

"Sure. Why not? I've got the night free."

What was he up to?

Caitlin wondered.

There had to be some catch, some reason he was doing this other than

the simple one of just wanting their company.

mining inside her car, she dropped her purse between the two front seats.

"This is a special occasion."

He'd been conspicuously absent from her life for the past three

weeks.

It seemed that, once the court had granted him custody, he didn't need her anymore.