with himself for feeling this way. But he couldn't help it. He'd been raised with a certain set of values, a certain view of the way things should be. Changing them challenged him as a man.

"All right, I didn't want to win because the judge bounced you on his knee."

Caitlin stared at him.

"Excuse me? I didn't realize that there was a right and wrong way to win your son."

Exasperation filtered through her voice.

-"What is your problem, Gray? So Harrison knew me and my father.

So what?

Whimsically, some other reason might have governed him, but it

didn't.

e's a tough old bird'and he calls shots the way he sees them.

Celia put up money, we put up money.

Celia now has a place in the community.

Well, so do we.

And Jake wants to be with you.

VoilA.

He's yours.

The main thing is that we won.

But it wasn't the main thing, she could see that.

Somehow, her background was compromising his masculinity.

Threatening him.

Damn it, why was he being so thickheaded?

"You married me in order to show the judge that your son had a mother,

a balanced home life. You were using me as a tool. Why should itmatter if I was more effective in one capacity than another?"She wanted to shake him, to make him see things her way."We're a team, Gray. Team members play the best they can and help each other any way they can. That's what makes them a team."

"Yeah, I know."

He was being unreasonable and he knew it.

But it still didn't change things.

It still didn't make it any easier for him to accept the fact that

Caitlin's background was probably the reason the judge had ruled in their favor.

He tried again.

"Look, I know that maybe I'm being an ungrateful ass. I-et me work this out for myself, all right?"

She supposed she couldn't ask for any more than that.

"I'll give you all the time you want," she said softly, returning to Jake, "as long as you come up with the right answer."

Yeah, he thought, following her, but which answer was the right one?

it wasn't often that he allowed himself to be preoccupied, but Graham

was introspective this morning.

He'd left the house with Jake's plea echoing in his ears, just as it did now.

"Can't you come to the game, Dad? @aitlin's'coaching, so you don't

have to do anything but watch us.. -Please, Dad?"

The plea tore at his heart.

It felt -as if in the past three weeks, since the judge's ruling, he'd

slipped into second place within his own home, through his own

actions. In trying to be fair to Caitlin, in attempting to rein in his own feelings for her and keep his distance, Graham had abdicated his position around Jake, as well.

It was Caitlin who now found ways to fill the void.

Caitlin who took time off from work to take the boy to the movies, or

to an amusement park.

Or to pull the strings together for a friendly game of baseball.

Caitlin who saw what was happening and didn't want the boy to suffer.

By attempting to keep as far away as possible from Caitlin, Graham

found himself keeping the same distance from his son.

It was a no-win situation.

He missed being with his son He missed being with her.

He was going to have to find way to resolve all this, and soon.

When Jake had begged him to attend this evening's game Graham had

promised that he would see what he could do The look on Jake's face had

told him that Jake didn't hold out much hope.

Caitlin had hurried through breakfast, wanting to squ a full day into five hours at the shop so that she could get t the field before the game began.

"Your dad'Il be there if he can."

She had looked at Graham then, silently begging him not to hurt Jake because o something that was going on between them.

The situation weighed heavily on his mind as he signed i on the

board.

"Hey, Gray," Jeffers called from across the room "There's someone here to see you."

Ben pointed towar Graham's desk.

Now what?

he wondered irritably as he made his way through the eternally crowded

room.

The man who sat beside his desk was tall and athletic.

H held himself as if he was ready to spring into action at moment's

notice.

Relaxed tension, if there was such a thing Another cop, Graham thought,

coming closer.

There was something vaguely familiar about the back o the man's head and the way he held himself.

A smile formed as recognition overtook Graham.