Page 47 of The Seal's Promise
Permission to Misbehave
“Yes, Max, Daltonwill be there tomorrow and he’s very sorry he had to miss practice today. It really wasn’t something he could control,” Brooke assured Max again at bedtime as she tucked him into bed.
His room was decorated in various shades of blue and green, with floating shelves on one wall holding dozens of building block sets he’d put together. There were also several baskets of robots, cars, and stuffed animals he’d collected so far. His bed was elevated high so he had to use a ladder to get in it, which left room below for a fort. There was also a strategically placed bookshelf in there, where they would cuddle before bed and read.
“But Mom, I wanted to hear his trick on catching fly balls. I wanted to see if I’ve been doing it right. Couldn’t we just call him?”
She wiped his damp curls back off his forehead and kissed his rosy cheek.
“No. For one I don’t have Coach Dalton’s phone number, and for two it’s bedtime. You’ll see him in less than eighteen hours and have your chance to ask him all your questions. And he said he’d make it up to you all so maybe he’ll do an extra training session.”
“Mom, it’s not work. It’s baseball. It’s not training, it’s coaching,” Max whined as he turned over onto his side and his eyes started to flutter closed.
Her cheeks hurt from smiling at her darling boy. She knew he would be asleep within another moment. After a day of school and hours on the baseball field he wasn’t going to be able to fight his body’s need for sleep.
After just a few more swipes of his brow, his breathing grew heavy and turned into a steady, soft rhythm. She turned off the light machine, leaving just the simple night-light in the shape of a baseball on his small desk on, and closed his door. Out in the kitchen she finished cleaning up their simple dinner plates and wondered how Dalton was doing at the hospital. Then her phone chimed from where it was plugged in to charge on the kitchen counter.
How are you doing resisting your new coworker?the text read from May.
She sighed. Truthfully, not very well but she wasn’t about to announce it. If she and Dalton were going to keep things secret, it was best if no one knew.
Easy peasy.
Liar! Who was it that said resistance is futile?
Sounds like a quitter.
Well embrace that, but I wouldn’t call it quitting, more like accepting your true destiny.
That’s a bit dramatic, are you reading romantasy again?
Maybe, but I’m not suggesting you adopt a dragon or go on a quest to discover which magic power you have.
Brooke scoffed.
I just want you to stop worrying about what everyone else thinks and do what you want. Especially if that means doing Dalton. Then I’d like you to tell me all the tawdry details, please.
Shameful. I’m going to tell Mom you’re encouraging me to have a relationship out of wedlock.
Go for it. Mom will agree with me.
Brooke laughed again—her sister might be right at this point. It felt like she’d tried to do everything the “right” way and it totally crashed and burned.
Another text rolled in but this time from an unknown number.
Hi, this is Dalton. I just thought you’d probably be wondering how I’m doing and we haven’t exchanged numbers yet, which also seems crazy.
She could feel her face beaming with a smile and in the privacy of her own home she didn’t have to hide it. There was no one there to judge her or wonder what she was thinking.
How is your patient?
Still sleeping. Was Max upset that I couldn’t make it today?
He was disappointed but he understands.She hesitated, unsure if she should be more honest.He was hoping to get your guidance on how to manage a fly ball. He wants to make sure he’s handling that correctly.
He actually is, but I’ll practice with him so he feels really confident about it. I hope we don’t have any serious cases tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to spending time with you.
Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart started pounding.
