“He’s not . . . Kye,” he finally said.
Denise was completely lost now.
“You’re not Kyle?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not Kyle,” she repeated, this time as a statement. Repetition, she’d learned, was important. It was something she did to find out whether or not they were both on the same wavelength.
“Yes.”
Huh?
Denise thought about it, trying to figure it all out, before focusing on him again.
“What’s your name? Is it Kyle?”
Kyle shook his head. “He’s not Kye. He’s linno man.”
She ran through it again, making sure she understood what he was saying.
“Little man?” she asked.
Kyle nodded triumphantly and smiled, his anger suddenly receding as quickly as it had come.
“Eez linno man,” he said again, and all Denise could do was stare at him.
Little man.
Oh Lord, how long was this going to last?
At that moment Taylor approached them, his gear bag thrown over his shoulder.
“Hey, Denise, how are you?” He took off his hat and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.
Denise turned her attention to him, still flummoxed. “I’m not exactly sure,” she answered honestly.
The three of them began walking across the park together, and Denise recounted her exchange with Kyle. When she was finished Taylor patted Kyle on the back.
“Little man, huh?”
“Yes. Eez linno man,” Kyle said proudly in response.
“Don’t encourage him,” Denise said with a rueful shake of the head.
Taylor seemed to find the whole thing extremely humorous and didn’t bother trying to hide it. Kyle, on the other hand, was gazing at Taylor as though he were one of the seven wonders of the world.
“But he is a little man,” Taylor said in Kyle’s defense. “Aren’t you?”
Kyle nodded, pleased to have someone on his side. Taylor unzipped his gear bag and dug around inside before pulling out an old baseball. He handed it to Kyle.
“Do you like baseball?” he asked.
“It’s a ball,” Kyle answered. (Ess a baw)
“It’s not just a ball. It’s a baseball,” he said seriously.
Kyle considered it.
“Yes,” he whispered. “It’s a baseball.” (Yes . . . Ess a bessbaw)
He held the ball tightly in his small hand and seemed to study it, as if looking for a secret that only he could understand. Then, glancing up, he spotted a children’s slide in the distance. All of a sudden that took priority over everything else.
“He wants to run,” Kyle said, looking expectantly at his mother, “over there.” He pointed to where he wanted to go. (Ee wanta wun . . . O’er dare)
“Say, ‘I want to run.’ ”
“I want to run,” he said softly. (I wanta wun)
“Okay, go ahead,” she said. “Just don’t go too far.”
Kyle dashed toward the kids’ play area, a bundle of unharnessed energy. Luckily it was right next to the tables where they would be sitting—Judy had chosen the spot for just that reason, since nearly everyone involved in the game brought their children with them. Both Denise and Taylor watched Kyle as he ran.
“That’s one cute kid,” Taylor offered with a grin.
“Thanks. He’s a good boy.”
“That little man thing isn’t really a problem, is it?”
“It shouldn’t be . . . he went through a phase where he pretended to be Godzilla a couple of months ago. He wouldn’t answer to anything else.”
“Godzilla?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty funny when you think back on it. But at the time, oh my. I remember we were at the store once and Kyle slipped away. I was walking through the aisles calling for Godzilla, and you wouldn’t believe the looks that people were giving me. When Kyle finally came back, there was this one lady—she stared at me like I was an alien. I knew she was wondering what kind of mother names her kid Godzilla.”
Taylor laughed. “That’s great.”
“Yeah, well . . .” She rolled her eyes, communicating a mixture of contentment and exasperation. As she glanced at him, her eyes caught his and lingered just an instant too long before each of them turned away. They walked on in silence, looking exactly like one of the other young couples in the park.
From the corner of his eye, however, Taylor still watched her.
She was radiant in the warm June sunlight. Her eyes, he noticed, were the color of jade, exotic and mysterious. She was shorter than he was—maybe five six, he guessed—and she moved with the easy grace of people who were confident of their place in the world. More than that, he sensed her intelligence in the patient way she dealt with her son and, most of all, how much she loved him. To Taylor those were the things that really mattered.
Melissa, he knew, had been right after all.
“You played a good game,” Denise finally said, interrupting his thoughts.
“We didn’t win, though.”
“But you played well. That counts for something.”
“Yeah, well, we didn’t win.”
“That’s such a man thing to say. I hope Kyle doesn’t turn out that way.”
“He will, though. He won’t be able to help it. It’s in our genes.”
Denise laughed, and they took a few steps in silence.
“So why did you get involved with the fire department?” she asked him.
The question brought his father’s image to mind. Taylor swallowed, forcing the thought away.
“It’s just something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid,” he answered.
Though she heard a slight change in his tone, his expression seemed neutral as he studied the crowds in the distance.
“How does that work? Since you volunteer, I mean. Do they just call you up when there’s an emergency?”
He shrugged, suddenly relieved for some reason. “Pretty much.”
“Is that how you found my car that night? Did someone call it in?”
Taylor shook his head. “No, that was just lucky. Everyone at the station had been called in earlier because of the storm—there were already downed power lines on the roads, and I was out setting flares so that people could stop in time. I just happened to come across your car and pulled over to see what was wrong.”
“And there I was,” she said.
At this he stopped and met her gaze, his eyes the same color as the sky. “And there you were.”
The tables were piled high with enough food to feed a small army, which about equaled the number of people milling about in the area.
Off to the side, over by the grills where burgers and franks were being cooked, were four large coolers filled with ice and beer. As they neared the coolers, Taylor tossed his gear bag to one side, piling it with the others, and grabbed a beer for himself. Still bent over, he held up a can of Coors Light.
“Would you like one?”
“Sure, if you have enough.”
“There’s plenty. If we get through all these coolers, you’d better hope nothing happens in town tonight. No one would be able to respond.”
He handed the can to her, and she opened it. She’d never been a big drinker even in the years before Kyle, but the beer was refreshing on such a hot day.
Taylor took a long pull just as Judy spotted them. She put a stack of paper plates in the center of one of the tables, then walked over to meet them.
She gave Taylor a quick squeeze. “Sorry your team lost,” she said playfully. “But you owe me five hundred bucks.”
“Thanks for the moral support.”
Judy laughed. “Oh, you know I’m just playing with you.” She squeezed him again before turning her attention to Denise.
“Well, now that you’re here, can I introduce you around?”
“Sure, but let me check on Kyle first.”
“He’s fine. I saw him when he came up. He’s playing on the slide.”
Like radar, Denise was able to zero in on him almost immediately. He was indeed playing, but he looked hot. She could see how red his face was, even at a distance.
“Um . . . do you think it would be okay if I got him something to drink? A soda or something?”
“Absolutely. What kind does he like? We’ve got Coke, Sprite, root beer . . .”
“Sprite.”
From the corners of his eyes, Taylor saw Melissa and Kim—Carl Huddle’s pregnant wife—coming over to say hello. Melissa was wearing the same triumphant expression that she’d had the night he’d been over for dinner. No doubt she’d seen them walk up together.
“Here, let me bring it to him,” Taylor offered hurriedly, not wanting to face her gloating. “I think a few people are coming over to say hello.”
“Are you sure?” Denise asked.
“I’m positive,” he answered. “Should I bring him a can, or would he like it in a cup?”
“A cup.”
Taylor took another pull from his beer as he headed for the table to prepare Kyle’s drink, narrowly avoiding Melissa and Kim.
Judy introduced Denise around the circle, and after visiting for a few minutes, they dragged her off to meet some other people.
Though Denise had never been comfortable meeting strangers, in this case it wasn’t as difficult as she imagined. The casual setting—kids were running from here to there, everyone was dressed for summer, people were laughing and joking—made it easy for her to relax. It felt like a reunion, where anyone and everyone was welcome.
Over the next half hour or so she met a few dozen people, and as Judy had mentioned, nearly every one of them had children. Names were coming quickly—their own and their kids’—making it impossible for her to remember them all, though she did her best for those who seemed to be the closest to her own age.
Lunch for the kids came next, and after the hot dogs were pulled from the grills, kids came rushing to the tables from all over.
Kyle, of course, didn’t come to the table with the rest of the children, but strangely, she didn’t see Taylor, either. She hadn’t seen him since he’d headed off to the play area, and she scanned the crowd, wondering if he’d slipped back unnoticed. She didn’t find him.
Curious, she looked toward the play area, and it was then that she saw the two of them, facing each other a few feet apart. When she realized what they were doing, her breath caught in her throat.
She almost didn’t believe it. She closed her eyes for a long moment, then opened them again.
Frozen, she watched as Taylor gently lobbed the baseball in Kyle’s direction. Kyle stood with both arms straight out, his forearms close together. He didn’t move a muscle as the ball sailed through the air. But as if by some magic, the ball dropped directly into his little hands.
All she could do was stare in wonder.
Taylor McAden was playing catch with her son.
Kyle’s latest throw was off the mark—as many of them had been—and Taylor scrambled as the ball went past him, finally coming to a stop in the short grass. As he stepped over to retrieve it, he saw Denise approaching.
“Oh, hey,” he said casually. “We were just playing catch.” He picked up the ball.
“Have you been doing this the whole time?” she asked, still unable to hide her amazement. Kyle had never wanted to play catch before. She’d tried numerous times to get him interested in it, but he’d never even made the attempt. Her surprise, though, wasn’t limited simply to Kyle; it had to do with Taylor. It was the first time that someone else had ever taken the time to teach Kyle something new, something that other children did.
He was playing with Kyle. Nobody played with Kyle.
Taylor nodded. “Pretty much. He seems to like it.”
At the same time, Kyle saw her and waved. “Hewwo, Money,” he called out.
“Are you having fun?” she asked.
“He throws it,” he said excitedly. (Ee frows it)
Denise couldn’t help but smile. “I see that. It was a good throw.”
“Ee frows,” Kyle said again, agreeing with her.
Taylor pushed up the bill of his hat. “He’s got quite an arm sometimes,” he said, as if to explain why he’d missed Kyle’s throw.
Denise could only stare at him. “How did you get him to do it?”
“What? Play catch?” He shrugged, clearly unaware of his accomplishment. “Actually, it was his idea. After he finished his soda, he sort of sailed one at me. Almost hit me in the head. So I tossed it back and gave him some pointers on how to catch it. He caught on pretty fast.”
“Frow it,” Kyle called out impatiently. His arms were straight out again.
Taylor looked at her to see if it was all right.
“Go ahead,” Denise said. “I’ve got to see this again.”
Taylor took his position a few feet from Kyle.
“You ready?” Taylor asked.
Kyle, concentrating hard, didn’t respond. Denise crossed her arms in nervous anticipation.
“Here it comes,” he said, lobbing the ball. It hit Kyle on the wrist and bounced toward his chest like a pinball, before finally falling to the ground. Kyle immediately picked it up, aimed, then threw the ball back. This time the ball was on target, and Taylor was able to catch it without moving.
“Good one,” Taylor said.
The ball went back and forth a few more times before Denise finally spoke.
“You ready for a break?” she asked.
“Only if he is,” Taylor responded.
“Oh, he could keep doing this for a while. Once he finds something he likes, he doesn’t like to stop.”
“So I’ve noticed.”
Denise called out to Kyle, “Okay, sweetie, last one.”
Kyle knew what that meant, and he eyed the ball carefully before throwing it. It went off to the right, and once again Taylor wasn’t able to catch it. It came to a stop near Denise, and she retrieved it just as Kyle started toward her.