Strike Out Read Online Free PDF Page B

kids who submitted an application wanted to meet him, so Terri called Zach to try to arrange it.”
    “So he just showed up at your office?”
    “Yup.” She still couldn’t believe it herself. “But that’s not the worst of it. He saw Tyler’s picture and started asking questions.”
    “Oh no.”
    Those were her sentiments exactly. The sisters had had numerous conversations about how Zach might react if he found out she’d kept his son from him. Rennie told herself that she’d been justified. She didn’t want her son growing up with a father who wished he’d never been born. Jackie always told her that people change. Maybe Zach felt differently now. Maybe he’d be mad as hell she hadn’t given him the opportunity to participate in his son’s life, and he’d use all of his resources to fight her for custody, or try to poison their child’s mind against her. The Zach Rennie had known wouldn’t have done anything so sinister, but after the phone call she’d overheard the night before their wedding, she questioned whether she ever really knew him at all.
    “What are you going to do?” Jackie asked, breaking into her thoughts.
    “He still thinks I’m married.” She knew she should have told him she was a widow, but she still found it difficult to admit that Nathan wasn’t coming home.
    “Why would he think that?” Jackie asked, sounding confused.
    “He saw my ring and our wedding picture.” She couldn’t block out how gutted Zach had looked when he realized she was married. What did he expect? That she would put her life on hold and wait for him to grow up and decide he wanted the family he never intended to give her?
    “How did he react?”
    “He seemed surprised.” Stunned would have been a more accurate description, but her sister didn’t need to know every detail.
    “Poor guy.”
    “Excuse me?” Rennie lowered her voice when a couple of grandparents a few feet away glanced in her direction. “Don’t make him out to be the victim in all of this. He made it clear he didn’t want the baby I was carrying.”
    “I know.” Jackie sighed. “But don’t you think he would have felt differently when he found out you were actually pregnant? I mean, guys may say they’re not ready for a baby, but when the time comes, they usually feel differently.”
    “Not a risk I was willing to take.” Rennie hadn’t softened her stance on that. She wouldn’t risk her son’s future on a man too immature and selfish to realize that winning the World Series would have paled in comparison to having a son like Tyler.
    “I hear ya. What’s done is done. The question is, what are you going to do now?”
    “He wants me to arrange his visit with the boy.” Rennie was normally meticulous about ensuring visits went off without a hitch, but just once, she’d give anything to delegate her responsibilities.
    “Oh man, are you going to?”
    “I don’t have a choice.” A sick boy was counting on her. When she took the job, she’d promised herself she would do everything in her power to make every child’s wish come true. She couldn’t allow her own fear to rob Jake of his one chance to meet his hero. Hero. The kid sure has lousy taste in heroes.
    “So when are you going to see him again?”
    “Lunch tomorrow. He wants me to call him to make the arrangements.”
    “You have to let me know what happens.”
    Rennie frowned at the excitement in her sister’s voice. She was dreading the meeting, and Jackie was acting as though the captain of the football team had just invited her to the prom. “Nothing is going to happen. We’ll have a quick lunch, in a very public place, make the arrangements for Jake’s visit, and that’s it.”
    “But you’ll have to be there for the visit, won’t you? You know, on behalf of the foundation.”
    “I suppose so.” Unless she could pretend to have the flu that day…
    “Does Tyler know you met Zach?” Jackie asked, the amusement still evident in her