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At thirty, Cal Maddox had been coaching high-school baseball for only two years, but he knew the sport as few did. He’d played five seasons in the minors and two years in the majors until an injury had sidelined him. He’d been forced to accept that years in the minor leagues trying to get back what he’d once had would be an exercise in futility.

Sharing his love of the game and his expertise with kids who might still have a shot drew him as nothing else had during those frustrating months of rehab. He owed one man for yanking him out of his initial depression and making him realize that possibilities existed outside of pro ball.

Serenity School Board chairman Hamilton Reynolds, an ardent Atlanta Braves fan during Cal’s brief tenure with the team, had sought him out at the rehab center and changed his outlook and his life. He’d convinced Cal to come to Serenity.

In all his years working up to his shot with the big leagues and since, he’d never seen anyone with the raw, natural talent of Tyler Townsend. Ty was every coach’s dream, a kid with good grades, an easygoing temperament and a willingness to practice and learn. He’d been all-state his sophomore year and had been headed down that road again this year, at least until a few weeks ago. Now, Cal thought, he was a kid spiraling out of control.

Cal watched Ty’s halfhearted pitches to the plate with increasing dismay. The players, who usually had to struggle to make contact with the kid’s fastball, were slamming the balls over the fence right and left today. Worst of all, Ty didn’t even seem frustrated by his inability to get the batters out.

“Okay, that’s it for today,” Cal called. “Everybody do a lap around the field, then head for the locker room. Ty, I’d like to see you in my office after you’ve changed.”

Cal headed inside to wait. On some level, he half expected Tyler to blow off the meeting, but twenty minutes later the kid appeared in the doorway, his expression sullen.

“Come on in,” Cal said. “Close the door.”

“My mom’s picking me up in ten minutes,” Tyler said, but he sprawled in a chair across from Cal. Though he had the gangly limbs of a lot of boys his age, Ty had none of the awkwardness. His slouching posture now, however, was indicative of his overall bad attitude.

“I think we can cover this in ten minutes,” Cal said, hiding his frustration. “How do you think you pitched today?”

“I sucked,” Ty responded.

“And that’s okay with you?”

Ty shrugged and avoided his gaze.

“Well, it’s not okay with me.” Cal’s words drew no reaction, which meant sterner measures were called for. “Here’s the deal. If you expect to pitch our opener in two weeks, you’re going to have to show me that you deserve it. Otherwise I’ll put Josh in the starting rotation and you’ll spend the season on the bench.”

Expecting a fight or at least a reaction, Cal was disappointed when Ty merely shrugged.

“Do what you want,” Ty said.

Cal frowned at the utter lack of interest. “It is not what I want,” he said impatiently. “What I want is for you to get your act together and pitch like we both know you can.” He regarded the boy with real concern. “What’s going on with you, Ty? Whatever it is, you know you can talk to me, right?”

“I guess.”

Cal pressed on, hoping to get some kind of response that would clue him in to what was troubling the boy. “Your other teachers tell me you’re not concentrating in class. Your grades are slipping. None of this is like you.”

“Well, maybe I’ve changed,” Ty said sourly. “People do, you know. Out of the blue, they just fucking change.” He stood up and took off before Cal could react.

Well hell, Cal thought. He’d gotten what he was after—a genuine reaction—but he didn’t know anything more than he had before he’d hauled the kid into his office. He wasn’t sure which worried him more, the uncharacteristic swearing or the attitude. Cal had heard plenty of foul language in the high-school locker room. But he’d never heard it from Ty before.

Nor had he seen that kind of bitterness and resignation from a boy who could have the whole world of professional baseball at his feet a few years down the road. Normally Ty hung on Cal’s every word, determined to soak up every bit of knowledge Cal had to share. His exuberance and commitment to the team had made him a role model for the other kids.

Cal pulled a file and jotted down the Townsends’ phone number. Nine times out of ten when a kid lost focus like this, there was something going on at home or he’d gotten mixed up in some kind of substance abuse. Cal flatly refused to believe a kid as smart as Tyler would suddenly start doing drugs; besides, he’d seen no real evidence of that or alcohol abuse so that left some kind of upheaval in the kid’s home life.

Cal sighed. There was nothing like calling parents and digging around in their personal issues to make his day. He’d rather take a hard fastball in the gut.

Maddie had been on three job interviews that day. None of them had gone well, pretty much proving Helen’s point. Maddie had been out of the workforce too long for her degree or her work experience to count for much. Her résumé of early jobs looked pitiful, especially with the fifteen-year gap since the last one. She might think she was executive material, but no one else would so she’d kept her expectations modest.

When each of the human resources people had seen that gaping void, they’d regarded her with dismay. Each had asked some variation of the same question: What have you been doing all this time?

Keeping house, raising kids, resolving squabbles and balancing the checkbook. Not even the unpaid hours she’d put in handling the inevitable billing problems in Bill’s medical practice seemed to count for much.

The only thing more discouraging had been her own lack of excitement about any of the jobs. Most of them had been clerical positions, the kind of entry-level work she’d done twenty years ago. It struck her as ironic that all those years of life experience had left her unqualified for even that type of work.

She was still thinking about it—and about the alternative Helen and Dana Sue were offering her—when Ty yanked open the car door and climbed in, his increasingly frequent scowl firmly in place. He’d yanked his T-shirt on inside out, yet more evidence that he wasn’t himself. Since he’d discovered an interest in girls, he’d taken more care with his appearance, but today he looked unkempt. Given the streaks of dirt on his arms and his perspiration-matted dark blond hair, it didn’t even look as if he’d showered after practice.

“How was practice?” she asked automatically.

“It sucked.”

“Having trouble with your fastball?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, turning to avoid her startled gaze. “Let’s just get the hell out of here. I want to go home.”

Keeping her temper in check, she regarded her son with a neutral expression. She would deal with his language later. “Ty, what’s going on?” she asked quietly.

Her son’s mood had been increasingly dark ever since Bill’s last visit. Her attempt to force the issue the other night had apparently fallen on deaf ears. He was still angry and he still wasn’t speaking to his dad. When Bill had come by the night before to pick up the kids, Ty had remained locked in his room, refusing to see him.

On some level, she’d counted on the start of baseball season to provide a certain normalcy for him. He loved the game. He excelled at it. He’d claimed there was nothing he wanted more than a shot at being a professional ballplayer. Usually by this time in spring practice, he was quoting Coach Maddox every chance he got. Of course, in the past his father had been there to listen.

When he remained stubbornly silent, she prodded again. “Ty, talk to me. I’m not starting this car until you do. What’s going on with you?”

“Why does everybody keep asking me that?” he exploded. “You know what’s going on. We’ve already talked it to death. Dad walked out for some bimbo. What am I supposed to do when I find out my dad’s a jerk? Can’t we just leave it alone? I’m sick of talking about it.”

Maddie couldn’t really blame him for being sick of the topic, but clearly he needed to discuss it further, if not with her, then with a professional. He needed to deal with his resentment in a more constructive way than lashing out at anyone and everyone around him.

“Sweetie, yes, we’ve talked about his, and I know you don’t understand what your father’s done,” she said for what must have been the thousandth time. “But that doesn’t give you the right to call him names, okay? He’s still your father and deserves your respect. I do not want to have to tell you that again, understood?”

He regarded her incredulously. “Come on, Mom. I know you keep painting this rosy picture of things, but even you have to know what a jerk he is.”

“What I think of your father isn’t the point,” she said. “He loves you, Ty. He wants you to be as close as you always were.”

“Then why the hell did he leave us for her? She’s not much older than me.”

“She is an adult, though,” Maddie said. “You, your brother and sister need to give her a chance. If your father loves her, I’m sure she has plenty of good qualities.” She managed to get the words out without gagging.

“Yeah, right. I’ve seen her good qualities,” he retorted. “Like a 38-D, I’d say.”

“Tyler Townsend!” she protested. “You know better than to make a remark like that. It’s rude and inappropriate.”

“It’s the truth.”

Maddie fought to temper her remarks. “Look, change is never easy, but we all have to adapt. I’m trying. You could help me a lot if you’d try, too. You’re a role model for Kyle and Katie. They’re going to follow your lead when it comes to how they treat your dad and his…” Maddie stumbled. Until the divorce was final and the relationship could be legalized, there was no name for what Bill’s new love could be called, at least not in front of her children.

“Special friend,” Tyler suggested sarcastically. “That’s what Dad calls her. It makes me want to puke.”

Maddie would not allow herself to agree with him. That didn’t mean it was easy to give him a chiding look. “Careful, Tyler. You’re very close to crossing a line.”

“And Dad hasn’t crossed a line?” he said. “Give me a break.”

“Did something happen yesterday that I don’t know about?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? Did you have words with your father?”

He remained stubbornly silent and kept looking out the window, refusing to meet her gaze.

Obviously she wasn’t going to get through to him, not this afternoon. But she had to keep trying. At the very least, she had to rein in his nastier comments.

“Maybe we should table this discussion for now, but in future I want you to speak to your father—and other adults, for that matter—in a respectful manner.”

Ty rolled his eyes. Maddie let it pass.

“Let’s talk some more about why baseball practice sucked,” she suggested, finally putting the car into gear and pulling away from the curb.

“Let’s not,” he said tersely, then looked directly at her as if seeing her for the first time. “How come you’re all dressed up?”

“Job interviews.”

“And?”

She resorted to his terminology. “They sucked.”

For the first time since he’d climbed into the car, Ty grinned. He looked like her carefree kid again…and so much like his dad had looked at that age, it made her heart ache.

“A chocolate milk shake always makes me feel better when I’ve had a bad day,” he suggested slyly.

Maddie grinned back at him, relieved to see the improvement in his mood. “Me, too,” she said, and whipped the car into the left-turn lane to head for Wharton’s Pharmacy, which still had an old-fashioned soda fountain.

Ever since her own childhood, that soda fountain had been the place where some of the most important events in her life had played out. She and Bill had shared sodas there during high school. She, Helen and Dana Sue had shared confidences. Bill had even proposed to her in the back booth with the view of Main Street with its flower-filled planters and wide, grassy median. They’d celebrated the arrival of each new baby by making a ceremonious first visit to the soda fountain so Grace and Neville Wharton could gush over the latest Townsend.

Going there today would be bittersweet, but fitting, Maddie thought. Maybe she and her son would be able to start the healing process over chocolate milk shakes. Then again that was asking an awful lot of a shake.

“I was real sorry to hear about you and Bill,” Grace Wharton told Maddie in an undertone while Ty was at the counter getting their milk shakes. “I just don’t know what men are thinking when they walk away from a fine family to be with a girl who’s still wet behind the ears.”

Maddie could only nod agreement. As much as she liked Grace, she knew that anything she said would be reported far and wide by nightfall. Fortunately, Ty came back to their booth before Grace could pry anything more from her.

“I hear you’ve been looking for a job,” Grace said, regarding Maddie with sympathy. “There’s mighty slim pickin’s here in Serenity. It’s a crying shame the way this town has been losing business to those big ole stores outside Charleston. I tell Neville all the time if we didn’t do such a good business with the soda fountain, we’d have to shut our doors, too. Goodness knows, the pharmacy’s not making money the way it once did. People would rather carry their prescriptions thirty miles than pay a little more for good service right here at home.”

“It’s affecting you, too?” Maddie asked, surprised. “Don’t people realize how wonderful it is to have a pharmacist who knows them and who’s willing to bring the prescription right to the door in the middle of the night if need be?”

“Oh, they care enough about that in an emergency, but it’s the day-in, day-out prescriptions we’re losing and the over-the-counter medicines they can buy cheaper someplace else. Losing that factory over in White Hill hasn’t helped, either. Folks there had good jobs with decent pay. Now all those jobs are off in some foreign country.” Grace shook her head sorrowfully. “It’s a crying shame, that’s what it is. Well, I’ll leave you two to enjoy your milk shakes. Honey, if you need anything, you just let me know. I’ll be happy to look after the kids for you or anything else you need.”

“Thanks, Grace,” Maddie said sincerely. She knew Grace meant it, too. That was the comfort of a place like Serenity. Neighbors helped each other out.

When she turned to face her son, his expression was troubled.

“Mom, are we short on cash because of Dad leaving? Is that why you’re trying to find a job?”

“We’re okay for now,” she assured him. “But the alimony payments your dad agreed to won’t last forever. I’m trying to plan ahead.”

“I thought Helen and Dana Sue wanted you to start up a new business with them,” he said.

Maddie was astonished. “How on earth do you know about that?”

“Mom, it’s Serenity and Dana Sue,” he said.

“Are you suggesting this town has a thing for gossip?” she inquired wryly. “And my best friend has a big mouth?”

“I’m not falling into that trap,” he sidestepped neatly. “But I do go to school with Dana Sue’s daughter.”

“And she’s been talking about this health-club idea?”

Ty nodded. “I think it sounds cool. I bet it’d be a whole lot more fun than working in some stuffy old office.”

“I pretty much think what they want me to do is work in their office,” she said.

“But you like them, right? I do. Dana Sue’s a riot and Helen gives just about the best Christmas presents ever.”

“Ah, yes. Important qualifications for a sound working partnership.”

“I’m just saying—”

She gave his hand a quick squeeze. “I know what you’re saying and you’re right. Working with them would be wonderful.”

“Then what’s keeping you from saying yes?”

She’d given the offer a lot of thought the past few days and knew exactly why she was hesitating. She’d even explained it to her friends, but it had fallen on deaf ears. “I don’t want to let them down,” she said honestly. “Right now, I’m just not sure if I can give the job the attention it needs.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Ty said, startling her.

“You do?”

“I know I’m letting the baseball team down,” he admitted. “But I just can’t seem to concentrate. That’s what Coach was all over me about today at practice. He said if I don’t get it together, he’ll pull me from the starting rotation.”

“Can he do that?” she demanded indignantly.

Tyler shrugged. “He’s the coach. It’s his call.”

“He won’t be the coach for long if the team starts losing.” Angry on her son’s behalf, she said, “Want me to talk to him? It’s not fair that he’s leaning on you so hard right now. I’m sure if he understood what’s going on, he’d cut you some slack.”

Ty looked horrified. “No way, Mom. He’s right. If I suck, I’ve got no business being on the field. I just have to work harder, I guess.”

“You could call your dad,” she suggested. “He’s always been able to help you before.”

“No!” Ty said fiercely. “I am not calling Dad about anything, okay? I’m not.” He pushed his unfinished milk shake aside and left the booth. “I’ll wait in the car.”

“Ty!”

He didn’t even look back.

Maddie stared after him in dismay. What on earth was she supposed to do now? It wasn’t as if she could start coaching him. She understood quite a lot about baseball thanks to her son’s love of the game, but she certainly didn’t have any technical expertise. Besides, Coach Maddox had more pitching skill and pro ball experience than anyone in the entire region. If he couldn’t get through to Ty, then maybe what her son needed was counseling of some sort to help him deal with the other issues in his life. Maybe it was time to give that possibility serious consideration.

Unfortunately, even suggesting such a thing when Ty was still so angry might make the problem worse. He might think she was losing faith in him. In the past she and Bill would have talked over the situation and made a decision together. Now she’d rather eat dirt than turn to him. She had to handle this on her own.

“Mind a bit of advice?” Neville Wharton asked, slipping into the booth opposite her.

“I’d be grateful,” she said.

“If I were you, despite what Tyler says he wants or doesn’t want, I’d sit down with the coach and tell him what’s going on. Cal’s got real good instincts about working with kids if he knows what he’s up against.”

Maddie tried to imagine spilling her personal humiliation to a man she barely knew. She didn’t think she could do it.

Neville smiled. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “That once you tell one person it’ll be all over town, but the truth is everyone in Serenity probably already knows what’s going on with you and Bill, anyway. And I like the Maddox boy. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. The students at school look up to him, especially the boys on the baseball team.”

Only someone Neville’s age would refer to the baseball coach as a boy, she thought. Cal Maddox had to be thirty at least, given the time he’d spent in the minors and the all-too-brief time he’d been in the Major League before coming to Serenity two years ago to coach.

“I’ll give it some thought,” Maddie promised. “Thanks, Neville.”

“Tyler will be okay,” he reassured her. “That boy of yours is just going through a rough patch, that’s all. It’s tough having his dad walk out. He doesn’t know how to handle it. Same as you, I imagine.”

He gave her a wink. “And for what it’s worth, I think you ought to open that fancy spa with Helen and Dana Sue, too. I imagine even Grace might wander over there for one of those massages, just to see what it’s like.”

“Is there anyone in this town who hasn’t heard about their plan?” Maddie asked, exasperated.

“I doubt it,” he said. “I figure those two gals knew you’d be a hard sell and wanted to get folks on their side to help with any convincing that needed to be done.”

“Oh, great,” she grumbled. “I’ve half a mind to turn the job down.”

He grinned. “You’ll get past that,” he said with conviction. “A smart gal like you won’t walk away from the chance of a lifetime just to be stubborn.”

“You realize if we get half the women in Serenity on some sort of health kick, Neville, your soda fountain will suffer,” she warned him.

“Nah,” he said, showing a complete lack of concern. “I’ve been in this business more than fifty years. Good intentions can’t hold out against hot-fudge sauce for long. And I’ll be sure to send my best customers over there to work off the calories. That way we’ll both profit.”

She studied him with surprise. “Then you really think this health club is a good idea?”

“Are you kidding me?” he asked incredulously. “Have you looked at the magazine racks lately? Fitness and weight loss and all that sort of thing is all anyone writes about these days. That tells me folks must be pretty worked up about it. Women sit at my counter every single day and talk about low-carb this and low-fat that. If it’s a craze, you three gals may as well make some money from it. Goodness knows, you won’t have any competition from Dexter’s.”

“No question about that,” Maddie agreed. “Thanks, Neville. I’d better get out to the car before Tyler melts. It’s hot as blazes out there, even if it is only March.”

“I know. Makes you wonder what July will be like, doesn’t it?” he said with a shake of his head.

The weather was the least of Maddie’s concerns. Even with all of Neville’s well-meaning advice, she still didn’t know what to do about her one solid job offer…or about her very angry and disillusioned son.