The Last Bridge Home

“Oh, right. Come here, precious,” she said, taking the girl by the hand. Bella’s diaper, the plastic dirty from sitting outside, sagged. “Where are the clean diapers?”

He pointed to a plastic shopping bag on the end of the counter. “I made a diaper run this morning. Crystal ran out.”

Jilly found the package and worked her magic, thankful for the times she’d babysat her nephews. “We sometimes put diapers on dogs at the clinic. They work just like this. We use them on squirrels and raccoons, too. Little tiny ones.”

Her effort to make him smile failed.

She stood the child on her feet and discarded the soiled diaper. “Don’t you have a game today?”

He jerked away from the table, eyes wide. “What time is it?”

“Mom and I stopped at the store after church, so it’s probably close to two.”

Zak yanked his cell phone from a pocket and glared at the screen. “Oh, man, look at that. Six messages.”

Jilly came up behind his chair and leaned in. “Why didn’t you hear them ring?”

“Too much going on, I guess.” He whopped his forehead with the phone. “How could I forget? This was an important game. I was supposed to pitch.”

“Is it too late?”

“Yeah, it’s too late. Look at that. Smitty texted me six times.”

Jilly read aloud as he scrolled through the texts, one at a time. “Where are you, dude? You’re pitching. Are you coming? We’re doomed. Taylor’s pitching. Batter up. Dude, where are you?”

Zak stroked his left arm. “My arm feels better than it’s felt since college. I was so ready. How could I have forgotten?”

She’d watched him last night in his backyard, firing fast balls through the center of a tire hung from a limb of the giant ash tree. He was smoking hot and deadly accurate. She had always wondered why he hadn’t made it into the pros.

“Was this a big game?” she asked, aware that any game was important to a baseball junky like Zak. “For a particular reason, I mean.”

“Yeah, a tournament in Tulsa.” Shoulders stooped, he pushed up from the chair and stared blindly out into the backyard. “The all-star committee is supposed to be there.”

Her sympathy gene kicked in. Baseball was the love of Zak’s life. In season and out, he lived and breathed it, played and studied it. The dream of playing professionally still lingered.

“The all-star committee?”

“They’re putting together a state exhibition team to play around the region. I want on it.”

“Was this the last chance?”

“I don’t know.” He took a milk carton from the fridge, popped open the spout and took a swig. Wearing a milk mustache, he said, “I can’t believe I forgot about a game this important.”

“You’ve had a lot on your mind. Once you figure out exactly what’s needed with Crystal and the kids, this should get easier.”

“I keep telling myself that, but only a few hours in and I think I’m lying.” He took another swig of milk. Funny how a guy could do that and look appealing.

The two boys came back in, faces shiny clean. Jilly handed each a sandwich. Baloney in possession, they turned and started toward the living room. Jilly stopped them with a hand on each shoulder. “Sit down at the table to eat, so you don’t make a big mess. You want some milk?”

“Oops.” Zak looked sheepishly at the milk carton. “Bad habits of a bachelor. You think they’ll mind?”

Both boys said “No” at the same time. Jilly figured they never refused anything to eat or drink. She plucked the carton from Zak’s fingers and poured each child a glass.

“You’re out of milk,” she said.

Zak made a face, then lifted Bella onto a chair. Her pixie face barely peeked over the table but both chubby hands reached up and took the halved sandwich. The baloney and bread disappeared below the plane of the table.

Jilly helped Zak put away the sandwich fixings, secretly glad for a reason to linger here with him. When she turned from replacing an unused spoon, he grasped her upper arm.

“Thanks.”

Her stomach went south. She relished these chance touches just as she relished being this close to him. With effort, she put on her chipper grin, aware that her freckles stood out like beacons when her face wrinkled. “That’s what friends are for.”

He looked at her long and hard, the strain of the past twenty-four hours evident on his handsome, chiseled features. Jilly, longing to put her arms around him in comfort, settled for a couple of pats to his upper chest. The muscles beneath his white-and-red athletic shirt were rock hard, ready to pitch a fastball or to fight fires. Either way, Zak was in amazing shape. What would it be like to be held in those arms against that chest with his heart beating only for her? For five years she’d wondered.

The sound of movement turned them both to the entry between the living and dining room. A wobbly, wan Crystal, scant hair mussed, entered.

Crystal. Zak’s wife.

Jilly’s heart sank, a brick in a warm pool. She took one step away from Zak, wishing things were different while knowing all too well, they weren’t. And never would be again.

Chapter Five

“What are my options?”

Zak sat in a fancy leather chair across from Hunter Case, attorney at law. Hunter also happened to be a teammate on the local independent baseball team—a crackerjack third baseman with a solid batting average. As such, Zak trusted him with the whole, ugly, painful truth.

“You want me to investigate her claim or do you believe her?” Backlit by the morning sun, Hunter’s red hair glowed like a fire around his head. Zak had flashes of Jilly running through his. She’d been a trooper since his life had exploded. Even with her job at the vet clinic, she’d managed to check on Crystal and the kids while he was pulling a twenty-four-hour shift. Her mom, as sympathetic as Jilly, had brought a casserole for the trio of army ants who ate anything in their paths.

His cupboards were bare, his house a mess and he’d missed practice every single night this week.

Three days into his nightmare and he was no closer to waking up than before. It anything, life was harder. The kids weren’t mean, but they were undisciplined and confused. They made messes, disappeared without permission and alternately tugged at his heart and infuriated him.

“Both. If she’s the same Crystal, she’s telling the truth. She never got the divorce. But I need to know for certain where I stand legally.”

Hunter scribbled something on a notepad. “What will you do if she’s lying? Kick her out?”

Zak blinked. Kick a dying woman out on the street? “I hadn’t thought about it.”

“You should. If she’s falsely using your name and extorting room and board, you could have a case.”

“I don’t want a case. I want—” He pinched his bottom lip and sighed, frustrated. “I want all this to go away. I want Crystal to be well enough to take care of her kids.”

“You’re convinced her cancer claims are true?”

Hunter believed the worst in everyone. Suspicion was his job and he did it well. “She saw Dr. Stampley yesterday. He sent for her medical records but told me there was no doubt in his mind of her condition. It’s bad, Hunt. Real bad.”

“How long did he give her?”