“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
The batter before Bobby was called out at first base, and the game ended before he could go to bat. He dropped the bat and ran to Sam, his face flushed with excitement.
“Did you see me? I got two hits!”
“I saw,” Sam said. “You’re pretty good.”
“Not just pretty good,” Bobby corrected. “I’m great!”
“Well, definitely no lack of confidence when it comes to T-ball,” Sam said dryly. “I haven’t heard you say hi to Carrie, yet.”
“Hi,” Bobby said, instantly shy.
“I only saw the last couple of minutes of the game, but I heard very good things about how well you played,” Carrie said.
“Maybe you could come next week,” Bobby suggested.
“I’d love that. Maybe I will.” She ruffled his hair. “Are you ready to learn to cook?”
Bobby looked doubtful, so Sam stepped in. “I certainly am, especially since you told me we get to eat what we cook.”
Bobby’s expression brightened at once. “We do? Then I hope we’re learning to make cookies.”
Kevin approached just then with Davey and Johnny in tow. “We’re going to Sally’s for milk shakes, Bobby. You want to come along?” He glanced at Sam. “I can bring him by Gram’s after that.”
Sam watched Bobby closely. At first the idea of a postgame treat seemed to interest him, but then he gazed up at Sam.
“You wouldn’t be there?”
“I can’t go, buddy. I’m going with Carrie for that cooking lesson, but you can go if you want to.”
Bobby took his hand and held on tight. “No. I want to go with you.”
Kevin gave him an understanding look. “No problem. Maybe next time.” He gave Carrie a quick kiss on the cheek. “Don’t wear Gram out.”
“It’s more likely to be the other way around,” Carrie said.
When Kevin and his boys had gone, Sam realized Bobby was regarding Carrie with curiosity.
“How come Kevin kissed you? Is he your boyfriend? I thought Shanna was his wife.”
Carrie laughed. “She absolutely is. He’s my uncle. He and my mom are brother and sister.”
“Did you ever live with him?”
“Just for a little while at my grandpa’s house when we first moved back to Chesapeake Shores. Then my mom got married again and we moved to another house.”
“Oh,” Bobby said, his expression thoughtful as if he was trying to fit together a puzzle.
“You guys ready?” Carrie asked.
“We can’t wait, right, Bobby?”
“I guess,” he said, sounding doubtful.
Carrie leaned down and whispered something in his ear that made him smile.
“What did you tell him?” Sam asked as they walked to the car.
“That no matter what we cooked, there are bound to be cookies. And if I know Gram, she’ll have a whole plate fresh from the oven when we get there.”
“Isn’t that great?” Bobby asked excitedly.
“Best news ever,” Sam agreed.
He wasn’t holding out a lot of hope that whatever he and Carrie learned to make would be received quite so enthusiastically.
Sam glanced across the small butcher-block island in Nell’s kitchen and smiled at the frown of concentration on Carrie’s face as she diced vegetables into perfectly matched pieces.
“Need a ruler?” he inquired.
She scowled at him. “Gram said they should be the same size so they cook through evenly.”
“I’m not sure she meant you had to be quite that precise,” he said, grinning as he gestured to his own haphazardly diced veggies.
“I guess we’ll see when she and Bobby get back from checking out the garden and picking the fresh herbs we need,” Carrie said, finally putting down her knife and regarding her neat piles of vegetables with obvious satisfaction.
Sam glanced out the window and saw Nell leaning down to listen to Bobby as they walked toward the house. To his surprise and relief, Bobby had been chattering nonstop ever since he’d met Nell. Either it was her natural warmth or the chocolate-chip cookies just out of the oven, but she’d won Bobby over at once.
Carrie followed the direction of his gaze and smiled. “They make quite a pair, don’t they?”
“Is she this way with all kids, sort of a natural Pied Piper?”
“Pretty much. When my grandmother left my grandfather while my mom was a teenager and her siblings were still pretty young, Gram moved in and took over. There were five of them and it could have worn her out, especially with Grandpa Mick on the road with work so much. Instead, she always said that being around them and the great-grandchildren who’ve come since has kept her young. She has this free spirit that all of us appreciate. And watching her fall in love with Dillon all over again when they reconnected in Dublin was an inspiration.”