She sighed. “I know. Believe me, I know. But I can’t keep him locked up in our apartment. He loves baseball so much, it would kill him if I said no. They normally are inside anyway, doing what they can in the gym or batting cage, but it’s hard to keep them cooped up when the weather is nice enough to be outside. The guy running the club knows what’s going on and keeps a close eye on him. You’d be surprised how many kids on Jose’s team have asthma.”

“Looks like the coach could use a hand.” With that, Duke skirted the fence and jogged over to the pudgy guy on the mound throwing pitches to the kids.

Lord, don’t let him be a pedophile. She didn’t get that vibe from him, but who knew? The coach must have been okay with it, though, handing him a glove and a ball and leaving the man on the mound. After only a minute, it was clear he was simply another kid on the field, in love with a game and wanting nothing more than to play ball. A big, handsome kid.

She realized she didn’t know his name. Propping her elbows on the fence, she watched him stretching and moving like a jaguar, his chest muscles outlined by his T-shirt. He’s easy to look at, if nothing else. Angel could hear the man call out directions and encouragement to the boys, firm but not condescending, as he sent them a variety of pitches. There was some heckling and some laughing, but mostly these kids were serious, intent on proving their worth.

One kid knocked back a pitch with a solid crack. The man leapt up with ease and plucked it out of the air, then threw the ball to the tiny catcher behind the plate so the boy could take out a player trying to make it home. The third baseman and the catcher had the tiny runner boxed in, but then fumbled the ball.

The man ran over to grab the ball rolling in his direction, but somehow ended up in the middle of a kid pileup. By the time they were untangled, the man laughed and called a time-out. He made his way to the dugout and the coach went back to the mound.

Angel started to step around the fence, but then decided not to interrupt when she saw the man dig a cell phone out of his pants pocket. He was immediately involved in a heated conversation, chopping and jabbing the air with his free hand. After he hung up, he spent a few more minutes talking to the kids on the bench, finally passing out high fives and fist bumps before walking back toward her.

That’s when she noticed he was favoring his right leg. He tried to hide it, but his ankle clearly hurt him. Must be why he was at the clinic yesterday.