Chapter 1

"So, this is how 'Buffalo's Most Eligible Bachelor' spends his Saturday nights," a voice from behind the young man said lightly. "It's easy to see why you're a bachelor."

Brock Miller turned slowly and recognized the face behind him in an instant.

"And this is how 'Buffalo's Favorite Daughter' spends her Saturdays," he replied with a smile. "The last I heard you weren't exactly setting the dating world on fire either."

Chastity Durant cast a sly smile at Brock who was surrounded by fourth- and fifth-grade girls who seemed stunned at the presence of their athletic idol. Brock was clearly not the idol in question, despite his affiliation with the city's minor league baseball team.

"Perhaps I'm just discreet," she said with a laugh.

Chastity was a member of the U.S. national women's soccer team and a native of Buffalo. Her every move was documented on the Sports or the Lifestyle pages of the city's newspaper – the same paper that had named Brock Miller as the third most eligible bachelor in the city a few weeks earlier.

Brock smiled and shook his head before turning his attention back to the girls on his team of 10- and 11-year-old basketball players. After finishing the season with the Bison, he was skipping Winter Ball and had volunteered to coach a youth basketball team.

Although his coaching technique was unlike any the parents had seen before, the girls seemed to enjoy playing on the team.

Chastity Durant was giving an anti-drug talk to the teams before the games started that evening.

"So, what are your plans for later?" she asked Brock as the players and parents began to filter in.

"I have quite the exciting night planned," Brock deadpanned. "I'm going to head home after the game, fix supper and watch television."

Chastity grinned.

"What are we having?" she inquired.

"Well," Brock began. "I'm having leftover roast beef and potatoes."

"Yum," Chastity replied. "I'll wait for you after your game."

With that, she headed to the front of the gym while leaving Brock shaking his head.

True to her word, Chastity sat behind the team's bench during the game and grasped Brock's arm as he headed to his car. Brock was surprised but he had heard Chastity had been a bit of a "wild child" while in college. Although the two had met once or twice at charity events, he didn't think they were friends (or at least not as friendly as Chastity appeared to believe). He decided to play it by ear.

"I love your coaching style," she told him once they were out of the harsh December wind. "The girls had so much fun. You seem to understand that is the key to getting them to play into their teens."

Brock nodded.

"I've played for win-at-all-cost coaches," Brock said. "It sucks the fun right out of the game. I truly believe the motto: It's only a game."

"Me, too!" Chastity replied. "There are plenty of things in life that are important. A fourth-grade basketball game isn't one of them. But what is 'gorilla ball' all about?"

Brock chuckled.

"I view my responsibility with these girls in two ways," Brock replied. "The first is to make sure they're having fun and staying out of trouble. The second is to teach them the fundamentals of the sport. I try to teach them the fundamentals in a way that includes the first part of my job. During practices when we work on defense I tell them to act like gorillas. It keeps their hands above their shoulders and their feet apart. It's just a fun way to teach them proper defense."

"I love it," Chastity said. "I started to watch carefully after your first shift change. That was hilarious. Five girls in and five girls out. Every three minutes even if you had to take a timeout to do it."

"You can't learn if you don't play," Brock said. "And it's no fun to sit on the bench all the time. I had a hard time with parents on that one. I basically told the parents the first day: When these girls walk into the gym, they are no longer your kids; they're our kids. And I don't yell at kids, so I don't want you yelling at them either."

"If a kid does something wrong on the court, it's part of being a kid. Get over it and move on. I also told them that all kids will play the same amount of time if I can make it happen. I said, 'If you think your kid is better than everyone else and should play more, come tell me. The downside of that is that as soon as you do, you become the coach, I go home and you can play your kid as much as you want'."

"I'm surprised someone hasn't taken you up on that," Chastity said with a grin. "I mean, half these people think their little snowflake is going to miss out on a free ride to UConn if she doesn't win every youth league game."

Brock grimaced.

"One Mom did take me up on it," he said. "She lasted an hour before she decided she really didn't have enough time to devote to it. By the way, why are you in my car and where are we going?"

Chastity cocked her head.

"Your house for dinner," she said. "And I took a taxi over. You might not believe this, but my mom wouldn't let me use her car. She's a tad bit overprotective."

Brock glanced to his right. He'd read stories about Chastity Durant's mother. She was one of the win-at-all-costs types who Brock abhorred. She was also the main reason that Chastity had chosen the University of Arizona for college instead of an East Coast school.

"OK, so you've heard," Chastity said with chagrin. "I mean, I'm 22 years old. I've got an Olympic gold medal and almost have a college degree. And I'm still not allowed to have boys over to the house when I'm home."

Brock smiled.

"So you just go to the homes of men you've met an hour or two before?" he asked with mock seriousness.

"Exactly," she replied with a gleam in her eye. "I planned to be at the training facility in Colorado Springs this winter. But I gave up my spot at the last minute to someone with nowhere else to go. I'd rather be there but I can be here ... so I'm here. I'm on my own until February when the national team starts training in Florida."

Brock could relate.

"I'm stuck in Buffalo for the winter, too," he said. "Last year, I was in Venezuela for Winter Ball. The team wanted me to take a little while away from baseball since I've been playing almost non-stop for two years."

"But why stay in Buffalo?" Chastity wondered. "I heard you're from California. Why not go home?"

Brock shrugged.

"I don't really have a home there," he said. "Pretty much everyone I knew from there is gone. I only lived in Corbly for a couple of years. I made a few close friends but most of them left when I did."

"Still, winter in Buffalo sucks," Chastity said. "I mean, most times in Buffalo suck, but winter is even suckier."

As they pulled into Brock's apartment complex, Brock turned to his companion.

"Are you sure you want to come up?" he asked. "I mean, you don't know me well. I could be a predator or something."

"I think I can risk it," she replied.

The conversation over the leftovers revolved around Chastity and her career. She was well-spoken and friendly and Brock could understand why the U.S. national team organizers had tried their best to make her the face of women's soccer in its advertising campaigns.

Before either realized it, it was past 11 p.m.

"I better get you home," Brock said. "I've heard rumors about your mother. If she knew you were alone with a man, she'd probably be after me with a carving knife."

Chastity blushed because Brock probably wasn't far off.

"You're right," she replied sadly. "I turned off my cell phone so she wouldn't be bothering me all evening but I guess I should get going. I can call a cab if you'd prefer."

Brock shook his head.

"I'll drive you home," he replied. "I have a little bit of experience calming angry mothers."

Unbidden, Meredith Van Landingham's image popped back into his head. It had been almost five years since he'd seen Merie and more than two since he had received a card from her. He hoped she was doing OK.

Chastity noticed the look on Brock's face change to one of sadness.

"You OK?" she asked.

Brock shook away the cobwebs.

"Just thinking about an old friend I've lost touch with," he said.

"Old friend or old girlfriend?" Chastity asked with a sly smile.

"I'm not sure," Brock replied truthfully. "We never got the chance to figure that out."

The duo bundled up and started for Brock's parking lot but they didn't make it past the front door.

In the five hours since they'd arrived, a famous "lake effect" storm had dumped more than a foot of snow on the ground.

"Oh, shit," Chastity said as she dug out her cell phone from her purse. "How do you feel about a house guest?"

Brock only overheard portions of Chastity's conversation with her mother but the portions that he heard made him chuckle.

More memories of Merie came flashing back. When Chastity ended the call, she turned to him and shrugged.

"At least she's not coming to drive me home," she said with chagrin. "You would never realize that 11 months a year I get to make decisions for myself – including if I want to spend the night somewhere or not."

"Perhaps you've not been making the correct decisions in your mother's eyes," Brock said playfully. "I mean, you're only 22. It's not like you're 23 or 24."

"How about you?" Chastity said. "Do you need to call home and ask to have me stay over?"

Brock sighed.

"No," he said finally. "I think I can make that decision on my own."

Chastity looked at him.

"I'm sorry if I hit a sore spot," she said as she touched his arm. "You said you don't have a home outside of Buffalo. I should have thought before I made a wiseass comment."

"I guess you missed the made-for-TV movie," Brock said only half-jokingly. It seemed to him that everywhere he went people thought they knew more about him than he knew about himself.

Chastity looked him more closely.

"I guess I did," she said. "Are you going to fill me in or do I need to sneak into your computer to Google you?"

"I went to prison for felony murder when I was 14," Brock began. "My mother died before I could be exonerated. She was the only family I had."

Chastity's face belied her disbelief.

"No, seriously," she said. "If you don't want to tell me, it's OK. I promise I won't look you up until I get home."

"Seriously," Brock said. "I spent 18 months in a maximum security prison. I was charged with killing a guy as I was trying to rape my best friend."

"But you were innocent, right?" Chastity said as she surreptitiously eyed the door.

Brock was used to the reaction so it didn't faze him.

"I did kill the guy," Brock said sadly. "But I wasn't trying to rape Susan. The guy and two of his buddies were. It's a convoluted story. I can bring my laptop out and you can read the whole thing - in all its gory details. You know, this is the reason you don't go to guys' houses that you don't know well."

Brock hoped the last statement would ease Chastity's mind and it seemed to work.

"Hell, it's not like I can go anywhere anyway," she said with a wry smile. "Just wait until I tell Mom she was right. She told me I didn't know anything about you and you might be a criminal or something. I bet she knows every detail about your life by this time tomorrow."

Brock shook his head.

"Some time tomorrow I'll tell you the whole story if you're interested," Brock said. "But for now I'm about ready to turn in. You can have the bedroom and I'll take the couch. The bedroom door locks so you don't have to worry."

Chastity laughed out loud.

"I practically force you to bring me home with you and you're telling me I can lock the door," she said. "Maybe you should take the room with the lock."

Brock awoke around eight a.m. to the smell of toast. He sat up on the couch to see Chastity puttering around in the kitchen wearing a pair of his sweats and a sweatshirt.

"Don't you have heat in this place," she said when she saw Brock was awake. "Holy crap it's cold in here."

"Let me guess, you don't pay the utility bills at the training center," Brock replied as cheerfully as he could for this early in the morning. "Because if you did, you'd know that gas is expensive."

Chastity gave him the finger.

"I lied," she said. "I did look you up on the internet last night. I know how much money you have. You can afford to keep this place a little warmer. Hell, I had to open the refrigerator for heat this morning. I'll chip in a couple of bucks if you let me turn the up the thermostat."

Brock held his hands out in surrender.

"I'm usually snuggled up under my comforter at this time of the morning," he said. "Only old people and roosters get up at the crack of dawn. It's on a timer and should kick in about nine o'clock but you can turn it on now if it makes you happy."

Chastity wasted little time in making the adjustment and sat beside Brock on the couch.

"I'm sorry about the way I reacted last night," she said. "I know I must have had an awful look on my face when you told me."

Chapter 2 »