Free Gambling On a Heart by Sara Walter Ellwood

over her face. She pushed it back and held it there for a few beats as if that would make it stay in place. “I’ll be glad when they get home. Those two furballs they call dogs are driving me nuts. I’m so not looking forward to watching them when they go back to Washington in a couple of weeks.”
    Zack laughed and followed the movement of the lock of hair as it fell over the side of her face again. “Dog sitting?”
    She nodded and pulled one of those big fabric ponytail things out of her pocket. As she pulled her hair back and secured it with the thing, she said, “Now that I have more room, I’d love to get a dog, but I want a real dog, not a yapper.”
    “We have an Austrian herder.” Mandy looked up at Tracy. “Daddy says they are the best dogs alive.”
    Tracy smiled and squeezed Mandy’s shoulders in another embrace. “I like them, too. I’d really like to have a Labrador, but convincing my mom might be hard, and she lives at my house, too. She doesn’t like bigger dogs.”
    “Really? Why not?” Mandy asked.
    Shrugging, Tracy let go of Mandy to fold her arms into her lap. “I’m not really sure. I think she was bitten as a kid and is afraid of them. She wouldn’t have Cinnamon and Ginger if my dad hadn’t gotten them for her before he went away to the war the last time.”
    “We should bring Bailey over for your momma to meet. She’s a great dog.”
    Tracy glanced at Zack and then returned her attention to Mandy. “Maybe that would work.”
    Zack had sensed the tension between Tracy and her parents at the wedding. “That’s going to be a big change for you. Living with your parents, I mean.”
    “Yep.”
    “I can’t imagine living with mine again either.”
    She pulled her knees up and hugged them. When she sucked in her bottom lip between her teeth, he knew she was unsure about something. At last, she said, “You always had your house to come home to. Even when your grandparents were alive, the old house was always earmarked as yours.”
    And it could have been yours, if you hadn’t cheated on me.
    Mandy’s voice broke through the painful thought. “Which player is Bobby?”
    Tracy looked at Mandy, her pride in her son obvious in her smile. “He’s number ten. The quarterback.”
    “Wow. He throws the ball, right?” Mandy looked at Zack.
    He gently yanked on one of Mandy’s pigtails. “He sure does.”
    Just like his father did.
    But Tracy’s not with Jake anymore.
    “Bobby has to be really good, I guess.” Mandy came up on her knees and fidgeted a few moments as she watched the next play on the field. “He said his daddy is the coach.”
    “Yes, he is.” Tracy’s voice had an edge to it.
    Everyone in the county knew Jake Parker had been a rising high school football star. He’d earned a football scholarship to Texas A & M his junior year of high school by leading the Mavericks for two straight years to the state championships. He’d been touted as the best quarterback the school had ever seen before and since. But Jake lost the scholarship and the chance to make something out of himself when a riding accident took it all away.
    Many people in the county would have loved having Jake coach the high school team if he’d been qualified, meaning if he had a college education. However, there were just as many who didn’t think Jake was fit to coach anyone, especially a group of impressionable young boys who would do anything to please Coach Parker.
    Zack looked back at Tracy, but she had her attention on the plays on the field. He wasn’t even sure who had the ball. “I get the impression you aren’t thrilled about the choice of coach?”
    When Tracy took a deep breath, the blue and white Junior Cowboy Logo of her t-shirt stretched over her chest. Did she ever go without a bra as she had when they’d dated?
    Dear God! He had to get a grip. He forced his eyes to the nine- through twelve-year-olds on the football field and off speculating about Tracy’s underwear. Hell,