A Father's Love

Chapter 6

The next morning, Luke had a softball game to go to. Shelby stood behind the fence, watching as she held onto it. It was the usual zero to zero game, with Kirk running his mouth and nearly getting killed before running off to save his skin. When Shelby grew bored, she played with her truck in the dirt. The recent rain softened the earth for the most part but used some of her drinking water to pour on the dirt underneath. She also used her hands and the heels of her shoes to dig deeper. By the time the game was finally over and someone got a run, the kid was covered in wet dirt.

Luke sighed under his breath when he saw his daughter. Kneeling to her level, he reached out and had Shelby stand, to brush off some of the dirt. Luke brushed what he could from her jeans and jacket sleeves and poured some of his water over her hands and his, too when he was done. He had never met a girl who liked to get dirty as much as Shelby did. His sister never liked it, but then again, Liz liked the girly stuff like dolls and stuff. Luke recalled his nephew getting dirty, once or twice so he always thought it was a boy thing.

"Hey, want to play catch?" Luke asked of Shelby once he got her cleaned up as much as possible, for now.

Shelby shrugged.

"Up to you," he assured her.

She nodded, a little.

Luke stood up and had her follow inside the field.

Shelby set her truck on the inside of the fence and stood on home plate while Luke stood a few feet away, halfway to the pitcher's mound.

"Ready?"

She nodded.

Luke tossed the softball, underhand.

Shelby tried to catch it. The ball missed her hands and rolled away. She hurried after the ball. The ball was big enough the kid had to hold it in both hands. Luke realized that when she tossed it. Shelby was aiming for him but the ball flew into the air instead and Luke had to move forward to catch it while she backed away.

So, Luke decided to run to the store and grab a baseball instead and even got her a glove, her size. They returned to the park. This time, Shelby left her truck inside her father's truck.

"Okay. Ready?" he asked, back in their original positions.

Shelby nodded.

Luke tossed the baseball, aiming where Shelby held her glove. She moved the glove under and tried to catch it. The ball bounced out of the glove and onto the ground, tempting to roll back to Luke. Shelby hurried after it.

"Remember how I showed you?" Luke mimicked the way he showed her. Shelby tried to do the same. Luke went over and helped position her fingers and elbow. "Just like that." He hurried back over to his spot and punched his glove. "Let's see what you got."

Confused, Shelby stared at him and held out the ball to show him.

Luke couldn't help chuckle. "I meant, throw me the ball," he teased her.

Shelby looked at the ball and repositioned her arm like her father showed her.

"Yeah, that's it, Shell." Luke held up his glove.

Shelby threw the ball, putting all she had into the throw.

Luke only had to move one foot forward to reach out and catch it. "That was a great throw, kiddo," he praised, receiving a smile that she was happy to have done good. "Ready?" Luke tossed it back. Shelby reached out to try and catch it. It took a few tries before she finally caught one. When she did, Shelby jumped up and down, excited. She abruptly stopped, turning red from embarrassment.