“I always told JJ to find a girl who loved baseball.”
“Hey—” Nonna yelled from the back. “—I used to hate baseball.”
“I fixed her. Look at her now? Celebrating in the suite at the game.”
Nonna winked at me. She’d already told me she liked the games only for the social aspect. I guess some white lies were healthy in a long marriage.
Colby had already looked at dates for the adoption event, but instead of doing it at an away game, she wanted to book it during the day before a Saturday night game. Between the concerts and special events, it wouldn’t bepossible for us to use the park on an off week. Oh well, the dog would wait, I was a firm believer that your dog would find you when the time was right.
We’d quietly mentioned that we were moving in together, to no one’s surprise. And while there was still so much that needed to be settled, I knew I had the support of both of our families surrounding us.
FIFTY
hawk
Sam pitchedeight scoreless innings but fell short of another perfect game. If anyone could make history, Sam could. But he settled for pitching a damn good game. Cannon closed, and Sam got the win while Cannon got the save.
As we left the suite, I pulled Granddad aside and asked if we could meet tomorrow.
“Everything okay?”
“I would appreciate your advice. I need some direction and want to run a couple of scenarios by you.”
Kendra watched me, and I could sense her discomfort. God, I hated that she had to deal with this shit. But I knew that if I handled it without her, it would be worse for her.
“Should I come to the park? Or do you want to come to the house?”
“Kendra and I can come to you.” Our eyes met, and she gave a slight nod. I’d promised her we’d do this together, and that meant that I wouldn’t do anything that took away her control of the situation. Even though I wanted to, God, Iwanted her to never need to worry about that sorry fucker ever again.
When we got back to my place, I drew a bath for her. She hadn’t complained, but I could see that the celebration had barely masked her exhaustion. Her body, mind and spirit had been pushed to the max today, and unless I forced her to take time off, she wouldn’t.
“We’re playing hooky tomorrow.”
She slipped her clothes off and slid into the tub, gesturing for me to join her. “God, this feels good. What about the meeting with your grandfather? That surprised me.”
My clothes dropped to the floor, and she moved forward so I could climb in behind her. “I’m at a loss for direction, and wanted to talk through the strategy. A straight trade would be great, but you can’t just dump him on another team. He’s a liability.”
“Isn’t that what happened when we got him?” Her point hit hard, here I was thinking we were getting a great deal and closing some holes in our line-up, instead I forced Kendra to face her past trauma anytime she saw him.
“Probably. But at this point, we’ve told no one about our plans with him. He’s delivered exactly as expected on the field. We have no reason to trade him.”
I massaged her shoulders, feeling the muscles begin to relax as I worked the knots that had formed. “Maybe we don’t trade him yet.”
“I can’t have him around you, Ken.” I heard my voice crack, and I couldn’t ignore the ice-cold fear that raced through my veins as I thought about Tucker anywhere near her.
“I’ve been living with this for years. I’ve worked my ass off in therapy and prepared myself to see him in the stadium, at events, and on the field every game. A little longer isn’t going to kill me. We have to focus on what’s best for the team.”
That’s when it clicked. I had grown up knowing that I would eventually run the team; it had been the reason for everything I’ve done since I was old enough to understand what I’d inherited. I would risk it for her, but I would never risk Kendra for the fucking game.
“The only reason I haven’t dragged that motherfucker out of the locker room and kicked his ass is because I don’t want you to be forced to say anything about your assault. You say the word, Ken, and he’s done.”
“And when he sues the team and wins? There is an entire team of men relying on you for their careers. Those men have earned their place on the team; they’ve earned the chance to play the game. You cannot take it away from them because Tucker is the problem.”
She leaned back into me, and I wrapped my arms around her. “I want to fix it.”
“From one fixer to another, I’m right there with you. If I saw a way to do it without hurting more people in the process, I would have done it long ago.”
“Has he threatened you?”
