“So am I; third seat down.” Maybe Javi had talked with Cal when booking her ticket. She motioned to her chair.
Her uncle smiled. “I’m right beside you. Your brother did good. These are the best seats we’ve had all season.”
She might as well start with her seat; that was as good a place as any. “Actually, Cal didn’t get my ticket for today’s game.”
“He didn’t?” replied Uncle Brett with a knowing and fake incredulousness. His smirk was back. He already knew, but she knew he was still gonna make her tell him.
Camdyn narrowed her eyes at him. “No. Javi got my ticket for the game.”
“Oh,Javigot your ticket. Tell me about you and Javi. The last I saw you, you didn’t seem to want a relationship with the new catcher.”
“There’s not much to tell,” she lied.
Uncle Brett raised a brow and gave her his signaturetell the truthlook.
“Fine. I like him?—”
Her uncle interrupted. “You know having a relationship with a client is not acceptable.”
“I know, but I’m technically still employed by Anderson, and my contract doesn’t allow me to work anywhere else until I leave my employment there. I’m not a Callahan employee yet. Pa is representing Javi, and he’s been letting me help with the paperwork. I’m not being paid.”
Her uncle laughed. “Justifying your bad behavior, are you?”
Embarrassed by the truth, Camdyn looked away. Her uncle was right. She shouldn’t be seeing Javi or helping her family’s firm right now. Just because she could didn’t mean she should. She was an overflowing bucket of contradictions these days. She was doing things she would have never considered in the past and justifying it to herself. Her uncle had no problem pointing out the gray area she was reasoning from.
She looked back at her uncle. “You’re right. I know it’s wrong, and I am trying to justify it. I just really like him, even though I keep telling myself that it’s too soon to be in a new relationship.”
Her uncle wrapped an arm behind her shoulders and leaned down to look her in the eyes. “Don’t take my questioning the wrong way, Cam. If you like him, you don’t have to justify your relationship to anyone. Your grandpa and I will always support you. We’re happy that you’ve moved on from Ricky,” he said with a laugh. “You know I’m just messing with you, right, kid?”
She hadn’t been akidin a long time. Calling her that should have frustrated her, but for some reason it was comforting coming from Uncle Brett. She leaned her head on his shoulder. “You don’t think I’m making more mistakes?”
“Sweetheart, Ricky is the only mistake you’ve ever made. I regard Senior as a decent fellow, but Junior has always come across as sleazy. I think your time at Anderson was valuable, but I’m glad you’ve decided to come home where you belong.”
Camdyn couldn’t help the rueful laugh that slipped out. Now her Uncle Brett was telling lies. She knew he’d never cared for the Andersons.
As it got closer to the time for the game to start, Camdyn realized she hadn’t seen her parents arrive. “I thought Mom and Dad were coming to the game, too.”
Her uncle looked up from his own scorebook binder. “They’re on their way. Pa and Granna are riding with them. They should be here soon.”
“Do you know where their seats are?” she asked.
“Yep. All four are right behind us.” He motioned to her binder. “Have you already written the lineup?”
“Yeah. I got here really early,” she replied as she pulled out the program lineup for her uncle to copy.
Midway through the second inning, as Javi was walking up to the on-deck circle, the rest of her family arrived. She turned to greet them, even though she knew Javi was watching her while he prepared to bat next.
Uncle Brett wasted no time in turning and asking her parents and grandparents, “Did you all know that Camdyn has a new boyfriend?”
“Oh, that’s nice,” her grandmother replied. “Could he not come to the game?”
“He’s here,” said her pot-stirring uncle.
Camdyn had always adored her Uncle Brett and her grandpa. They were why she’d decided to pursue law. They did challenging work that changed people’s lives. They were why Izzy had been able to immigrate to the US. She had idolized them for so long and thought they could do no wrong, even when she knew they sometimes used underhanded methods to get a job done. But tonight her Uncle Brett was starting to wear on her nerves.
“Where is he then?” asked her mother.
Cami turned and looked back at Javi. His walk-up music began and he winked at her before heading to the batter’s box.
