I glared at him, ready to deflect, but the words stuck in my throat. We both knew he was right.
Standing here in the crisp morning air, watching Bella laugh with a bunch of kids, hair escaping her ponytail, cheeks flushed from running around—she made the whole world feel brighter.
“Yeah,” I admitted quietly. “She does. By the way, what’s going on with your mystery man?”
Matty snorted. “Wow. Anybody ever told you you’re about as subtle as a sledgehammer?”
“Answer the question. Have you met in person yet?”
“We’re . . . taking it slow,” he said sheepishly.
“Uh-huh.” I bumped my shoulder into his. “Just make sure you take it off the internet sometime this century. I would hateto find out you’re being catfished by a seventy-year-old grandmother named Linda.”
“I don’t know, dude. Seventy is the new fifty-five.”
Across the diamond, Bella caught my eye and waved. Lucas tugged her sleeve, signing something that made her throw her head back and laugh.
I lifted a hand in return before I could overthink it.
Matty followed my gaze, then bumped my shoulder lightly with his own. “You’re screwed,” he said in a way that made it sound like a compliment.
I huffed a quiet laugh. “Probably.”
“Don’t fuck it up.”
“I won’t.”
Bella
By the time the last cone was folded and the final equipment bin clicked shut, the stadium felt strangely quiet, like it was holding its breath after all the morning chaos. That made two of us. Those kids had run me ragged for hours and I’d loved every second of it.
I had always planned on having kids of my own someday, and it had nothing to do with societal expectations or gender norms andeverythingto do with counteracting the damage my father had done on Jared and me. If there was ever a spectacular example of hownotto be a supportive parent, it was our dear old dad. Both of us had learned from an early age that it was safer to rely on each other rather than our parents, and that still held true.
But watching those kids out there today, laughing, sprinting, clinging to my legs like I was something solid to hang onto, had made something in my chest ache in the best way.
That was the kind of parent I wanted to be. The kind I’d searched for when I’d been small.
Matty had just finished slinging his equipment bag when Bennett jogged over to us, his catcher’s mitt in one hand and a bat in the other.
“I’ll take care of the rest,” Bennett said, playfully shoving the glove into his teammate’s chest. “Drop this in my locker, would you? You should get back to your demon dog before she eats another shoe.”
Matty gasped in mock horror. “How dare you? Mo doesn’t eat shoes.”
“Dani has a pair of mangled boots that would say otherwise,” Bennett fired back.
Matty sighed, then shook his head like a man who’d made peace with the fact that his dog was part raccoon, part menace.
“Seriously, Bella and I can finish up.”
Matty’s eyes flicked between us, that knowing grin firmly in place. “I bet. Take care, Bella.”
I waved him off. “You too, Matty. Go forth and protect your footwear.”
Matty laughed and headed for the locker room, leaving us alone in the vast, echoing space. Bennett turned back to me, eyes bright in that way that always felt like an invitation.
“Well,” he mused, rolling a ball in his palm. “Guess it’s just us.”
“Mm-hmm.”
