Page 18 of Undeniably Perfect

Kent just gives me a sheepish look and wave as we pull away.

Chapter Eight

Ihave never been so happy to have met someone at the right time in my entire life.

“Now, Phil, you can’t possibly expect all of that to be salvageable,” she says as she points to my equipment in a closet.

She’s already pointed out things I would have overlooked and argued with Phil, my insurance adjuster, over fine details in my policy.

“I’ll add it to the list,” he says in an annoyed tone.

“Great,” she replies with a clap of her hands.

“Miss Crane, I’ll be in touch in a few days,” he says to me. He’s already explained that under my policy I can spend up to $500 to replace items I need for the next few days.

“Let’s see, dear. How about we make a pile of clothes that you can get cleaned? And then we can make a pile of anything else you want to keep,” she says.

“Mrs. Moore—”

“Kathy,” she corrects me.

“Kathy, you’ve been such an enormous help today, but really, I can do this myself. I don’t want to hold you up.”

Kathy laughs. “Trust me, I have the entire afternoon free. I’m going to Kent’s game tonight, so I’m stuck down here until then.”

“You are?”

“Yep. Hey, do you want to come with me?” she asks.

I’m too embarrassed to admit that I have never been to a baseball game in my entire life. My grandfather watched sports on occasion, but he and my grandmother were more into movies. They still go every weekend. PopPop had been an extra in a film when he was a teenager and he got hooked. He wanted to go into acting but his dad got sick and he started working in construction to help the family pay bills. Then he went into the army and met my grandma, who was a nurse. And the rest is history, as they say.

Chapter Nine

Kent

“Is that the girl?” Ward asks as we sit in the dugout. It’s the fifth inning, and we are up by two runs.

“Yep,” I answer as I watch our teammate Derek Masters hit a double.

“Why is she sitting with your mom?”

I groan. I love Ward, I do. He’s like a brother to me, but he’s really good at getting all up in my business when I don’t want him there.

“Long story,” I grunt.

“Well, we have some time,” Ward points out as the ump argues with the second baseman.

“She’s with Mothership because…Kathy is Kathy.”

Ward barks out a laugh. “I fucking love your mom. She’s just so…Kathy.”

I roll my eyes and pull the brim of my cap down.

“She’s something,” I mutter as I turn back to focus on the game.

I shake my head and get in my zone as our left fielder strikes out. I need to keep my head in the game and focus, but it’s damn hard with Tabitha here reminding me of the crazy past twenty-four hours of my life. I need to go home. Tomorrow we have a doubleheader, and then I need to get my ass to my house. I need to decompress.

I pull on my focus face and don’t give up any more runs as I pitch one more inning before our other pitcher steps in to finish the game. My mind is all over the place as I sit in the dugout and watch my team win.

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