Page 178 of The Plan

“Forget it, Sire. She—” I cut Vid off and continue making my case to her mom because this tension between them is obviously bothering Vidia. She and her mom are super close, and I don’t want this to fuck that up.

“I’ve never gotten her anything with the idea that ‘this will make Vidia forgive me for trying to use her.’”Her mom studies me as I go on. “Which I didn’t, by the way. I know she already told you that, but I never planned on using her to get to you or the MLB.”

She doesn’t look like she believes me, but I can’t be mad at her for being a protective mom, so I continue. “This ring I got her four years ago.” I hold up Vid’s hand, and her mom’s eyes drop to it, then back up to me.

“I gave it to her for her birthday. I noticed she played with an old ring she had whenever she got nervous, so I looked into it and got her this anxiety ring. She and my sister are about thesame ring size, so I dragged her to five stores to try on a bunch of rings.” Vid shakes her head as she chuckles softly.

“That’s beside the point, though. She spins that ring when she’s nervous. She spun it three times within the hour we’ve been here. Once, when you asked me how my Spanish was, then again while we were eating and you asked how her therapy was going.”

“And the third time?” Her mom asks.

“Right now,” I say without even glancing at Vid, but from the corner of my eyes, I notice her drop her hand to her side. Her mom has a slight smile on her face, so I go on.

“I got her Athena not because she was a cute dog that she’s always wanted but because after a psycho broke into her house, she had nightmares for weeks, and the first day she got her new apartment when she should’ve been celebrating, she couldn’t fathom the thought of sleeping there alone. I got her a dog so she can sleep better at night.”

Vid sits back down next to me, but I keep my eyes on her mom. “All that land I bought her? When I took her to the sunflower field that first time, her smile wouldn’t leave her face. She kept glancing out into the field, and it was like she could've stayed there forever in pure bliss. Now she can.”

“I spent almost three million dollars on her to see her smile.” I hear Vidia let out a small gasp, and her mom's eyebrows rise just the slightest, like she’salmostimpressed, so I finish off so she can be.

“That smile is also the reason I adopted two of her favorite animals for her. While her best friend was giving me a hard time when trying to buy the damn things, I was plotting a robbery at a rescue center for two stingrays so that Vidia could smile when she looks at pictures of them three times a day.”

Vidia grabs my hand.

“That’swhy I bought her all those things, not to be forgiven. You can’t buy forgiveness. All is not forgiven because I bought her things but because I put in the work andtried,and all is definitely not forgotten.”

“I catch myself watching her sleep sometimes and wish I could go back in time to four years ago so that I never hurt her. If that doesn’t impress you, then please act like it does for her, just for now, and I’ll say it all again in Spanish on Christmas when we come to visit again.”

A smile finally grows on her mom’s face, and she crosses her arms. “Por fin.” I feel my brows crease, and I look between her and Vid. Realization crosses Vid's face, and she shakes her head with a smile.

“He took enough blows for you?” I’m missing something again. Vid notices my confusion and explains. “I didn’t know that’s what she was doing, but—” She shakes her head before continuing.

“She likes to push and push people until they push back, testing how long they’d last and how they’d react.” Before I can respond, her mom speaks up.

“I just wanted to know if you’d stand up to me for her. You’re the first boy who has.”

I turn back to Vidia, needing to know if this means what I think it means. “She doesn’t hate you.” I feel a smile growing because it feels like I just passed some really weird and really fucked up test. Her mom stands and opens her arms to me. I immediately shoot from my seat and hug her back.

“Let’s see how long you can last in the ring tomorrow.” She reminds me that we’re friends today, but we’ll be enemies on that field tomorrow.

“I’ll make it to the final round.” She smirks at my confidence.

“We don’t get participation awards for the World Series. If you make it to the last round, you have to win, or it was allfor nothing.” I try not to back down, even with the intimidating stare she's giving me. I don’t know why I’m surprised she takes baseball this seriously, but she does, so I can’t lose to her tomorrow.

“I’ll make sure someone gets you a participation award for just trying tomorrow.” I hope my cockiness doesn’t come off too strong, but she only scoffs as she turns away with a smile.

“Don’t push your luck, playboy.” When she’s out of the room, I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and turn to Vid. She has a smile on her face, but her brows rise a bit.

“She won't let you live that down if you don’t win tomorrow.” Yeah, I didn’t think so.

“Fuck!” My head snaps toAugust at his sudden outburst.

“We’re fucking losing!” His words put a pit in my stomach. I usually don’t care this much about losing as long as I played and did my best but shit. It’s different now; it feels like I have to win to also win over Vid’s mom.

“Calm down, August.” He doesn’t. He takes his hat off, pulls his scrunchie off, and his box braids fall around his face. He starts taking out one braid and then re-braiding it.Shit, he must be really nervous.

“Hazel is going to kick your ass if you fuck up your hair.”

His eyes shoot to mine, and he quickly re-braids his strand of hair and ties it back again so he won’t nervously play with it. He made Hazel braid his hair in cornrows last night, only to change his mind and get box braids this morning. She won’t be pleased with him taking his braids out.

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