Page 8 of The Only Shot that Mattered

“Ms. Annalise, this is my friend, Camden.” Kenna interrupted Cam and Alanzo’s stare-down with the introductions.

“Nice to meet you, baby,” Annalise said, holding her hand out to Cam. He took it and smiled brightly.

“You too, Ms. Annalise.”

“Please, just call me Annalise,” she said to the both of them.

“In that case, you can call me Cam. If you want, you can call her Kenny.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Kenna said, cutting her eyes at Cam.

Alanzo’s face scrunched up. “Isn’t that a boy name?”

“Yes,” Cam said, scrunching his own face up. “What about it?”

“She’s a girl,” Alanzo pointed out.

“Girls can have boy names just like boys can have girl names,” Cam argued.

Alanzo opened his mouth to argue, but Kenna spoke up, elbowing Cam in the ribs. “Cut it out.”

“What I do?” he hissed, his eyes turning into slits.

Annalise cut their bickering short by asking a question of her own. “You two are cute. Are you a couple?”

Kenna had snatched one of the drinks from the tray Cam set down on his lap. It was a vodka cranberry, but she didn’t have a moment to enjoy it before she choked after hearing the question. She swallowed the drink quickly and then laughed out loud at the same time Cam said, “Me be with someone like her? Oh, no, sister girl. I bat for the other team.” Cam swished his neck back and forth as if to prove his point.

Annalise laughed heartily. “I thought so, but I didn’t want to be rude.”

Kenna laughed even harder when Alanzo asked, “You play ball? What kind?”

“Chile, I play with all kinds of balls?—”

Kenna cut Cam off before he got to saying too much. Again, she wasn’t sure how he was allowed to teach the third grade. She had to bet that he had a professional hat when he went to work. He definitely took that shit right off as soon as he was off the clock though.

“Cam, why don’t you tell Alanzo about your comic book collection instead?”

He’d been collecting comic books since he was a kid, and anime was his jam. He loved nerding out with people about thatkind of stuff. Kenna could only keep up for so long before she either got lost or lost interest completely.

“Wow! Comic books? Which ones do you have?” Alanzo had completely crossed over Kenna’s lap and into Cam’s by this point. So much for their little rivalry.

While Kenna listened on as Cam schooled Alanzo on the Marvel universe, she felt her nerves rolling around in her stomach. She looked around the arena and tried to see the court around the pole that sat right in front of them, but it was of no use. She took deep breaths as her knee bounced. Cam automatically reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it in reassurance without breaking his conversation with Alanzo.

“He seems to like you two,” Annalise said, tearing Kenna’s gaze from Cam and Alanzo to her.

Kenna shrugged. “We both have a soft spot for kids. Cam is a third grade teacher.”

Annalise’s eyes widened. “I never would have guessed. I’ll have to ask him for recommendations on some good schools. Alanzo is taking a bit of time off.” She leaned in with a sad look on her face and whispered, “His mother passed last month.”

Kenna’s eyes widened this time. “Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.”

And she really was. She was lucky enough to still have both her parents, even though things had been hard with them. After they divorced, Kenna sometimes wished she could live in solitude instead of dealing with her brother’s loss and their separation, but she knew now that she needed her parents. She was thankful she still had them.

“Thank you. She was my daughter. Never knew who his daddy was. It definitely hasn’t been easy. I’m an old woman, unfit to raise another child, but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my grandbaby,” she said tiredly.

Kenna’s heart hurt hearing Annalise speak. There was something about the woman that made her feel comfortable, and that never happened. She wasn’t a people person at all, but everything in her wanted to help Annalise and Alanzo.

“Take my number down.” Annalise looked at her with questioning eyes, but she took out her phone. Kenna rattled off her number and said, “Text me his sizes and anything he might need.”

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