Page 33 of The Perfect Catch

As I strolled next to the girls over to the parking lot, I knew I was getting worse and worse at all this.

“What’s up, Kate?” Serena asked, waving her hand in front of my face.

“Just sorting through some things.” I wasn’t trying to be vague, but there was only so much space in my brain at the moment.

“I’ve been there.” She took a few longer strides and then rounded on me, causing me to make an abrupt halt. “But what’s going on with you and Dax?”

That was the one thing I really didn’t want to talk about tonight, because I didn’t really have an answer for that anyway. “Who knows? I mean, I like him, but my mom is already breathing down my neck from the dance last week. She doesn’t like the idea of me being in a relationship and even brought up the time before she married my stepdad.”

“What happened before that?” Serena asked. We’d met after my mom married my stepdad, and I’d never really told anyone about it but Penny.

“When Kate’s dad died, her mom had to take on a few jobs at a time to pay the bills, until she met Kate’s stepdad. So it’s kind of the reason why Karla is a little intense when it comes to life goals.” Penny gave a grim smile and kicked at a pebble in the way as we walked along the sidewalk, finally making it to the parking lot from the field.

Serena pursed her lips, and I just waited for the sarcasm that would erupt from her. “Says the girl with life goals the size of Mt. Vesuvius.”

We all laughed at that, and I loved the fact that my friends could be real about things.

“She’s very intense, but I know she means well.” I twirled a piece of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail, going through all the emotions I’d felt in the past ten minutes.

“Kate, come on,” Serena said, tapping my arm. “She’s over-the-top intense. And you follow along a lot more than you let on.”

I took that back about loving my friends being real. This was something I wasn’t ready to deal with just yet. My voice sounded strangled when I spoke again. “I was there during those times when she’d come home bone-tired from waitressing, and then as a cashier for the gas station. It’s why she went back to school to become a school counselor right after she married Bill.” With Bill’s business, she’d never had to work, but she didn’t want to be put in the same situation again if something happened to my stepdad.

I took several breaths, realizing my voice had grown in intensity and my chest was heaving with the frustration.

Penny touched my elbow. “Girl, you’re fine. It’ll be okay. We’re just saying you deserve a little more room for things, some more free time to figure out who you are and what you want to be when you grow up.” Her warm smile caused the rest of the anger to fizzle, and I nodded.

“So, has Dax taken over Masked Kisser?” Serena asked, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

I sighed. She was like a bear after lunch. “I don’t know. I mean, I really like Dax. But what if I keep looking for MK and he doesn’t end up being as great as Dax? Or what if I start dating Dax and my mother freaks out?”

“What’s she going to do?” Penny asked, surprising me with the ferocity in her tone. “The worst she can do is ground you, but the benefit to that is you won’t be worn out trying to serve every person in this city before you head off to college.”

She was right, and I hated to admit it. I’d done so much in the last two years that everything just made me tired to even think about. All I wanted to do was sit down and paint. And somehow get a scholarship so I wouldn’t have to mooch off my stepdad.

“I better get home, you guys. I’ve still got to read for English tomorrow. See you!”

As I drove out of the parking lot in my car, tears slid down my cheeks. How was I going to survive until college? It wasn’t forever away, but there were days when I wished it would just rush by so I could have the real kind of freedom I craved.

Chapter 23

Dax

Of course, after Kate left I finally hit a home run. We’d barely won the game she’d come to and I’d only hit little singles rolling into the outfield, but at least those hits had scored runs. This pitch came in, and it was in the sweet spot. With a quick swing, I connected the bat with the ball, the ping and feeling of the contact adding to my adrenaline.

I glanced up into the stands, hoping she was there for just a little bit longer to see it. She’d been nervous after the first game, but it was better than the lukewarm feeling I’d gotten from her after the dance and throughout the two fourth-period classes we’d had together since then.

We ended up losing the game despite my three-run dinger, and I was irritated that we’d have to play extra games throughout the rest of the weekend to have a hope of making it to the tournament finals. The other guys were so worried about college coaches, but as much as I loved baseball, I wasn’t sure I would make it playing in college.

I was just trying to find an escape from the mundane of school and work, both of which weren’t awful, but I needed the variety and the rush of throwing out the best player on the other team as he tried to steal second base.

The thought of college had crossed my mind a time or two, but then my dad’s words about being happy with where we already were spread over my mind. Was I the kind of guy who just gave up and let life happen to him? Or was I willing to go seize what I wanted and move on from there?

Our coach gave us the typical after-game speech about needing to cut down on the errors and execute the play calls when we had runners on base, most of which I had already committed to memory from all the past games we’d had with this team.

I untied my cleats, feeling the strain in my upper thighs from squatting down for so long today. Catching was something I had to work into, and it had been a few months since I’d played two three-hour games almost back-to-back.

“How are things going with you and Kate?” Nate asked, turning his cleats over and dumping out a bunch of sand. He’d dived for a ball on the line during the last inning and had made a sweet grab to keep the runner on third base. Too bad Cleaver, our second starting pitcher, had given up a home run on the next pitch anyway.

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