Page 19 of The Perfect Hit

I took in a deep breath, calling up all the energy I wasn’t feeling at the moment to sit up. “Well, at least it wasn’t interrupted by a power surge this time.” I turned, blinking a few times when I saw her with a couple bags of takeout food. My mother prided herself on cooking just about every meal at home, and to see this was quite the surprise.

“That’s definitely a bonus. How are you feeling about the cast?”

If I didn’t know better, I would say my mother had the gift of telepathy, because she always knew what I was thinking before I said anything. Maybe I needed to be a better actress at home when I wanted more time to think things through.

I shook my head. “I don’t know, Mom. It’s like it’s not quite right yet, but I don't know who to move and to where. They all look like they should be great for their parts right now.”

She took a seat next to me, giving me a small smile. “How are you feeling about not having your name on the paper?”

Emotion welled up in my throat. “It’s different. I’m trying to figure out if that’s why I’m feeling off.”

“It’s definitely something new, but I think it’s a great opportunity for you to grow.”

I nodded, knowing I would grow in this new role, but at the moment, I wanted the familiar, not the unknown. “Colt auditioned.”

My mom sat back with wide eyes. “Really? That’s a surprise. What part did you give him?”

“Well, it was actually really hard to decide. I couldn’t believe how good he was up there. But with baseball, I’m not sure he’d be able to commit to extra practices for the lead. So I put him as the understudy.”

She scrunched her eyebrows together. “But doesn’t the understudy have to be there as much as the lead?”

“Yeah, but I guess we could be more flexible with him. I mean, this is the first friend I’ve had who’s been interested in something like this. I guess I just really want him to continue.”

“I’m glad he wants to do it, Hazel, but you have to remember you can’t cater to one person when the rest of the group is working hard too.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’ll just have to jump that hurdle when we get to it.”

“Mrs. Sanderson will help you out, right?”

“Yeah, she’s been doing a great job teaching me but letting me take the lead. It’s just hard to manage that many people. Like, overwhelming hard.”

My mom wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug at her side. “I know, dear. But those really hard times are what shape us. I hate to break it to you, but high school is bliss compared to adult hard. Just take things one day at a time, and you’ll pull this off. You’re amazing, and you have so many great talents. Use those and refine the things you need to work on.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I said, choking back tears. This was already harder than I thought it would be, but it was nice to have a safety net of my family and Colt behind me.

With their support, I could do anything. At least, I hoped.

12

Colt

“Your grandfather is moving in,” my dad said as I walked into the house after coming back from school the second time. The adrenaline from talking to Scott had mostly subsided.

“Really? That’s cool. Where is he going to stay?”

“He’ll be in the back guesthouse.” He gave me a quick smile, and I stopped where I was, turning to face him.

With my eyebrows raised, I said, “You’re going to put your dad in a junk heap?”

My dad definitely did all he could to take care of his father, and the idea of my grandfather finishing up therapy and living with us wasn’t unusual, but having him stay where there were at least ten years of boxes and junk stored wasn’t something I ever thought he’d say.

He chuckled a bit. “Nope. That’s our weekend project. What time do you have practice?”

I shook my head. “No practice on Saturdays this year, which is kind of a relief.” Then again, I thought about what I’d be dealing with in the guesthouse and wanted to ask Coach if he’d reconsider.

“Good. Sterling said he can’t make it because of spring football practice, but you, Nash, and Wyatt, along with your mom and me, should be just fine.”

Breathing in deeply, I nodded. There was no use whining about it. I needed to get the rest of my homework done before then because a project of that size was bound to take all day.

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