Page 83 of Sweet Spot

I hid my relief. “Just don’t bring a puppy.”

“Do you even know me? I’ve never even had a goldfish.”

“Don’t bring one of those either.” I would probably kill the goldfish—accidentally of course—and get stuck in a cycle of constantly replacing the damn thing so I didn’t break Rosie’s heart.

“I’m bringing the brush set she asked for. Calm down.”

“She’ll be happy to see you.”

It turned out tonight’s game was a full house of special guests. Not only was Kate’s family in the house, so were the Tangerines. Mei joined them and invited Willa to sit with them too when Kate recognized her. They all sat together in the same section, taunting my players and having their own little party.

“I haven’t seen him like this since college,” Gordo murmured as he handed me a jewel for the treasure chest. Seth just hit his second home run of the night.

The dugout vibrated with excitement, cheering Seth around the bases. But I noticed his gaze drift up into the stands as he crossed home plate. After I handed him his jewel I stepped up out of the dugout and pretended to search for Kate, which was nice, but not my goal. I wanted to know what drew Seth’s attention.

I nodded to Kate, noticing a look on her face as she cocked her head to her left. Beside her sat Ryan and Phoebe. Ryan, in particular, had an amused look on her face. Interesting…

Even more interesting was what happened when Everett came out to pitch an inning. His first few pitches were sharp. Then he threw a few bad ones. Then Willa stood up and howled, “Strike him out, Ev!” And suddenly Everett was back. A focused, nasty, pitch-throwing machine.

“Are…are Seth and Ev acting weird?” I asked Gordo.

He looked at me with wide eyes. “Very.”

“Cool. At least it’s not just me.”

“It’s like we’re in the Twilight Zone. Don’t get me wrong, I want to see both of them succeed, but this is weird.” Gordo kept one eyebrow sky-high while he peered down the dugout at the celebration unfolding around the half-full treasure chest.

“What happens when that thing is full?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to.” Then he returned his attention to the field and I, very wisely, kept my questions to myself.

After the game Stirling’s dad tracked me down to tell me how much he’s enjoyed watching the Mantas this season and to keep up the good work. The post-game press conference was quick and I said my goodbyes to the staff before heading upstairs to find Kate.

She now had a small office in each of Stirling’s main buildings, but her main office was here with the Mantas. It was just down the hall from Stirling’s monstrosity of an office. He had also moved to working almost exclusively out of the Mantas offices. Not so he could micromanage, but so he could put some space between him and his primary responsibilities.

“Knock, knock.” I rapped my knuckles against the door as I pushed it open. All her blinds were drawn shut and only one lamp lit the room, giving it a soft glow.

“Well don’t you look happy.” She got up from the desk and threw her arms around my neck.

I dropped a kiss on my favorite pair of lips. “That’s because I’m currently the happiest man in the world.”

“Oh really?”

I kissed her again. “Yep. I didn’t know it was possible to be this proud of my work. To get such a sense of fulfillment from it. But man, does it feel good.”

“No foot out the door anymore?”

Fuck, how silly was it looking back now? How convinced I was that I would fail and ruin Rosie’s life. Remembering Everett’s attitude before the game made me wonder if it was a fatal flaw of the Ansons to fixate on all the ways something could go wrong.

No more. From now on I would only focus on possibilities. “Both my feet are firmly planted in front of you Kate James.” I glanced around. The last time I was in her office she was still moving in. “Looking good in here.”

She grinned. “I’m so excited, Isaac. I’ve never had a real office. Not one I could move into and put up my diplomas and make my own. Come here. Look at this.” She hit a button and her desk raised up to standing height. Then she pressed another button and it moved back down where it was. “Cool right? And over here.” She waved at the empty corner. “I just ordered a small sofa, rug and coffee table.” Beyond that was her personal bathroom. It was small, but all hers. She had a few changes of clothes in there because her other new favorite perk was being able to work out in the employee gym.

“You know what’s nice?”

“I could list a lot of things right now,” she laughed.

I wrapped her back up in my arms. “You’re right here but we’re not on top of each other. If I want to see you all I have to do is walk upstairs.”

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