Page 70 of Darling Beasts

“There weren’t a lot of other takers.”

I wanted to melt into the floor. Ozziewastrying to fix his own problems. He just hadn’t been able to. “What should I do?” I asked. “Call him? Beg him to come back?”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Bea said, returning her eyes to her computer. “You’re a big girl. Figure it out.”

Chapter Forty-Six

Talia

Talia put off deciding about the Padres game, but when Saturday rolled around, Raj tracked her down. Richard from BMWU had given himtwotickets to thankbothof them. It was kind of rude if they let one go to waste?

Now Talia was at Petco Park, chugging a margarita while they sat through a weather delay. Staring out across the field, she struggled to recall how it felt to run around in foul territory in a pair of short shorts, launching swag into the stands with a T-shirt gun. Of course, it’d been eleven years, and the team and managers had probably turned over six or seven times. Even the colors were different. At some point, the Padres ditched their blue and beige, which they had the temerity to call “sand,” and returned to their brown-and-gold roots.

Talia expected to be mildly traumatized to revisit the scene of the “crime,” but in fact felt nothing, which was its own brand of remorse. She’d been so upset about a stupid boy whose face she could barely remember. Colt was his first name. His last name... Whittaker, or something? As far as Talia knew, he’d never done anything baseball-wise. A real nothing-burger all around. Why had Talia acted like he was the love of her life, hightailing it out of San Diego the minute another girl casually mentioned how he was into BDSM? Daphne pleaded with her to stay, but Talia refused, letting her mom down once again.

Couldn’t bother sticking around because of aboy. Couldn’t bother cleaning out Mom’s art studio after she’d gone. In terms of daughters, Talia was a real prize. Everyone accepted Daphne wasn’t the best mother, but maybe the problem lay in her shittier-than-average kids.

“I talked to Richard this morning,” Raj said, yanking Talia out of her brain. On the field, the grounds crew was pulling back the tarp. “The head of a rural justice unit in Central California called to express their gratitude for giving them a model to create some accountability. No matter what happens with the lawsuit, it’s already having the residual effect we hoped for.”

Nodding, Talia took a sip of margarita.

“The fact a big city started the fight will give the smaller ones a chance,” Raj said. “And it wasyourresearch with the smaller cities that helped drive the whole thing. If a tiny town like Encinitas can comply with the regulations, the eighth largest city in the US certainly can. For the next step, he’s thinking we should—”

He paused, and looked at Talia, who couldn’t seem to get her margarita cup back into its holder. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Should I not have brought up the lawsuit? I told you I suck in social settings...”

Talia shook her head. “It’s not you. I’m sorry but I can’t really be involved in the lawsuit going forward. My dad lectured me yesterday about how I’m letting myself be distracted by the housing stuff. He says I’m taking my eyes off the prize.”

And honestly? Fair enough. Talia did tend to fixate on the wrong thing. The Padre who liked ropes and chains. A lawsuit that would do nothing to fix a waitlist infinity years long and possibly even distract the Housing Commission from helping people find homes.

“Oh. Okay,” Raj said and, God love him, he seemed disappointed. He started to say something else but his words were drowned out by a voice announcing the rain had stopped, and the game could finally begin.

A woman with long, curly hair stepped onto the field. The crowd stood as five men in uniforms marched out.

“O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light...”

“Don’t worry,” Raj said after the national anthem ended and they trotted out some kid to throw the first pitch. “Richard will understand. You’re a valuable resource, and I’m sure your dad needs your full attention.”

Talia snorted, suddenly questioning whether shewasthe reason they’d failed to secure Quinonez’s endorsement, after all. Ozzie could charm the pants (or NASA jacket) off anyone, and maybe she should’ve let him cook. Instead, Talia felt compelled to “fix” everything.Her. The least likeable of the three. No wonder she’d been demoted to party planner.

“Would you mind getting me another drink?” Talia said and waggled her cup. “And some of those street tacos you were telling me about?”

“Yes. Of course,” Raj said, slowly rising to his feet, looking both physically and mentally discombobulated. “Be back in a few.”

***

The thing about baseball was that it was boring.

Talia didn’t mean to complain. She was glad to be here, and the margaritas (and tacos) were great, but she was a little bit drunk and moderately depressed about the state of her life. Plus it was chilly, and wet, even with the overhang.

The game had gone like this. The Dodgers scored two runs here, another run there, and the Padres accomplished not much. Raj grumbled about runners left on base and “that was so Padres coded.” Die-hard sports fans were funny, always bitching about the teams they loved so much.

Now it was the bottom of the seventh. The Padres were down 0–3. Only two more innings, Talia thought, checking herwatch. The first batter walked, and the crowd cheered, demonstrating how desperate people were for some action. The second batter roped it to center field, and the next guy hit an infield single, causing the runner to cross home plate.

“Now we’re cooking with gas,” Raj said. That he felt compelled to explain the game was heating up told a person all they needed to know about the sport. The score was 1–3, and the Dodgers called a time-out to yank the pitcher.God. They were really going to drag this out.

Talia’s phone buzzed. She glanced down to see Spencer’s face on the screen, briefly debating whether to take the call before sending him to voicemail instead.

The new pitcher finished his warmup, and her entire section stood. Oh, okay, so they were doing this. The Padres’ leadoff batter approached the plate, and the stadium went wild chanting his name.Ha-Seong Kim. Ha-Seong Kim. Ha-Seong Kim.Out of nowhere, Talia found herself chanting, too.

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