Page 11 of Love in the Outfield

Auggie squeals loudly and I hear Cade chuckle. “I guess he’s wide awake.”

“Yeah. I, on the other hand, am on my first cup of coffee. I’m not there just yet.”

“It must be a lot to handle all by yourself,” Cade says.

My hackles go up. “We do just fine. I don’t need your pity.” There might have been a little more bite than I’d intended.

“I didn’t mean anything by it, Georgia. It’s a compliment.”

I blow out a breath. “I’m sorry Cade. I’m all out of sorts with this situation. I don’t know how I’m gonna share my baby. We’ve been doing this on our own for almost two years. You’ll have to be patient with me. I say on our own, but that’s not true. Mama and Pops help out a lot. So does Ava.”

“I’m sure they do. How are your mom and dad? How about Grammy and your Papaw Charlie?”

“They’re all real good. How about your family?”

“Good… good.”

There is an awkward pause then I blurt out, “Have you told them? About August?”

“Only Quinn.”

“He must hate me.”

“Georgia, why would he hate you?”

“You know why. Because I kept August from y’all.”

“That’s not their business. This is between you and me. They may feel a certain way about it, as I’m sure your folks will as well with me showing up. We can’t control that.”

“Your parents never liked me anyways. I’m sure your mom will have plenty to say.”

“I can handle my mom. Her bark is worse than her bite. She means well.”

“Nobody will ever be good enough for her baby boy,” I say. “She took exception that I happened to be older and from the other side of the tracks.”

“Ha! Two years older is hardly a cougar.”

“You know I’ve thought a lot about it now that I have a son. You were barely twenty-five, and your whole future ahead of you. Your lifelong dream… everything you’d worked for… laid right at your feet. As a mom, I get where she was coming from.”

“She means well but she was dead wrong about us.”

“To be clear, I’m not giving her a complete pass. She never thought I was good enough because we didn’t come from money. That is unacceptable.”

“That’s a bit harsh, Geege.”

“Come on Cade. Don’t you remember what she said when we had that knockdown drag out? We were going at it like a couple of hens in a chicken coop. She said I was after your money and I was clingy because you were going to be a big baseball star. She called me a cleat chaser! The nerve! I can’t even imagine what she’d have said about me winding up pregnant. I’m sure she’d have said I was trying to trap you. Like you weren’t in that bed right alongside me.”

“I know how it sounded but underneath it all, she’s got a good heart. She was being an overprotective mama bear. I was mortified then and still am. I’m sorry you had to hear all that.”

“I survived. I won’t put up with her shenanigans this time around. I’m older and wiser.”

“She’ll have to accept you and your rules if she wants to have her grandson in her life.”

The thought of dealing with Wendy is too much. I am in no way, shape or form ready for this. It’s all too much.

“I’m scared, Cade,” I admit.

“And I’m not? I’m brand new at this fatherhood thing. You’re two years ahead of me.”

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