Page 26 of Love in the Outfield

“You are my son and I won’t let you be taken advantage of like this. Your life will be ruined!”

“Mom, let me show you something.” I pull my phone out of my pocket and show her and Dad the photos I snapped at our picnic.

She literally gasps then her eyes fill with tears. “Oh my God. It could be you! He looks exactly like you when you were a baby.”

“I know. Still think I need a paternity test?” I say dryly.

She plops into a chair like her legs have given out. “I… I… just can’t believe it.”

“I know the feeling.”

“He is a carbon copy of you,” Dad says.

“It’s important you both understand, Georgia is being super generous and kind to even consider letting me into his life.”

Mom scoffs, “Kind? She stole two years of my grandson’s life from me… not to mention yours! You have rights! You are his father. How dare she. I’m calling our lawyer tomorrow.”

I have whiplash. Fastest turnaround in history. “Stop!” I say sharply. “A second ago you didn’t want me to claim him and now you’re making demands? This is none of your business. I’m telling you this as a courtesy. There will be no calling any lawyers. It’s completely unnecessary. Georgia and I are doingjust fine with figuring things out. A lawyer would only confuse things and do more harm than good.”

“You are being naïve. You’re thinking like a starry-eyed child. You are making seven figures. If you think she doesn’t know that, you’ve got another think coming!”

“She wasn’t exactly following my career, Mom. In fact, the opposite.”

“So she says.”

“You don’t know Georgia like I do. She’s not like that. She’s one of the most honest and sincere people I’ve ever met.”

“You’re blinded by her beauty. I’ll give you that. She is a stunning girl. I can see why she’d have you fooled.”

“She’s just as beautiful on the inside.”

“Puleeze! She got her hooks into you the day you met. She almost cost you your career. Your father and I had to practically push you out the door.” I bite my tongue before I say something I can’t take back.

My dad walks over and stands behind Mom’s chair massaging her shoulders. “Wendy, you have to give her a chance if you want to have a relationship with…” he looks at me, “by the way, what is our grandson’s name?”

“August.”

“August? What kind of a name is that?” Mom says.

“It’s a fine name,” Dad replies.

She sniffs. “I suppose. At least it isn’t Jethro or Virgil or something equally bad. I can work with that.”

I grit my teeth. When did my mom become such a snob?

“In case you give a shit, my first meeting with August went very well. Thanks for asking,” I say.

“It should go without saying that we care,” Dad says. He stops massaging Mom and comes over to embrace me. “We’re just caught off guard here. It’s a lot to take in.”

“I know I gave you no leadup but I wanted to tell you before I left for my road trip.”

Dad nods. “We’re glad you did. Give your mom some time to digest all this. She’ll come around.”

“Iamsitting right here, you know,” Mom gripes.

“As if we could forget,” I snap back.

“When do we get to meet our grandson?” she says.

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