Page 34 of Love in the Outfield

“That’s great! But not you?”

“I haven’t tried it out yet.”

“Why not? It’s a blast. What did August do when he first saw it?” I know in my eagerness I sound like the human version of a golden retriever but I can’t help it.

“He and Ava couldn’t wait to get in it. Ava had to practically drag him out of it. But we just can’t keep it up forever. It will kill off all the grass.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Look let Auggie enjoy it for a few weeks and I’ll look into donating it to the Children’s Hospital or some charity. It’s commercial grade.”

“You don’t say,” she says dryly.

“I get it. I may have overdone it a bit.”

“May have?”

“My buddy had one set up for his kid’s birthday party when I was playing out west. The kids went wild for it.”

“Oh. I wondered where you got the idea. That makes more sense. Did you ever think you could rent them?” she asks gently, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I guess I didn’t mess up too bad.

“Hey, I’m new at this. Enough of that, when can I see you both? We have a day off tomorrow.”

“We’ll get there, but first there’s something I need to address. Your mama paid me a little visit. Do you know anything about that?”

I sputter, “What? When? More importantly, why would she do that?”

“Guess.”

“She wanted to meet August?”

“Nope. She didn’t even try. She came to inform me that y’all would be meetin’ with your attorney to work out child custody arrangements. You sure you didn’t have a hand in it?”

“I swear I didn’t, Georgia. I’ll take care of this,” I say grimly. “I’m truly sorry about that.”

“Me too. Mama is furious. Wanted to call a family meetin’ to rally up the forces.”

“Geesh, last thing we need is for our families to stick their noses into our lives and complicate things even more. Especially Loretta. She’s a force of nature.” Dead silence greets my declaration and I immediately realize my mistake.

I clear my throat. “I mean you have to admit she is intimidating.”

“Unlike your mama who barged onto our property uninvited so she could threaten me?”

“Mom’s bark is worse than her bite.”

“As opposed to my mama? You’ve got a lot of nerve. My mom wouldn’t even think of trespassing to threaten someone!”

I scoff. “I remember some stories you told me, with pride, I might add, about your mom.”

“How dare you use my own words to crucify my mother!”

“I’m not trying to crucify your mom, I’m just saying she has done some pretty outrageous things, in my humble opinion.”

“Neither you nor your family would know humble if it bit you in the ass. Just like Mama says, y’all are full of yourselves.”

“Seriously? Are you calling me arrogant?”

“If the shoe fits.”

“Wow, really, Georgia?”

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