Page 31 of Chasing Sunrise

They left her alone. Many people were already seated, but the gamegoers didn’t fill a fourth of the massive stadium.

Curious why Tanner spoke of Kasey putting cleats back on, she googled Kasey Hunter and baseball. To her surprise, he’d played triple-A ball and been called up to the majors to play a few games for the Astros at the end of the season one of the years they won the World Series. He caught three games and had a batting average of 299.

“Please stand,” the announcer said.

When The Star-Spangled Banner ended, the announcer continued, “Welcome our own Hunter Kase and his niece Marisol to the field to throw out the first pitch.”

Surprised, Amanda joined the applauding crowd. This man was a puzzle. Why hadn’t he said,Hey, I’ve got to throw out the first pitch tomorrow, you want to come along?Instead, he’d made it sound like Amanda bringing them to the game would be doing him a favor.

Kasey ran toward the pitcher’s mound with Marisol on his shoulders. A smile radiated from inside Amanda. The way he’d teased Marisol yesterday, spoke honestly to her today, and now shared the limelight with her proved how much he loved the kid. He lifted her from his shoulders, set her on the ground, and picked up the ball on the pitcher’s mound. He threw the ball to the catcher, making a perfect pitch.

A short while later, Kasey’s deep voice asked, “Are these seats taken?”

She spun around. Marisol stood beside Kasey grasping a cup of ice cream in her hands. She stepped in front of Amanda and sat in the next chair.

“Got you a drink.” Kasey handed her a cup and took his seat on the other side of Marisol.

“Thank you,” she said. “You never told me you played professional baseball.”

“I played for like two minutes.”

Marisol stood up and looked around as she ate her treat.

“You did amazingly well those two minutes.” She sipped the cold soda. “Why didn’t you go back the next year?”

“Money. Triple-A pay wasn’t enough to live on. I worked for the parks department during the offseason, and they wanted me full-time. I couldn’t put that job in jeopardy in the hopes of signing a major league contract.”

She frowned. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you.”

He shrugged. “I enjoyed the two years I played and that one week with the Astros was amazing. Plus, I got a World Series ring out of it.”

“You did?”

“They give them to everyone who plays on the team, no matter how much.”

“That’s amazing.”

The game became a pitcher’s duel.

“Uncle K.” Marisol pointed to where a group of fans were hanging Ks in the stadium. “You need to go tell them they put two of those Ks backward.”

“They’re supposed to be backward. They signify a certain type of strikeout. It’s when the batter gets out by not swinging at the third strike.”

Amanda’s brows furrowed. She’d never known about the backward K.

Kasey caught her expression and shook his head. “I have much to teach you girls.”

“It’s never a good deal when only one party thinks it is.” ~ Malcolm Forbes

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