Page 37 of Just a Heartbeat Away

He was so blasé about it that she was sure he’d ended up taking that money from his parents. It must be nice to have a safety net. And she’d never, ever begrudge somebody utilizing it. But Evan didn’tneedto be using his parents’ money. He hadn’t been laid off. He’d quit. And he hadn’t found another job because he wasn’t really looking for another job.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to come to the game. It was just that she wanted him to prioritize. She’d said about half of what she’d wanted to, and he’d stormed out of her apartment. She’d gotten ready for softball, second-guessing every word she’d said.

Via looked around the softball fields. They were still green, even with the yellow leaves blustering along each side. She supposed it was chilly, because she could see Giles’s husband and their darling little redheaded girl dressed up like they were headed to the Arctic on the bleachers. But she’d worn a layer of Under Armour workout clothes. Plus, her temper was probably warming her from the inside out. At least Evan was good for something right now.

My very own rage furnace.

Via was both relieved and bummed that Fin wasn’t here to watch the game today. On one hand, she’d be able to see through her in a second, and Via wondered if she could handle that kind of clarity right now. She kind of felt like the only thing that was holding her together was the sticky cloud of nasty feelings. If somebody parted the curtain for her, she might just fly into a million pieces. On the other hand, Fin was good with millions of pieces. She was patient and funny and had good witchy medicine that always seemed to stitch Via right back up.

The team was stretching on the field, Giles and Sadie tossing a ball back and forth. At first, she didn’t see Sebastian, but then she noticed him sitting in the dugout, arms crossed, leaning over to hear something that Rachel Donahue, the fifth-grade teacher who’d joined them for drinks after yoga, was saying. Apparently, Sadie had talked Rachel into joining the team, too. Which wouldn’t normally have bothered Via. But she was in such a shit mood to start with. And here Rachel was, flirting when she should have been stretching. They didn’t need another member of the Sebastian Dorner fan club on this team; they needed a second baseman with sticky hands, for God’s sake!

Via tossed her softball bag on the ground and unzipped it so fast she almost took a finger off. She jammed her hat low on her head.

“Hi, Miss DeRosa.”

Via looked up to see Matty leaning against the chain-link fence, his fingers twisted high above his head and his feet lifting off the ground while he held himself up.

“Hi, Matty.” She smiled, feeling the top layer of her foul mood lift off like suds in the breeze. “How are ya?”

“Good,” he answered absently, his feet dancing over the dirt and his head lolling to one side. She looked closer; his eyes looked a little glassy.

“Are you sure?”

“Well, no. I’m mad.”

“Why?” She pulled out her mitt and a bottle of water.

“Because I wanted to bring Crabby, and Dad said no.”

“Why did he say no?”

“Because there’s a parade so he didn’t want to drive and Crabby hates the train.”

“That sounds pretty reasonable to me. You wouldn’t want to make Crabby do something he doesn’t like to do, right?”

Matty shrugged. “But now I have to do something I don’t want to do.”

Via cocked her head to one side. “You mean be at this game without Crabby?”

He nodded, sidling over to her and peeking into her bag with the curiosity of a bored kid.

“Well, did you bring something to do? A book or a game or something?”

Matty crouched and peered even farther into her bag. “Dad made me leave before I could get anything to do.”

“Actually, you pouted in your room for twenty minutes without choosing something to do. So when it was time to leave, you didn’t have anything to bring,” Sebastian corrected from over Via’s shoulder.

She jumped a little bit; she hadn’t realized that he was right there. The man was quiet as a cat.

Matty scowled up at his dad and Seb scowled right back. Via chuckled at how incredibly similar they looked. “Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t bring anything to do.”

“What?” Matty looked up at her.

“Yes.” She nodded solemnly. “I wouldn’t want anything to distract you from your mission.”

She could feel Seb’s gray-green eyes on the side of her face but she ignored them.

“What mission?”

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