Page 24 of The Double Play

“Miss Hazel, are you ready for our big adventure?”

Hazel smiles down at June, but her eyes don’t crinkle at the edges like normal.

“Yes, sweet pea. We’re going to have so much fun.”

“Yay! Oh, your window looks different than ours,” June exclaims, then skips over to look out at the view of the street below.

“Are you all right?” I ask Hazel.

She smiles that same not-quite-right grin. “Of course. I’m excited for a day in New York. I planned a scavenger hunt for June. Some of the items should be at the baseball stadium too, if my research was correct.”

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but your conversation sounded a little tense.”

She shakes her head. “It was no big deal. I’m sorry I was on the phone when you got here, though.”

“I told you we were early. If anything, we interrupted you.”

“You could never be an interruption.” Her eyes widen. “I-I meant June,” she stammers. “June could never be an interruption.”

“Either way, I’m sorry if I overstepped by staying at the door.”

She opens her mouth to say something, but June speaks up.

“Daddy, Miss Hazel, come look at all the birds!”

Hazel immediately turns and heads for the window, no doubt using this opportunity to avoid our conversation. I don’t know why I’m pushing it anyway, it’s not like we’re friends. She’s June’s nanny, that’s all. Her personal business isn’t my concern. I need to remember that.

I follow Hazel to the window and stand on the other side of June. A line of pigeons are perched on the edge of the sloped roof.

“See, there’s a hundred birds,” June says, her eyes wide with wonder.

Hazel laughs softly. “Not quite a hundred. Why don’t we count them?”

I look down and watch as Hazel coaches June through counting the birds. There are twelve in total, which June still says is alotof birds. Hazel tells her that pigeons are in the same family as doves.

“They’re like brothers?” June questions, making Hazel laugh.

“You could say that.”

Hazel’s gaze catches mine and we share a smile. It occurs to me that she’s putting on a brave face. And that this woman who cries over yellow rocks and saying goodnight isn’t crying over her dad being a negligent father. She’s strong and determined to not let anyone see her upset over her circumstances. Maybe we’re more alike than I thought.

Chapter thirteen

Hazel James

Baseballstadiumsaremuchbigger in person. I’ve only ever been to a game as a toddler, and I don’t remember any of that day, so everything is new to me. The most shocking thing is the number of people. How can so many people want to spend their money and time watching guys run in circles and hit a ball?

I squeeze June’s hand. “Are you excited to watch your dad play?”

We’ve just gotten our food–hotdogs, since that’s what every New York bucket list said was a must-try–and now we’re headed to our seats. Emmett told me before he left that we have seats right behind home plate. I’m assuming they’re good ones since he selected them himself.

“Yes! I hope he pitches a shutout!” she cheers and lifts her hot dog in the air.

“Yeah!” I lift my hot dog in agreement. I have no idea what that means, but if June’s excited, I’m excited.

I should have looked up more baseball terms since getting hired. This is likely to be a long game. Of which I’ll spend the whole thing pretending that I know what’s going on.

We step into the sunshine, and a smile comes to my face. Though I don’t know much about baseball, there’s something electric about being in a stadium full of passionate fans. The spring air is warm and carries the scent of stadium food and freshly cut grass. All of the voices mesh into a dull roar that buzzes beneath my skin.

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