Page 55 of True Honey
“Barely,” I ground out through my teeth.
I looked around at the carnage happening and stuck my fingers between my lips before whistling loudly. It was like someone had hit pause on a remote the way everybody turned to look at me and froze in place.
“We’ve got ten minutes until the game starts, I want Hornet’s players in a line here,” I pointed to my left, “and Harbor Guests, here…” I said pointing to my right. “Make sure that you're with your designated Hornet.”
Cael stared at me like I was intruding on his perfect day and scowled, dropping his child to the ground with a soft thump before moving him into line with the rest of the kids. “Take them out for warm-ups as the stadium fills up and run off their energy…” I said to him,
“What’s up Auggie?” He fist bumped him gently and completely ignored what I said. “Hey, I have someone I want you to meet,” he said, throwing his arm around August’s shoulders and walking him over to the opposite end of the locker room to where Riona’s daughter stood with her arms crossed and her earphones in.
Usually I would protest, but the combination was oddly well met and Cael knew it too because Daisy smiled the second he introduced them and I hadn’t ever seen her do that in all the years of knowing her. Cael wiggled his eyebrows at me as Daisy showed August her phone and handed him an earbud, forcing him to slide off the headphones he was always wearing.
With him busy I was able to get the rest of the team on the field without any hiccups. Once the game started the guys and the children were all too busy to cause trouble. Cosy Mitchell was the captain of the Harbor team, representing all the shelters in need around the city. It was weird to see her on the field, in comparison to Van she was a little shorter, a little curvier and alot less sunshine than her brother. But she was in a good mood and it showed with each inning that they played.
I was proud of Cael, beyond comprehension for putting the entire game together. Riona was standing in the dugout with Ryan as the game started, her hair pulled back into a ponytail and dark sunglasses over her eyes.
“He’s doing a really good job,” she said to her brother as they watched Cael run across the field. In the time since the exhibition game Cael had switched around some of his classes, leaning more into public relations work and event planning. At the time Ryan had found about fifteen issues with it until he saw how great Cael was at planning parties.
“Silas holds his hand through all of it,” Ryan grumbled, but I could hear the pride in his voice.
“Not this time,” I said. “He did this one all on his own.”
Riona smiled out at her nephew who was correcting August’s swing in the batter’s box against Josh.
“You aren’t supposed to be helping the enemy, Cody!” Josh hollered, gloving the ball.
“Grow a heart, Josh,” he said back, returning his concentration to August.
Josh glared at him but a grin cracked through his usual grumpiness and it warmed the corners of my heart to see him so at ease. August managed to crack the next ball he was thrown to the outfield and with everyone cheering him on he scored the last run of the game pointing at Daisy with a goofy grin on his face.
“Did that kid just point at my kid?” Riona dropped her glasses, two piercing eyes staring at me as I tried to slip out of her line of sight.
“Teach her young, baseball players are in a league of their own,” Ryan said without taking his eyes off the field, but a suspicious smile played at the corner of his lips.
“Oh no,” Riona said, shaking her head. “Keep your sneaky little egotistical baseball players away from my daughter.”
Ryan hissed, swatting away his little sister's hand as she tugged on the baby hairs around his neck with a growl. “Pull Shore’s hair, that’s his egotistical baseball player,” Ryan sold me out.
I put both hands in the air and back far away from Riona’s reach, “he’s just living in my basement with his mom. He doesn’t even like baseball…” I tried to excuse the behavior. “They’re teenagers and Cael, you know your nephew that you love so much,” I laughed as she stepped across the dugout at me. “No, no,” I stuttered, “he introduced them!” I blurted as she reached for a bat.
After the game, I found August sitting in the medical offices with Ella, Cosy and some of the boys after the game, the two of them going back and forth in conversation as I filed some things away.
“What are the really big ones?” He asked Cosy.
“Maine Coons,” she said, brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear.
“They’re cool,” he said with a nod, “or the naked ones,” he chuckled. “That would be fun to have.”
“You could dress them up in little sweaters,” Ella added, her eyes lifting to him and smiling. “Or a Hornet jersey… I wonder if they make pet ones?”
August shrugged, “One time I found a kitten in a dumpster but she died a couple days later. She was just really little,” he said, not sounding bothered by any of it but his smile dropped. It was clear the kid was just in search of a friendship that wasn’t contingent on location, something that would always be there in the face of inconsistency.
“It happens more than you think,” Cosy said, sipping on water. “But for every kitten that doesn’t make it, so many more do. That’s important to remember,”she smiled at him and August nodded. “The life they did live was perfect because you made sure of that.” She reassured him.
“I had a cat growing up named Sassy, she was this gray tabby cat we got from the shelter and I had this rag rug in my bedroom she used to love to sleep on. Every day after school I found her there, on that stupid rug.” Ella told her story with a smile as her pen worked across a report.
“Mom never let me have a cat,” August said after a few minutes. “I guess we can’t really have them because we move around so much.”
“Do you want one?” I looked up from the filing cabinet as I clicked it close.
