Page 9 of Home Field Advantage
“Right,” I settle on. “Thank you.”
She looks back at my SUV as if she’s looking for something. “Where’s the girl you said was living with you?”
I gesture to my SUV. “She’s in the backseat.”
“Well…” Nan says, making her way to the back door and opening it without an invitation. I should be taken aback, but there’s something about her that screams friendly and safe, even when I don’t know a thing about her. Call it a gut feeling or whatever. “Hey there, kid.”
“Hi,” I hear Sage say as I make my way to where Nan stands. “Who are you?”
“I’m Nan.”
“Like a grandma?”
Nan barks out a laugh. “You can say that. I’m everybody’s grandma ‘round here.”
“That’s really cool.”
“Hungry?” Nan asks.
“I’m always hungry,” she says, unbuckling her seatbelt from her car seat and getting out of the backseat. Someone steps out ofthe bakery door and onto the sidewalk. Sage scrunches her nose as if she’s sniffing, and her eyes widen. “It smells like sugar out here. My tummy loves sugar.”
Just as I’m about to open my mouth to tell her we’ll stop after I get some caffeine in me, two boys who look to be about eight or nine years old barrel past us on the sidewalk. One with a baseball bat in his hands, the other with a bucket of balls.
Nan throws up her hands. “Whoa. Austin and Archie, slow down, will ya?”
They both skid to a stop, walking slowly back to Nan. “We’re sorry, Nan.” One of the boys says first. “We didn’t mean to run into you guys,” the other adds.
“It’s all right boys. Just be careful. Where ya headin’?”
“The barnyard.”
“All right. Get along now. Stay off the ranch and pick up all the balls when you’re done.”
“Of course, Nan,” one says.
“We’re sorry, again,” the other adds before glancing at me. He’s about to turn around and stops, doing a double take.
The way he’s looking at me tells me he knows exactly who I am. It makes me uneasy because I don’t want to be recognized here. I adjust the brim of my hat and look to the ground, avoiding eye contact altogether.
“Do I know you?” the same boy asks.
“Archie,” Nan cuts in. “Don’t make the new fella in town uncomfortable now.”
He gives me one long, hard stare again, until realization hits him.
He knowsexactlywho I am.
“Have a good day,” Archie says, turning on his heel to catch up to his friend.
Nan shakes her head. “The twins don’t mean any harm and never cause trouble. Unfortunately, they’re just boys who love baseball but have no means to play it.”
“What do you mean they have no means to play?”
“Well, they have a field set up by the ranch where they can play, but we haven’t had someone willing to step in to coach the kids since the last one quit a few years back.”
“So they just need a coach?” I ask with a raised brow.
She nods, eyeing me with so many questions.
