Her face tells me she's not convinced. I reach for her hand, and before she can jerk it back, I pull it up and put my phone in her palm, wrapping her fingers around it. "I have to go. Read the text."
I don't wait for her answer. I turn on my heel and walk away from her. At this point, I'm so mad I can't even see straight. I understand that she's been hurt before, and it must have been really bad, but she can trust me. I thought that she was starting to believe that, but I guess I was wrong.
As I get near the field, I see the umpire meeting at home plate with the coaches. Normally, I would be in Coach Killian's position right now, but he's taken my spot since I wasn't there. I can see the boys in the dugout looking for me, and I will not let them down. For the next seven innings, they are going to be my sole focus. That's the only thing that's going to keep me sane right now.
Chapter 14
Megan
With my hand wrapped around Kade's phone, I watch him walk away. Before he turned away from me, I saw the hurt look on his face, and it's only then that I thought maybe I had screwed up. Could I have gotten all of this wrong?
I bring the phone up and start to read. The text I saw yesterday is glaring back at me, except it does have a response from Kade, and all he said was, "Yes, I'm still in Georgia."
I scroll through the text messages and see everything that they've ever said to one another. The woman—her name is Brenda—has sent a lot of texts, and I start to read them.
"I'm going to have to bring Tony with me today. The babysitter is unavailable, but he'll be fine with his iPad. Hope that's okay."
Another text says, "Sorry I broke the coffee pot. I'll get you another one."
And then another text has a list of cleaning supplies that Kade is out of. It's then that I realize that Brenda is the woman that cleans his house.
All of the texts Kade sent back to her were all innocent. Mostly yes or no and simple answers. He even told her not to worry about the coffee pot. He needed to buy a new one anyway.
A lone tear rolls down my cheek as I realize that Kade really is one of the good guys. He's done everything right by me, and there's no reason that I shouldn't trust him. My reaction is purely because of my past hurts and his reputation from ten years ago.
I dry the tears from my eyes and hold on to his phone as I walk toward the baseball field. When I realize the game has already started, I jog until I am at the fence. I keep watching Kade, waiting for him to look at me, but it seems like he's doing everything he can to avoid doing just that. I can't say that I blame him, and I worry that I've ruined everything.
The game is intense, probably the best one we’ve had all week. We play some great offense and defense, but so does the other team. We are tied two to two in the top of the seventh inning. When Benny strikes out the next three batters, it's our turn to hit. We're the home team and get the last bat.
Benny is up to bat first, and the pressure is on. He hits a ball to right field, but they are able to make a play. The right fielder throws it to first base to get Benny out. One out and Ty is up to bat. My nerves go haywire as I watch Ty walk out of the dugout to home plate.
Ty gets two strikes called on him, and my stomach is knotting up for him.
“Step out, step out," Kade says to him.
Ty steps out of the batter's box and looks at Kade by third base. Kade with his palms down gently makes a motion up and down as if he's telling him to calm down. Kade claps his hands together and smiles at him. "You got this, Ty. Nobody better."
Ty nods his head at him and stands back in the batter's box with a determined look on his face. The pitcher pitches a fast ball right down the middle, and Ty swings the bat. There’s a loud crack off the metal, and everyone in the stands jumps to their feet. It keeps traveling farther and farther, and it's then that I realize that it's about to go over the fence.
Ty, not realizing what just happened, is running for all he's worth, trying to make it as far as he can. It's when he's circling second onto third that he realizes he hit a home run, winning the ball game for his team. He rounds third, getting a high-five from Kade, who's clapping and smiling ear to ear for him. Ty barely crosses home plate before his whole team runs from the dugout and does a dog pile on him right there.