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“That doesn’t explain what Sebastian is doing here or why you’re both up at one in the morning,” Uncle Reese drawled, leveling a look on Sebastian that had him trying not to wince.

“It really does though,” Mikey said, finishing off the last bite of her cookie.

“How’s that?” Aunt Kasey asked as she started scooping the homemade hash onto plates.

“Because I made him,” Mikey said with a firm nod as she gestured for his father to hand her another cookie.

Sighing heavily, Sebastian gave a sad shake of his head as he said, “I really didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Not unless he wanted another beating,” Mikey said, looking thoughtful as she nibbled on her cookie.

“And I really didn’t want that,” Sebastian said, nodding.

“Not after the last time,” Mikey added with a shuddering sigh as he reached over and plucked the cookie out of her hand.

“I can see why that would be an issue,” his mother said, nodding in agreement as she gestured toward the kitchen door. “Why don’t you go upstairs and get the applications so that we can see what we have to work with.”

And with that…something inside Sebastian finally relaxed.

Chapter 24

She could do this, Mikey repeated the mantra that had been helping her get through the past week without losing it.

Well, that and she was in denial, which had worked for her up until a few minutes ago when she heard the announcement that Coach Dilmore was posting the team roster today. Now she was back to telling herself that it didn’t matter what position she played as long as she got on the team. All that mattered was that she got her foot in the door so that she could prove just how good she was so that the coach didn’t have any other choice but to give her a chance.

She would hate not being able to pitch, but she would be fine with it. She would, Mikey told herself as she watched Coach Dilmore walk into the foyer and head for the announcement board. She watched helplessly as he took his time pinning a white piece of paper to the board.

Once he was done, he walked away as she stood there, taking a deep breath and telling herself that everything was going to be fine. This would all work out for the best.

It would.

She just needed to remember that this was for the best. She could handle right field. She could do it, because this was just a temporary setback. Her mind latched on to that one word.

Temporary.

Because that’s what this was, temporary. Things would work out for the best. They always did, Mikey told herself that this was no big deal. It wasn’t. But no matter how many times she told herself that she still couldn’t seem to make herself move closer to that board.

“This is ridiculous,” Mikey told herself, hoping that it would be enou

gh to get her to move.

It wasn’t.

Long after everyone else had left for the day, Mikey stood there, staring at the board as she repeated all the mantras and lies that she’d told herself over this past week, hoping that it would be enough and…

Found herself moving closer to the announcement board.

“It’s going to be okay,” Mikey told herself with a firm nod, because right field wasn’t the end of the world.

It was still a spot on the team, Mikey reminded herself with a nod only to find herself shaking her head somewhat frantically because it wasn’t going to be okay. She really didn’t want to play right field and no matter what she told herself it wouldn’t be okay.

Praying that this had all been a bad dream and that the coach had changed his mind, Mikey forced herself to walk up to that board and look for her name. Taking a deep breath, Mikey slowly exhaled as she searched for her name and when she finally found it, she…forgot how to breathe when she spotted the two words typed in black across from her name.

Right field.

*-*-*-*

What the hell was wrong with him? Cole couldn’t help but wonder as he once again found himself thinking about what Chloe said to him. Over the past week, he’d considered asking his friends about what she’d said but…