Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74227 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“What the crap?” I snickered. “What are you, eleven?”
“She’s a preacher’s daughter who used to freak the fuck out if he heard her say something more sinister than dangit. Trust me. What the crap was pretty good for her,” Krisney said. “Now spill.”
Once again, we were interrupted, this time by Hannah arriving with her son fast asleep in a stroller.
She took a seat, crossed her legs and looked at me intently.
“What?” I asked.
“What was that?”
I rolled my eyes skyward and wondered if I’d get out of telling these women what ‘that’ was.
The way they were all staring at me so intently, I highly doubted it.
“There’s nothing to tell,” I hedged.
There weren’t just three snorts in response to my weak explanation, though, there were quite a few more.
My eyes widened, and I turned, realizing then that not only were the three women in the front row listening to me but so was another woman who was just walking up.
I had no clue who she was, but the other ladies with me knew her.
“Kennedy!” Hannah waved. “Come sit down.”
Kennedy took a seat on the other side of Hannah, which made her as close to me as Hannah and Hennessy were.
“So, you’re the one that our Baylor can’t shut up about.”
My brows went up.
“Our Baylor?”
“Baylor’s sort of our mascot.”
My brows furrowed.
“He bounces around everywhere, picking up slack where he’s needed,” Hannah explained. “Pretty sure that he doesn’t even need to work at this point, though.”
Before I could ask her to explain what she was talking about, the stadium around us went quiet as a girl of about fifteen made her way out to the mound.
“Is that…”
“Yep,” Hennessy answered Kennedy’s question.
“Adorable,” Krisney said. “I didn’t know that she was singing today, or that they were back.”
It was like they were having a conversation partially in their heads because I had no fucking clue what they were talking about.
“Umm,” I paused. “What are y’all talking about?”
The newcomer, Kennedy, grinned.
“That’s Adrienna, the daughter of Andie.” Kennedy pointed across the gate to where a woman was sitting, waving at her girl, who waved back. “They’re apparently old friends of the Hails. I only met them a couple of months ago when I sold her and her daughter a chicken.”
“A chicken?” I asked.
Kennedy nodded. “I raise chickens, goats, and sheep.”
I nodded my head. “That’s pretty cool.”
I meant that, too.
I’d always wanted chickens.
Not an overly large amount, mind you, but a few. Like two or three.
But, being in the big city of Dallas, I wasn’t allowed to have them in our backyard. Not that my ex would’ve allowed that anyway.
If it made me even remotely happy, I wasn’t allowed to do it.
Grocery shopping? I saw people and that made me happy, so I wasn’t allowed to do it.
Running to the post office? I got so much pleasure out of dropping off the mail that my ex decided that he would go with me as soon as he realized I got something out of it.
Sure, for me they were my only chances to get away from his overbearing, controlling ways, but he saw it as me wanting to do something pleasurable without him, so they became forbidden activities.
And that wasn’t even including things that I truly did love to do, like get my hair done or go for a manicure.
Those things hadn’t happened for so long that I couldn’t even remember the last time.
The National Anthem’s first haunting notes started to fill the air, and I stood up so fast that I nearly lost my balance. I was so lost in my own head that I hadn’t even realized that the entire stadium was now standing around me.
Shit!
“Oh, say can you see…”
The girl was good. She sounded like a young Reba McEntire, and I knew one day she’d go somewhere.
Literally, there was no doubt in my mind whatsoever, she was that good.
By the time the last words were sung and the girl’s voice trailed away, my heart was in my throat.
She’d totally nailed it, and by the roar of the stadium around us, I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
My hands hurt with how loud I was clapping.
“God, that girl is amazing.” Kennedy shook her head in amazement.
I completely agreed.
“Kid has more talent with her voice than I do in my entire body,” I murmured.
My eyes stayed on the girl as she made her way off the mound, but my heart started to pound as I watched her detour from her original path to a new one that included running straight into the arms of a man.
The man who I had a crush on, but I wasn’t willing to admit to it.
Baylor bent down and scooped her up, bringing her to his chest and swinging her around.
The girl’s laugh was adorable.
I looked away when the woman who’d been sitting in the bleachers on the opposing team’s side walked up to her daughter and Baylor, and placed her hands on both of their backs.