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There was a tone to her voice I didn’t like. “She’s well, actually. We just hired someone to help full time. Her name is Hannah and she gets along great with Rosie and Megan. Other than the fact that Rosie wants a puppy for her birthday, everything has been really smooth. Why?”

“A puppy?” Amanda shook her head. “That girl is a handful. She tells me you’re dating someone.”

And there it was. That was the tone. Amanda always had a tone when she was hunting for information. “I’m in love, actually.”

The video froze, so for a few moments all I saw was her blank face. Then the video caught up and she was grinning from ear to ear. “Really? Tell me about her.”

I told Amanda everything. How we met, how hard I fell, how much I loved Kate. “She’s moving in with me.” Amanda was always so easy going that it honestly hadn’t occurred to me to run it by her first. “Unless you see a problem with it.”

“What? No, of course not. If you love her then I’m sure she’s wonderful. I’ll be back for Rosie’s birthday and can meet her in person.”

I hid my relief. “Just don’t bring a puppy.”

“Do you even know me? I’ve never even had a goldfish.”

“Don’t bring one of those either.” I would probably kill the goldfish—accidentally of course—and get stuck in a cycle of constantly replacing the damn thing so I didn’t break Rosie’s heart.

“I’m bringing the brush set she asked for. Calm down.”

“She’ll be happy to see you.”

It turned out tonight’s game was a full house of special guests. Not only was Kate’s family in the house, so were the Tangerines. Mei joined them and invited Willa to sit with them too when Kate recognized her. They all sat together in the same section, taunting my players and having their own little party.

“I haven’t seen him like this since college,” Gordo murmured as he handed me a jewel for the treasure chest. Seth just hit his second home run of the night.

The dugout vibrated with excitement, cheering Seth around the bases. But I noticed his gaze drift up into the stands as he crossed home plate. After I handed him his jewel I stepped up out of the dugout and pretended to search for Kate, which was nice, but not my goal. I wanted to know what drew Seth’s attention.

I nodded to Kate, noticing a look on her face as she cocked her head to her left. Beside her sat Ryan and Phoebe. Ryan, in particular, had an amused look on her face. Interesting…

Even more interesting was what happened when Everett came out to pitch an inning. His first few pitches were sharp. Then he threw a few bad ones. Then Willa stood up and howled, “Strike him out, Ev!” And suddenly Everett was back. A focused, nasty, pitch-throwing machine.

“Are…are Seth and Ev acting weird?” I asked Gordo.

He looked at me with wide eyes. “Very.”

“Cool. At least it’s not just me.”

“It’s like we’re in the Twilight Zone. Don’t get me wrong, I want to see both of them succeed, but this is weird.” Gordo kept one eyebrow sky-high while he peered down the dugout at the celebration unfolding around the half-full treasure chest.

“What happens when that thing is full?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to.” Then he returned his attention to the field and I, very wisely, kept my questions to myself.

After the game Stirling’s dad tracked me down to tell me how much he’s enjoyed watching the Mantas this season and to keep up the good work. The post-game press conference was quick and I said my goodbyes to the staff before heading upstairs to find Kate.

She now had a small office in each of Stirling’s main buildings, but her main office was here with the Mantas. It was just down the hall from Stirling’s monstrosity of an office. He had also moved to working almost exclusively out of the Mantas offices. Not so he could micromanage, but so he could put some space between him and his primary responsibilities.

“Knock, knock.” I rapped my knuckles against the door as I pushed it open. All her blinds were drawn shut and only one lamp lit the room, giving it a soft glow.

“Well don’t you look happy.” She got up from the desk and threw her arms around my neck.

I dropped a kiss on my favorite pair of lips. “That’s because I’m currently the happiest man in the world.”

“Oh really?”

I kissed her again. “Yep. I didn’t know it was possible to be this proud of my work. To get such a sense of fulfillment from it. But man, does it feel good.”

“No foot out the door anymore?”