All At Once (Completed) - Finding You Book 1

Camden, cont.

"You're lucky I like you, kid," I say, pushing the bill of his hat down over his green eyes. "I wouldn't be caught dead here without you."

Chase laughs and pulls his hat up so he can see. His eyes light up at the bright lights of Dodger Stadium. "Hell has frozen over, Chase. Pigs have flown. Honestly, you couldn't pay me enough to..." I go on.

"He gets it," Harper laughs. I smile at the color in her cheeks. "You're an Angels fan. We know," she says, rolling her eyes as I shimmy out of my leather jacket and reveal my Angels jersey. Chase slaps himself in the forehead and I shrug.

"Yeah, we know," Chase agrees taking off his hat and flattening his mussed hair. "But for the life of me, I can't figure out why," he adds, putting his hands up and backing away laughing when I pretend to throw a few punches in his direction.

It's been a week since he skipped school and the dust is still settling. He needs some fun. I gave him a hard time about cheering for another team, but I'd do anything to see the kid smile for a change. The last month and a half hasn't been any easier on him than it's been for me. Everything still feels so unreal and neither of us want to discuss Andrew.

"Go on," I say, gesturing toward the fence. "Why don't you go down there and see if you can catch any foul balls from batting practice?."

I wouldn't mind a little alone time with Harper.

"Yeah, I guess that'd be cool," Chase's voice breaks a little and he clears his throat before walking down the bleachers. Harper settles in her seat, so I decide to do the same. I still can't believe she's here. I've made it my goal to get her to smile at me at least twice a day. I've already managed to work out one.

My eyes float from the field to Harper. She's all settled in with a drink and nachos. This moment is simple, and I'm really enjoying it. It almost feels normal, like we've done this a dozen times.

"You know, you're just about the only person in the universe that can make that jersey look good," I say as my eyes scan over her hair. It hangs in loose waves over the front of her shoulders to cover the white lettering of the 'Dodgers.' "Are you even a fan, or are you just trying to look cute right now?"

"I've never been to a game, so I'll go with choice number two," says says, her lips turning upward.

"And I'm going to say it's working," I smirk. "And now I"m going to close my mouth before I get in trouble for that,"

She ignores my comment, but I hear her sigh.

"But really, I thought it might be nice for Chase if I looked the part today. You're already giving him such a hard time about his team," she bites her lip and squints in the sun before she pulling down her sunglasses.

"I'm only teasing him," I assure her. "He knows that. It's the one fun thing we have in common...our love for baseball. We love to disagree about it. It's a safe subject. It's easy. A lot of other things we have in common aren't so easy," I say, watching my nephew's head tip up to the sky to watch a ball fly over his head.

"I know," she says, looking sideways at me through the edges of her big black sunglasses. "As long as you know what you're doing with him."

She sips her frozen strawberry daiquiri out of a thick mug. "I'm just saying you might not want to avoid the hard stuff forever. You don't give him the wrong impression," my eyebrows dip at her words. I'm curious, and because she rarely shows emotions, I'm hanging onto this one. "He might think you just don't care. I know I've said it before, but considering what happened with the school thing..."