“Yeah. We all played baseball, soccer, and football.”
She laid her fork down and stared at him. “While your father was off playing pro ball? How did she manage?”
“A lot of helping hands. We have a big extended family, so that helped. My dad has three brothers, so they and their wives would help out taking us to practices and games since Mom couldn’t be everywhere at once, especially if Dad was on the road.”
“Oh, that’s nice. I’m sure they were a huge help to her.”
“We didn’t have a large family,” Anya said. “So when our mom died, and Dad was gone, it was just Kat around to take care of us.”
Grant looked over at Anya. “That must have been tough for all of you.”
“We managed. We give Kat a hard time, but we could have ended up in foster care if it wasn’t for her. She dug in and made them give her custody of us. It was hard for her.”
Big statement for a teenager to make. Anya understood a lot. Grant wondered if Katrina realized she wasn’t the only one who understood the responsibility she’d carried.
“It wasn’t hard at all,” Katrina said. “We’re a family and it stays that way.”
“That’s been her line for the past ten years,” Leo said with a wry grin.
He liked this family, the way they gave each other a hard time, yet he could still see how much she loved these kids—and how much they loved her back. It reminded him so much of his own, and made him realize it had been a while since he’d seen his family. He was going to have to make time for a visit.
They finished dinner and Leo immediately set about clearing the table, loading the dishwasher and washing the pots and pans without complaint.
“Good setup for you,” he said as he sat back and finished his wine. “You and Anya cook and Leo cleans up.”
“Anya actually does most of the cooking now. I don’t have to do much at all.”
“Free labor, is what she means,” Anya said from the kitchen.
Grant laughed. “Yeah, we all had chores when we lived at home, too. Someone was on yard duty. Someone had dishes and trash duty. Somebody had to clean the bathrooms—which, by the way, was the worst.”
“That’s because you had all those boys,” Anya said. “Thank God we have housekeeping service to deal with that. Ick.”
“Yeah. Doing dishes is bad enough. And speaking of those, we’re done.” Leo hung up the dish towel and came into the living room. “Bobby asked if I could come over tonight. Do you mind?”
“And Leah wanted me to spend the night,” Anya said. “Is that okay?”
Katrina looked at both of them. “You guys. No. We have company.”
“Really. It’s okay with me,” Grant said. “I had a great time with both of you today, but it’s not necessary for you to hang out with me the rest of the night. Providing it’s all right with Katrina.”
She looked at Grant. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Awesome,” Anya said. “I’m going to go pack a bag then call Leah. She said her mom will come meet us.”
“I’ll go grab my stuff.” Leo started to turn away, then stopped and pivoted to look at Grant. “Hey, thanks for today. It was fun. And for the football stuff.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Yeah, what Leo said,” Anya said. “Except for the football stuff, though it was interesting.”
And in seconds, they had both disappeared into their rooms, only to reappear about five minutes later, both of them hustling out the door.
“That was fast,” Grant said.
“It always is when they have things to do with their friends. Leo’s best friend lives in the building, which is convenient, and Leah only lives two buildings away, so Leah and her mom will walk down to meet Anya.”
“It’s great they have friends so close.”
“Yes. At least one thing I don’t have to worry about.”
He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You should worry a lot less. They’re great kids. Awesome, really. You’ve done a fantastic job raising them, Katrina.”
She stood, stretched. “Well, thanks.”
He could tell she was uncertain, maybe a little uncomfortable now that they were alone.
“Kat. I like that name. It suits you.”
Her lips curved. “They’ve called me that since they were little. It just kind of stuck.”
“Does everyone call you that?”
“No. In professional circles I’m Katrina. Only people close to me call me Kat. Just the kids, really. I should check on them, make sure they got where they were supposed to.”
“Sure. I’ll open another bottle of wine while you do that.”
He had no intention of drinking any. He had practice tomorrow. But she was wound up tight and needed to relax. He had no idea if he was the one making her tense, or if it was something else. He intended to get her to drink another glass and see if he could wind her down some, get her to talk to him.
He grabbed a glass of water for himself after pouring wine for her, returning to the living room just as she hung up the phone and laid it on the coffee table.
“Kids okay?”