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“Huh?”
“Symbolic,” Rex explained. “It means that it represented something.”
“No, I… I know whatsymbolicmeans. I just didn’t expect you to.”
“I read at an eighth grade level.”
“I shouldn’t have underestimated you, then.” I tossed him the ball again. It landed at his feet, but, again, he didn’t seem to mind.
“Why weren’t you ready to act like a dad yet?”
“I don’t know. I just… I’m not always the most mature guy. I don’t always act like an adult.”
“What does acting like an adult mean?”
I almost laughed. “See, if I knew that, maybe I’d be doing it.”
“You seem like an adult to me, Carter,” Rex said. “You have a job. You help people when they need it. You can fix things when they break.”
“I guess…”
Rex threw the ball back to me with a surprising amount of force. I caught it, but I was taken aback.
“Also… why are you afraid of being a dad?” he asked.
“That’s a complicated question.”
Rex met my eyes and raised his brows. He wasn’t going to let me worm my way out of this one.
“Because my dad was amazing. Seriously the best,” I confessed. “And there’s no way I could ever be as good as him. And you deserve…”
I shook my head and threw him the ball. It went right into the center of his mitt.
“Hey, good catch,” a voice from behind me said.
I turned around and saw Zoe standing there.
“It was. He’s really getting better,” I said. I ran a hand through my hair. “Um… how much of that did you hear.”
“Just that last bit.”
“Oh.”
Rex ran over to us and gave his mom a hug.
“How’s the ball game going?” she asked him.
“I’m not very good.”
“You’re getting better,” I assured him. “You just need some practice.”
“Maybe. Can we do this again next week, you think?” Rex asked, looking up at me hopefully. Zoe met my eyes too. She raised a brow.
“It’s… definitely possible.”
Zoe gave me a small smile and I felt something tug at my chest.
Rex grabbed my hands and handed the baseball back to me.
