Katherine jumps as a pair of shorts slap against her leg. 

"Wake up," Russell says. She glowers at him with the burn of a thousand suns. 

"What?" She snaps.

"You're comin' to work with me."

"Like hell." She pulls the blanket up her shoulder further. Blanket? Katherine opens one eye and looks down at her body.

Someone put her in Russell's bed and tucked her in. She groans, pushing the comforter off of her.

"What am I, five?"

"You were shivering," Russell says, sitting on the edge of the bed to put his running shoes on. "Go on, brush your teeth." 

She sits up on her elbows and stares at him. Frowns. Glowers. He wears a faded orange ballcap twisted backwards, a big white longhorn embroidered on it. He wears that one the most, so Katherine assumed it was his favorite. She isn't quite sure what's up with the Longhorn anyway. She didn't think Texas fans existed outside of Texas. 

Gray t-shirt, black shorts, black running shoes. 

"Teeth." Russell pats her ankles underneath the comforter.

Katherine rubs her forehead with the heel of her palm. "You're taking care of horses in that?"

Russell looks down at his attire with a frown. "No, you doorknob, we're going to baseball practice."

"Baseball practice," Katherine hoarsely echoes. "You said you were a dayworker on a ranch."

"Yeah, I am. I am also a summer ball coach." Russell raises his eyebrows at her. "Any more statements or questions?" She just smiles dumbly at him. "Great. Go brush your teeth. And take a shower. You probably smell like whiskey."

"I do not."

She doesn't. She smells like vanilla, like oranges, as she breezes past him.

"Who has baseball practice on a Saturday anyway?"

The Chicken Nuggets, that's who. A U7 baseball team who were clearly given the rights to name their summer team whatever the hell they wanted.

Katherine is way too hungover for this. She sits in the dugout with a big jug of water, lips locked on the straw, and she sips, listening to Russell and his friend/assistant coach Jackson preach to the little kids knelt in a circle before them. They lost both of their games last week, which is fine because winning isn't the goal, it's to have fun. 

Bull shit.

There are two little girls in that crowd of 12. One of them is blonde, free of even a grass stain, and her poor pale skin is flushed with the limited amount of sunlight they've been in for the past fifteen minutes. The other little girl is tanned, already dirty, but her light brown hair is done up neatly in two braids. 

"That her?" Jackson asks. 

"Who?" Russell frowns, watching the kids scatter to warm up. He absently kicks his bat between his feet.

"That girl who smashed Trina's nose last month."

"Oh." Russell glances over his shoulder to Katherine. Her eyebrows are furrowed over her sunglasses, and her mouth hasn't left that waterbottle since she sat down in the dugout. Good. "Yeah, that's her." Russell pauses. "You seen her lately?"

"Trina? Yeah, last week. She went with everyone to the mines." Russell grunts in acknowledgment, pressing the end of the bat into the dirt. "Are you two...dating or something?"

Russell frowns at him. "Trina?"

"No, her." Jackson scoffs.

"...No, why?"

"I'm definitely going to be giving her my number before we leave here today."

Russell grins. "I would almost love to see that."

Jack raises one eyebrow at his college buddy. "Yeah?"

"Oh, absolutely. Matter of fact, go do it right now."

"Well now I'm scared, so no."

Russell laughs. "Country Jack, afraid of a girl?"

"Pal, that's a woman," Jackson sighs. 

Russell chuckles, shaking his head. After a moment, his smile fades. "Jack, you...know why she broke Trina's nose, right?" He shrugs and shakes his head. "You know that quarterback Charlie Taylor?"

"Yeah, he was at Florida for like two years or something before he blew his leg out."

"Yeah, that one. He was murdered early last month." Jackson's eyes shoot up. "Trina was running her mouth about the murder and said she thought the wife did it. Turns out, the wife was sitting at the bar two seats away from me." Russell nods his head over his shoulder. "She's the wife."

"Oh...shit."

"It was kind of awesome to see, really," Russell hums. "The...Katherine breaking Trina's nose, not..." Jackson waves Russell off. 

"This might change things."

Russell tosses the bat up and balances it on his palm. "She's a pissed off mare, son. Cowboy it up if you want."

Jack is running batting drills when Russell comes up to Katherine. Her mouth still hasn't left the water bottle.

"Need a refill?" He asks, unscrewing the cap to his own bottle. Katherine grunts at him.

"Why'd you bring me here?" 

"Because you need some fresh air, some sunshine." Russell sits down beside her with a sigh. Do I warn her about Jack? Maybe not. She's a little prickly at first. Even still. Maybe telling her Jack may ask for her phone number will set her off.

Pat seems like the only one who really knows how to deal with it. He doesn't even give it back to her and she seems to have more respect for him than Russell. It's a little insulting. 

"I lay out by your pool when you two go to work," Katherine calmly says, capping her water bottle. "That's vitamin D, right?"

Russell sighs, staring down at his shoes. He doesn't know Katherine well, but he knows her well enough to know this tone. This cool aloofness is a front. This is her most dangerous form. Hungover and venemous. 

"I wasn't gonna leave you by yourself," Russell says, pushing himself up, and walks away before she can say something hurtful. 

He doesn't know why he keeps her around. Why he feels like pouring so much into a charity case. Maybe he felt sorry for her. But maybe he felt like there was something there...a kindred spirit. Like calls to like.

He watched his whole world get ripped apart in front of him, too. Why does she get to treat people any differently than he does?

✕

Russell looks out of one of the kitchen windows to the pool in the back yard. Katherine stayed in the dugout all morning and didn't say a word after their little chat. Jack only came up to the blonde to introduce himself. He didn't so much as smile, and neither did she.

She's stretched out on a yellow float. Long lines of her body are only interrupted with a lilac two-piece she picked up from Target.

She's got the right idea. It's a nice day. Russell ventures to find his trunks, grabs an extra towel, and heads outside.

Jake barrels between his legs and heads for the trees. Katherine lifts her head up, watching the dog trot across the cement pad, and lays on the grass.

"You don't have a half-bad idea, Kat," Russell chirps, tossing his towel onto one of the lounge chairs. Katherine rests her head back on the float without a word. "You put on your sunscreen and all that?"

"Yes, dad." Russell cracks a small smile before kicking some water at her. She lets out a long, heavy sigh. "I'm cooking dinner tonight. Maybe check the temperature of your chicken before you eat it." She raises an eyebrow at him.

Russell chuckles. "You have a very unique talent for quick-witted threats."

"It's god-given," she drawls, turning her chin back to the sky. "What's your god-given talent?"

"Patience."

Heather always said as much. Something in Katherine's face twitches. A small glitch. Maybe he wasn't supposed to notice it. But she recovers quickly.

"Must be," she hums. "If you and your friend coach a little league team."

Russell smiles, sinking into the water to his shoulders, and treads over to her. "It's not so bad. They're great kids." He whistles. "Water's a little chilly."

She grunts. "Hence me staying above it." Russell grabs the other tube and throws his arms over it to float beside her. They're quiet for a few minutes. "What's with the hat?"

Russell frowns. "What?"

"Not a Cowboys fan?" She raises an eyebrow at him. 

"Oh. I mean, yeah sure, but Wyoming doesn't have a baseball team." He takes his hat off and stares at the longhorn. 

"You actually played?" She sounds impressed.

Russell nods. "My whole life. Catcher from high school on. Did you play ball?"

"Yeah. I, uh..." She chuckles. "I was on an accelerated academic program, so I didn't play with classmates. Travel ball kind of thing until I grew up. Short stop."

Russell hums. "You have short stop energy." She cracks a smirk. "What do you mean, 'accelerated learning program'?"

Katherine turns her head to him briefly. "I graduated from medical school when I was twenty."

Russell frowns. "Med school?" Katherine nods. "You've gotta have a degree before that, right?"

"Yeah," she sighs. "Went to USF for my undergraduate, Yale for doctoral."

Russell slowly nods. I think I remember that from the news cycles. "Must've been tough for you."

Katherine takes a moment to answer. "Yeah. It was."

"It's a good thing you turned out halfway normal, though," he sighs. She laughs and splashes water at him. Russell grins. 

He's won her approval for the moment. It feels nice.