Baseball and Other Lessons (Devil's Ranch Book 2) by Aubrey Gross Page A

door. Matt closed his eyes, sighed and ran his hands over his head.
    What the hell had he just done?
    He turned and followed her into the living room, only to see her wrestling a box half her size through the front door.
    “Need some help with that?”
    She shook her head and continued to try to pull the box through the doorway.
    It didn’t move.
    She made a cute frustrated sound before letting the box drop to the floor and turning towards him. “Screw it. Can you help me with this?”
    Matt moved towards the front door and then bent and picked up one end. The damned thing had to weigh at least eighty pounds and was probably the size of a mini fridge.
    “What the hell is it?”
    “I have no idea.”
    He managed to wrestle the entire box into the living room enough so that they could shut the front door. He pulled out a pocket knife and Jenn held up a hand.
    “Wait.”
    “Okay.”
    She checked the label on the box and sighed. “I’ll open it later. Can you just move it to a corner or something?”
    Matt put the knife back in his pocket and shrugged. “Okay. But are you sure you don’t want to just go ahead and open it? I can break down the box so you don’t have to worry about it.”
    “No, it’s really okay. I can get it myself later.”
    Jenn clearly did not want to open that box with him around, that much was obvious. Curiosity piqued, Matt glanced at the shipping label as he moved the box to a far corner of the living room.
    “Rebecca McDonnell. Isn’t that your mom?”
    Jenn sighed. “Yes. How’d you know?”
    Matt set the box down. “She was my ninth grade chemistry teacher.”
    “Right. I forgot she was still teaching while you were in high school.”
    “She’s retired now?” It didn’t seem like Mrs. McDonnell was old enough to be retired, but what did he know about being a teacher?
    Jenn shrugged. “More or less.”
    A phone rang from down the hall and Jenn held up a finger. “Hold on a second. Let me go get that.”
    She headed down the hall to what Matt assumed was her bedroom—best not to go there right now—and waited as she took the call. Jenn’s house was small, and he could hear her side of the conversation with no problem.
    “Yes, Mom, it just got here.”
    Pause.
    “No, I haven’t opened it yet.”
    Pause.
    “Because I have company and I’m kind of busy.”
    Pause.
    “No, not that kind of company. Just a friend. I’ll open the box later.”
    Pause.
    “Mom, I’m not opening it right now.”
    “No.”
    “I told you, I’ll do it later.”
    “Seriously? Ugh. What’s the hurry?”
    Jenn marched into the living room, a disgruntled expression on her face. She held out her hand and mouthed to him, “Pocket knife.”
    Matt dug it out and handed it to her, amused and way too curious about what was in the box. Jenn dropped to her knees before she sliced through the packing tape, pulled the edges of the box and then wadded up newspapers up and out. She tossed the paper over her head, sat back and groaned.
    “Seriously, Mom?”
    Matt was beyond curious as Jenn began pulling items from the box. First was a camouflage military-grade backpack followed by a gallon-sized container labeled “Heirloom Seeds.”
    “Jesus, Mom. Really?” Jenn muttered.
    Matt raised his eyebrows but remained silent. This was utterly fascinating.
    She reached back into the box and pulled out two ammo cans. Matt squinted and could make out .223 written on one and 9mm written on the other.
    Well, that explained what had weighed so much, although none of this was stacking up against the person he thought Jenn was.
    Everyone has secrets, Roberts.
    His attention was drawn back to Jenn as she pulled another item out of the box and made what could only be described as a low, keening sound like that of a cat about to attack. “You have got to be shitting me.”
    He was totally enthralled as Jenn lifted up what could only be a gas mask.
    “Wait a second. Are you a closet prepper?”
    Jenn’s head snapped