When he was a third of the way down the line, I bolted towards him. He came up short when I tagged him. I’d never taken the ball out of my glove. The whole stadium became quiet for a second before they saw the first-base umpire call the runner out when I showed him the ball. Our fans lost their minds when they realized we’d just won State.
The expression on Don’s face when he realized what we’d done was priceless.
This time, we went nuts in our celebration. We’d done it. We’d faced the impossible gauntlet and survived.
Winning my fourth state championship should have been old hat by now. But this one was the sweetest of the four. Both Moose and Coach Haskins planned to retire, and this had been Moose’s goal ever since he’d begun coaching baseball. What made this one so special was that it was unexpected.
Baseball is a funny game. On any given day, any team can beat the other team. All it takes is a poor hitting night or an odd bounce of a ball, and you lose. Winning all those games in a row … let’s just say I had some doubts we would pull it off. I always knew that my guys would fight to win, and we had a chance. It would have been foolish to believe we wouldn’t stumble at some point.
When they brought out the trophy, it was a monster. It would look good sitting in our trophy case in the field house. They gave us each a medal to wear around our necks to commemorate our win. Jeff had a photographer with him who took our team picture with the trophy for the paper the next day.
◊◊◊ Thursday May 11
Today I had finals in all my classes except Calculus, AP Physics, and AP Chemistry; I’d had those yesterday. I skipped running because I needed the time to review. Besides, my first test was in Strength and Conditioning, and I was afraid of what Joey might have planned for me.
I walked downstairs for breakfast and found Cassidy cooking.
“Morning, Sunshine,” I greeted her.
“Morning, Doofus.”
Someone was in a mood.
“When are you going to learn to cook something other than breakfast?” I asked.
“I know how to make ketchup spaghetti with hot dogs.”
My stomach rolled over as I thought about eating that.
“I figured once we get married, I’d cook breakfast, and you could make lunch and dinner,” Cassidy continued.
“You might want to consider learning to cook other meals,” Mom said as she came into the room.
Yep, mothers have super hearing.
“I hear you’re moving to LA a week before school starts. What do you plan to do for the summer?” I asked.
“I got hired at the place I’ve been volunteering. It’ll give me some practical experience, and I’ll make some extra money for college,” Cassidy said.
“Or I could hire you as my personal trainer, and you could come to help me film my movie this summer,” I offered.
“Sorry, I can’t. I already promised the vet clinic.”
I thought about her turning me down for a second and then was proud of my little ninja. She’d just shown she was a woman of her word, which was one of my life goals.
“Good answer,” I relented.
“Are you starting to realize that you’re leaving?” Mom asked.
“That’s probably it,” I admitted.
“Go help Peggy bring down the boys. Breakfast is ready,” Cassidy said.
My mom smiled because she didn’t have to be the one to tell me. I was going to miss this.
◊◊◊
When we arrived at school, Pam was out front waiting for me. She didn’t look happy.
“Cora and Devin’s divorce went through.”
I’d predicted from the get-go that Pam’s sister wasn’t right for Devin. Devin must have thrown in a parting gift of cash to get her to agree to a quickie divorce. My brother’s divorce wasn’t moving nearly as fast. Angie hadn’t convinced me to offer the same sort of sweetener.
“Why the sad face? You knew this was coming,” I said.
“I know, but …” Pam trailed off.
How many times had I heard the ‘I know, but’ response? If you knew … why add drama?
“Is she still threatening to move in with you guys?” I asked.
Cora had talked about moving into Pam’s condo with their mom.
“She asked if she could move into your LA condo. It is a four-bedroom, and at this point, one bedroom is empty,” Pam said.
“She wouldn’t pass the application criteria. She doesn’t have any rental history,” I came up with on the fly.
“I don’t either,” Pam said with a twinkle in her eyes.
“You’re a personal friend of the owner,” I assured her.
“The friend you like best,” Pam said. She bit her bottom lip so as not to laugh at me.
“What will Tracy say if you tell her that I not only love you best, but you’re also my best friend?” I asked.
“She can be second,” Pam offered.
“Okay. I just wanted to make sure you understand the can of worms you’re opening.”
“So, I can tell Cora she has to find somewhere else to live?” Pam asked.
“Yes. Cora cannot move into the condo,” I said.
“And I’m your best friend?”
“And you’re my best friend,” I assured her.
She finally smiled. My work here was done.
“Let’s go take our finals,” I said as the first bell rang.
◊◊◊
Joey was waiting for me when I came out of the locker room for my Strength and Conditioning test.
“Let’s get your final measurements and compare them with when we started,” Joey said.
I’d made a noticeable improvement in my flexibility, speed, and strength. My weight was down to 212 pounds, which meant I was leaner. I had to admit that she’d solved the plateau problem that some athletes encountered.
“When you get ready for football season, you should work at bulking up to handle the pounding. I thought that for baseball, it would be better to have you slim down some,” Joey explained.
“Are we giving him a ‘B’?” Cassidy asked.
“You get whatever grade he gets,” Joey said.
“Oh,” Cassidy said and thought for a moment. “‘A’ it is.”
“David, could we talk for a moment?” Joey asked.
Cassidy got the hint and left us alone. Mr. Happy was hoping she finally realized I was graduating Saturday and would be willing to hook up with me.
“Is Greg seeing Scarlet?” she asked.
My mind went to a dark place for a moment when I imagined my brother might replace me in all my fantasies with my hot trainer. Then I remembered what I’d told my younger brother. Brothers were half dick to each other and half there for them. Greg needed a break.
“I usually don’t share stuff like this, but I’ll make an exception this time because I know Greg is into you. He and Scarlet are hooking up to help each other out. Greg is busy with school, raising his kids, and running a business, which leaves him with no time to meet anyone since Angie left. Scarlet’s friend returned to California for work, so Scarlet and Greg decided to help each other out.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that when Scarlet moves to Malibu, they won’t be seeing each other anymore, and you can swoop in,” I said.
“He’s into me?” she asked.
“I’m into you as well. You do understand that come Saturday afternoon, I’ll no longer be a student,” I said as I gave her a smoky look.
“So, I should wait until next week to make my move on Greg?” Joey asked.
I’d tried.
“Yep,” I said unenthusiastically.
“Are you still going to pay me to train him now that your mom and dad are leaving?”
I wanted to say ‘Hell, no,’ but both my dad and Greg had lost weight and were starting to look like their old selves. That reminded me that I needed to make sure my dad didn’t slack off. I would put Lexi in charge of finding him, and anyone else who wanted it, a gym membership. And I’d have her get him a personal trainer.