Summer Swing (32 page)

“I’m sorry, Gage.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. Maybe she’ll
lay
off after I’ve been at school for a while. Hey, I
gotta
run
, Ellie. I’m going golfing with a few buddies and they’re here. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Sure. Have fun, Gage. I love you. Things will work out.”

“Yeah,
things’ll
work out somehow, right?” he kind of
chuckled. “Well, I love you too
. I’ll talk to you later.”

When we hung up I was more confused than ever. Were we really on the track to date other people? It just didn’t seem like it to me.
Where I stood with G
age weighed heavily on me. I just didn’t understand it. Maybe I just couldn’t accept it. That sounded more probable to me. I loved him, I wanted to be with him, and I was hurt when he decided
to change all that. However, he’d
be returning to town for another week and wanted to see me. What was it going to be like?

Those thoughts were swimming through my head
when I arrived at the ballpark that afternoon. I’d wanted to get there early so I could talk to Tyse before the game, but it didn’t work out that way when I decided to take a phone call from my mom. We talked for several minutes
as I sat in the parking lot
, mainly about Gage. I politely listened to her advice, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t already heard or thought of on my own. At the end of the conversation she invited me over for dinner that night, along with Dawn and Wyatt, but I had to turn her down. We went round and round about who I might be hanging out with instead, and I still wouldn’t tell her.

“Mom, I just have other plans, okay? It’s just a barbecue with a bunch of people. Can you stop acting like I’m turning down dinner with the president? I understand that Dawn
and
Wyatt will be there, but I eat with them all the time. Why don’t you just enjoy the time with them instead? You never get to spend any time with them.”

She reluctantly agreed, but I could tell she wasn’t pleased that I would be elsewhere. I almost asked her when she’d last talked to David, just so she had someone else to pester.

“David i
s dating someone new,” she said
as if she could read my mind. “She’s divorced and she has two kids.”

“Oh, yeah?” I replied casually, completely ignoring her worry. “How old are the kids?”

“Five and three if I remember correctly. She’s a year older than David.”

“Hmm, what’s her name?”

“Mallory.”

“Oh,
Mallory’s
the one with kids?”

“He’s told you about her?”

“Well yeah, but I didn’t know she had kids or anything. He seemed to really like her when he was talking about her
on the phone
the other day
.”

“Hm. Well they’re coming over on Tuesday for dinner. Maybe you could come then?”

“Yeah, I could probably do that. Sure, I’ll see you on Tuesday, then.”

“Oh, wonderful, Ambrielle.”

“Okay, but I gotta get going Mom, so I’ll check in with you Tuesday afternoon, okay?”

“Where are you headed? I thought the barbecue was later.”

“It is, but I have things to do before then. Bye, Mom. Love you.”

So there I was sitting at the baseball field, thinking about my relationship with Gage, thinking about my parents, thinking about Dawn and Wyatt, and thinking about my brother’s new girlfriend.
It took me a while to realize that Tyse had been trying
to get my attention for a minute
.

“Man, you were in a zone,” he smiled when I joined him at the fence. “What were you spacing out about?”

“Oh, just my family. My brother has a new girlfriend and my mom is eag
er to
make a prediction about their future together
. T
hey
’re
go
ing
over
there
for dinner on Tuesday night.”

He chuckled. “Meeting the parents, huh. Your parents aren’t that bad, are they?”

“Nah, not really. I mean my mom worries. A lot. She looks at every girlfriend or boyfriend as a potential spouse for us,
so it can get a little irritating
.”

“Well she’s only looking out for you guys.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve learned to just roll with it and not get annoyed with her anymore. So what’s up? Did you need something?”

He slightly smiled as he looked at me, and because it was really cute, it gave me a happy feeling.

“Just wanted to talk to you before I take the mound. It gives me an edge,” he winked.

I sort of rolled my eyes. “Your coach probably wants to ban me from the field.”

“Nope. He’s very aware that I get all
of
my positive energy from you. I told him it’s what helps me relax, and anything that helps a pitcher relax is a good thing.”

“Ah, I see. So how come I don’t get to sit in the dugout
, then
?”

“Oh, I could make that happen,” he smiled. He even made a move for his coach
, like he was going to make arrangements or something,
but I grabbed his
wrist
to stop him.

“I was just kidding.”

“Yeah, probably better that you don’t. None of the guys would be watching the game.”

I rolled my eyes again. “I’d only sit in there if
you
were in there,” I told him.

I also realized that he was looking at my hand that was still on his arm, and out of embarr
assment, I quickly removed it. I was thankful t
he national anthem was anno
unced right then, and Tyse only smiled and said he’d talk to me later.

The game was great, and I had a lot of fun. I think everyone was energized because it was the final game of the season, and the fact that Tyse was throwing a no-hitter into the seventh inning was another reason for the excitement in the stands.
Finally there was a hit—basically a fielding error that was ruled a hit, according to the guy next to me.
Tyse was relieved from his duties with a loud applause from the crowd, and I was proudly standing amongst them.

The
Bears
ended up winning their final game of the summer 2-0
, and once the majority of the crowd left the stands, the rest of us gathered
for the barbecue. It was fun to watch the kids hit up the players for autographs like they usually did. I knew Gage missed that, and I felt really bad for him. Tyse had become pretty popular among the younger fans, and the kids were always bringing him things to sign. He didn’t seem to intimidate them at all, but then again, Tyse looked just like any other baseball player on the field.

“Are you really
gonna
do the girly stuff, or you gonna play catch with me?” his voice said behind me.

I turned around to face him after sticking a spoon into a bowl of potato salad.

“Well do you want the food ready or not?”

“Nah, it will get itself ready. Come on,” he motioned with his head. He handed me a
glove
when I met up with him.

“
What does this do
?” I jested.

“It does
this,” he said, covering my entire face with his own
glove
.

I laughed and pushed it away from me. “I thought it was for this,” I said, smacking him in the butt with mine.

“You’re right, it is.”

I moved so he couldn’t
return the
favor
, but somehow he ended up doing it anyway.

“Ow!
Watch it
,
buddy
. It’s my off season, so my cheeks aren’t as toned as yours.”

He laughed out loud. “You think I have toned cheeks, huh? Does that mean you’ve been checking out my butt?”

I could almost feel my face redden, but I only said, “Uh, yeah. Why do you think I come to these—what are they called? –Baseball games?”

He laughed again. “You come to check out butts, huh? Nice.”

“Well sure. What else is there to do?”

“Hmm, I guess nothing. Thanks for making me realize I’ve completely wasted my summer here.”

“Hey, I don’t come with a filter either.”

“Yeah, sometimes I think I should tape your mouth shut.” He gave me an ornery smile and I had to glare at him. “But then I realize I’d be missing out on quite a lot,” he added with a shrug.

“Hmm,
like
when I’m wasted?”

“Nah, d
efinitely when you’re sober.”

We’d walked to the other end of the field and he tossed me a ball from a few feet away. Luckily I caught it, but I was kind of worried about how awful I was going to be to play catch with.

“You do realize I have one hand, right?” I reminded him. I held up the cast on my right hand, just in case he’d forgotten it was there.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m blind. Just catch with your left, and throw with your left.”

“Okay, you know I’m not left-handed either, right?”

He chuckled. “Just toss the ball, Ellie.”

I definitely wasn’t left-handed, but there were a lot of things I had to do with my left hand over the past several weeks. Maybe I could throw a ball, too.

Tyse didn’t even have a
glove
on his hand when I tossed the ball to him. He just caught it in his left hand and waited for me to put my
glove
on. He lightly tossed it back and I barely had to move to get it. After a while I decided to just do what he was doing, and I dropped the mitt on the ground and just bare-handed it back to him. I couldn’t catch it as well as he could that way, but
the more I did it, the better I got.

“So how did you break
your
hand?” I eventually asked him. “Your left hand was broken a while back, right?”

“Uh,
yeah
. Broke
it
in the last game of the season.”

“You broke
your hand
during a game?”

“Yeah.” He eyed me funny. “How’d you think I broke
it
?”

With a smile I said, “I just figured you punched someone.”

He laughed. “That’s right,
you had me pegged as a trouble
maker from the beginning.”

“Oh, come on,” I protested.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he smiled, putting his hands out. “I get it.”

I tossed him the ball and shook my head with disagreement. “So how’d you break
it in a game? Was it
while you were on the mound?”

“Well, I’m actually not a pitcher by choice. I was converted to pitch. I’m actually an infielder.”

I raised my eyebrows with surprise.

“I got hit by a pitch
when I was batting
and it broke my hand,” he added.

“Wait, so you’re not really a pitcher?
What do you mean
?”

“I normally play shortstop. I played it until my senior year in high school. We lost two of our best pitchers to injuries, so I kind of filled in for the rest of the season. I guess I just ended up staying there.
But once I made the Mesa team, I joined on as a shortstop. I preferred it more because I got to play
every game. I also love batting
.
”

“So…h
ow’d you come here as a pitcher?”

“They didn’t need another shortstop. The team already had three. The only position I could have filled on this team—and
other teams
—was pitcher. So I decided to just take what I could get.”

“So how’d you end up joining
this
team? I mean aren’t there tons of summer leagues and baseball clubs all over? How’d you end up in Portland?”

He nodded his head across the field where Coach Baxter was flipping burgers
at the grill
.

“You know where Baxter is from? California. His son Cody played against me at Mesa this past season.”

“So he convinced you to come play for him?”

He nodded. “Yep. I didn’t have anything else to do except work, and I was interested in getting out of California for a while, so he talked me into it.
When
I broke my hand,
summer league wasn’t set
to start for another six weeks—the same amount of time for my hand to heal—
but
they
couldn’t count on it and
had to fill my position. So I just came as a pitcher, hoping I could be a little more that just a reliever or a closer.”

“I’d say you’ve done pretty well.”