AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You losing your touch?” Tanner asks.
“More like he’s been hitting off me since we were five.”
Though I am running out of steam. I pause and do a couple of stretches, but I recognize the stiffness in my fingers as a warning sign that I need to stop.
But let’s see if I can strike Joel out first.
That’s when Miles grins. I can see it behind his face mask, his green eyes vibrant and troublemaking. And he gives me the signal I should’ve been waiting for this whole time.
Screwball.
I give him a slight nod, then focus. It’s been a while. I haven’t even tried since I injured my hand. But it’s like riding a bike. I know how to do this. Deep inside of me, I know how. It’s beyond muscle memory, it’s ingrained in me.
I smile a little, close my eyes, and relax completely. Then I open them and throw a perfect screwball to Miles, easily striking Joel out.
Though my hand is aching, I’m proud as hell.
Tanner and Tommy whoop and holler as Joel and Miles jog over.
Miles looks at the two of them. “Now boys, that is how we won the state championship game.”
Then Miles looks at me proudly and nods. Joel doesn’t say anything, he just watches me intently and then smacks my arm.
After some dicking around, Tanner steps up and starts pitching.
He throws a few shitty ones, but I get everyone laughing as Miles, Joel, and I tell baseball war stories from over the years.
Slowly, Tanner pitches better until he’s striking all of us out.
I walk up to the mound and say, “Don’t lose sight of why you love the game.”
He takes a deep breath and nods.
Miles, Joel, and Tommy head out, while Tanner and I decide to grab some lunch.
We’re sitting on the wall at the edge of the field eating hot dogs.
“Tanner, what do you want?”
“Huh?”
“You say your parents are fighting over what they think is best for you or right for you, but what doyouwant? Not to please them. Because you can’t make it about that. If you spend your life only doing things to please other people, you’ll end up bitter and angry in the end. You don’t have a wife. You don’t have kids. It’s just you. You get to decide for yourself. Youhaveto. You’re never going to please everyone else, so you’ve gotta make it about you. That’s the question you have to answer. What do you want? And what are you willing to do to get it? It doesn’t have to be cut and dry, all or nothing, but you have to decide what you want and what you want to do to make it happen. Figure that out and you’ll end up where you’re supposed to be,“ I say, slapping his shoulder.
He takes a deep breath and lets out a long sigh.
“No one ever really asked me that. I’ve always been told what I could do or should do.”
I give him a smile. “Your future is up to you. What do you want it to look like? Think about that.”
I suck in an inhale as I think about what I want my future to look like. Six months ago, I had no idea. It felt like everything was crumbling around me. Now, I know with certainty the direction I’m heading. I want to work with teens or college kids, but hopefully high-school-aged as a school counselor. Just thinking that sends a flurry of excitement through my stomach. It feels right. I want to keep coaching anywhere I can, whether I’m making money from it or not, because I love baseball and I am good at this. And, of course, I want—need—to make things right with Rae. Because having her in my future has never been a question. I still have things to work through. I’m still pulling myself out of the depths that I’d sunk to, but I’m getting there. And when I’m ready, there’s nothing I won’t do to make every part of my future come true. In fact, all the healing and work on myself that I’m doing now is the first step in the process.
“I gotta get to class,” I say to Tanner. I hop off the wall and look up at him. “Hey, you’ve got this. All of it.”
He grins at me. “Thanks,Coach.”
We both laugh. As I’m walking away, he calls after me.
“Aaron, you said ‘with the girl I love.’ I haven’t seen you with anyone. What happened with that?”
