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“I’ll see you out there. I love you, Coop.”
“Love you, too, baby, to the stars and back.” After a quick kiss and another for good luck, we both exit my office. I head to the right toward the locker room, where my team awaits me, and she heads left out the main doors that lead to the field.
As soon as I open the door to the locker room and turn the corner, the chatter comes to a halt. All seventeenplayers sit on the benches, fully dressed and ready to go.
“I’ve been sitting in my office, staring at a photo from the good ole days of playing for Coach Benson. It hit me that this is the first opening game that he has not attended in his entire career. But as I stand here looking out at all of you, I remember he is here. He’s here in each one of you. His knowledge and love of the game is in your heart, and you’ll carry him with you long after you leave these halls.
“I want you to go out there and play your best, give it your all, and kick some damn Topsail Pirates’ ass. Now, let’s get out there, Wildcats, and win this for Coach B.”
The entire team shouts “yeah” in unison as they stand and put their hands in a circle.
“Wildcats on three. One, two, three,” I count, and the team returns, “Wildcats.”
Everyone grabs their belongings, and we walk out of the locker room, each player slapping the Meadows Ridge High School Wildcats sticker to the right of the doorframe.
I’m not sure who actually started that tradition. It was long before I was a freshman, and I’m sure it will continue long after I finish coaching here.
When it’s my turn, I place my palm over the sticker, then pause and close my eyes. I channel the strength of Coach Benson and the hundreds, if not thousands, of times he slapped this same sticker.
“Coming, Coach?” Beau asks just outside the doorway.
I adjust the brim of my hat and clear my throat. “Yep.”
Beau and I walk side by side, just a few feet behind the rest of the team, out to the Tanner Hayes Memorial Field, where the stands are standing room only. Just behind the fence in the first row is Riley, with Austin on one side and Mrs. Benson on the other. Since his passing, Riley and I try to stop by weekly to visit with Ellie. Melody and her family also traveled from the next town over to attend the game. It means the world to me to have them here.
The team is all settled in the dugout while I stand just outside, looking out on the diamond. It’s a magical place. Babe Ruth once said, “Baseball is, was, and always will be the best game in the world to me.” This place is where I found myself, found love, and healed.
The overwhelming feeling of how far I’ve come since I first stood on this field hits me all at once. But I manage to keep the tears at bay. After all, there’s no crying in baseball.
With the smell of cinnamon lingering in the air, I know that I’m not alone here. I have two angels who are always with me. I clap my hands together. “Alright, boys, play ball.”
THE END
Want more angst?
Be sure to check out I Never Planned on You, an emotional brother’s best friend romance about grief, healing and learning to love again. Keep scrolling for a preview.
I Never Planned on You Excerpt
Prologue
Ithadbeenablast skating around the rink with my friends, though my feet were killing me, so I decided to sit on the sidelines for a quick breather. A slow song came over the speaker, “I’ll Never Break Your Heart” by the Backstreet Boys. I watched the skaters pair up to skate to the song. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I felt a chill come up my spine as Emmett, my older brother’s best friend, took the place next to me.
“You didn’t want to skate with anyone on your birthday?”
“I needed a break.” I shrugged, never taking my eyes off the skaters. “That, and umm…no one asked me.”
Emmett tilted my chin to his face with his forefinger and thumb and looked at me in a way he never had before, or maybe I just hadn’t noticed. It was strangely comforting. “Danielle Kathryn Jacobs, will you skate with me?”
I felt the breath rush out of my lungs as I tried to find the words to answer him. A simple yes, and I couldn’t even find that. My brain wasn’t working, so all I could do was nod. Did Emmett really just ask me to skate? Maybe he just felt sorry for me. He reached his hand out in front of me and threaded his fingers with mine as he escorted me from the wall to the ice.
As the song continued to play, we skated around the rink. His hand remained in mine, and the smile never left his face. When the song came to an end and his hand hadn’t moved from mine, I looked at him nervously and began to pull away from him. “Well, thanks for the skate. I’m sure there were plenty of other girls to skate with than me, so I appreciate you humoring the birthday girl so ugh…I didn’t look super pathetic.”
As I went to turn to skate in the other direction, he tightened his grip on my hand. “Woah, Dani, I didn’t ask you to skate because I felt sorry for you. I asked you to skate with me because I wanted to. If I wanted to skate with someone else I would have, but I only wanted to skate with you. I just wanted you. Don’t you see that?”
I could feel my cheeks instantly flush. “I…I…” Again I couldn’t find the words to say anything, so I just kept looking into those baby blues. I’d had a crush on Emmett since before I even knew what crushes were, but could he, in fact, have a crush back? People continued to skate around us, but all I saw was him. “I don’t understand. Really?” I asked him when I finally found the words.
He inched even closer to me and brushed a stray piece of hair that had fallen out of my beanie, behind my ears. “Yes, you really didn’t know?” he asked with a confused look.
