Summer Swing

by Delia Delaney

  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.”

  He shrugged. “It’s been fun.”

  “You’ve stunned everyone. And for not being a regular pitcher, you’ve sure made a name for yourself. But I have a question. If you were to pursue a career in baseball, what position would you play?”

  “Well, I’d rather play shortstop so I can play every game. And bat. But the chances of that are pretty much zero. I’d have a better chance being a pitcher because there has to be so many of them.”

  “But ideally you’d like to play shortstop.”

  “Sure. It’s more fun to me. I mean I do like pitching, and it’s great to throw a no-hitter, or a shutout, but I like to bat.”

  “Then you just need to play in the National League, right? You can pitch and you get to bat.”

  He raised his eyebrows at me, obviously surprised. “Impressive, Ellie.”

  “Hey, I’m learning,” I smiled. “So what will you play back at Mesa? Shortstop?”

  “Yeah, most likely.”

  “So if you got scouted in a game, they’d be scouting you as an infielder. Would they ever know that you could pitch, too?”

  “Only if they’ve heard that from someone, or they’ve had meetings with coaches and stuff. You’re not scouted for a position you could possibly be converted to. Not usually. They like to see what you’re doing while you’re doing it. But it just depends. Sometimes a good player is a good player, and if you know he’s versatile, it’s a good thing.”

  “One more question. I thought shortstops were only right-handed.”

  “I am right-handed.”

  “But you pitch…”

  “Right-handed.”

  I had to think about that for a second. I could have sworn he pitched with his left…

  “You thinking of Gage, maybe? Gage is a left-handed pitcher.”

  That was kind of embarrassing. Maybe I had been thinking about Gage. “Hmm, I guess I don’t really pay attention to what hand people throw with.”

  “I am a switch hitter, though,” he shrugged, joining me where I was. “Don’t want to confuse you with that one, so we can just head over and eat.”

  I had to laugh, and I picked up the glove from the ground to whack him in the arm with it. “I know what a switch hitter is.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah, it means you, uh, swing both ways, right?” I gave him a facetious smile and winked.

  He laughed so loud that almost everyone there turned a head. I laughed with him, glad to have made a witty joke.

  “I can’t believe I called you ‘choir girl’,” he told me.

  “Hey,” I shrugged. “If you’re going to make fun of my deficient baseball knowledge, you deserve that.”

  “I suppose I do. But who held your hair while you were throwing up all night?”

  “Who got to see me take my clothes off?”

  “True,” he shrugged again. “I guess we’re even. But for the record…you didn’t take everything off…”

  We kind of chuckled as we approached the food table. Everyone else had pretty much filled their plates and were spread throughout the bleachers or on the grass in the outfield. Tyse returned his equipment to his bag and then we each took a plate to sit in the grass.

  It was by accident that I had passed Darren and Benji, two of Gage’s friends, and I knew I just couldn’t pretend like I didn’t know them. I said hi and sat down a few feet from them, fully reminding myself that either one of them could inform Gage that I was there at the team barbecue with Tyse. I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong by being friends with Tyse, but deep down I still worried that Gage would have a problem with it and that it would set our relationship back even further. I didn’t know what was going on with Gage, but I loved him, and I would continue to be patient with him.

  By the end of the evening—after everyone had pitched in to clean up, and the players took care of the field—I somehow found myself in a conversation with Coach Baxter. He’d actually introduced himself by his first name and told me to call him John. He asked how Gage was doing, expressed his sympathies for his situation, and even told me that he had a lot going for him.

  “He’s a great kid,” he continued. “His work ethic, his attitude and effort… He can go far if he wants to.”

  I ended up telling him Gage’s most recent conversation with me about pursuing baseball a bit longer. He didn’t seem surprised, and even said the two of them had talked about it as well. I hadn’t realized it was something Gage was considering at that time, so I guess I was the one that was a little surprised.

  “I’ll admit I was a little worried about you,” he said, eyeing me with a smile. “Having two of my star pitchers spending their time wondering if you were going to appear at a game or not…”

  I wasn’t sure what to say, so I was glad he decided to continue.

  “You know, I’ve known Tyse for several years now,” he said, glancing across the field at him. He and a couple of guys were carrying equipment to the storage shed. “Out of all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never known him to really depend on anyone. He’s pretty self-reliant, kind of a loner. It’s understandable given the life he’s been dealt, so I realize why he is the way he is.”

  “And why is that? What’s the life he’s been dealt?”

  He studied me carefully for a moment and then sighed. “Tyse is just a special kid. It’s nice to see he’s made a friend here.” He kind of shrugged, like he didn’t know what else to say.

  “So because you just realized that I don’t know much about his background, you’re not going to divulge any information about him, right?”

  He lightly laughed. “I realize that you know certain things about him and you’ve decided to give him a chance. That means a lot to me. The other things… That’s also his story to tell, not mine.”

  A few parents stopped by and wanted to talk to John, so he politely dismissed himself. I stood there for a minute, processing what I could about the man and his opinions about Tyse. It wasn’t exactly shocking to me, and I already understood that Tyse must have had a challenging life. I’m sure that’s why I was so drawn to him—

  “Why the loner status?” he asked, breaking my thoughts. He seemed to appear out of nowhere when he nudged me in the arm at the same time.

  “Loner status?”

  He smiled and motioned that I was just standing there, all by myself. Most everyone had already left the field except for a few of the players and their friends or family in the distance.

  “Oh, uh, I was just thinking about you, actually,” I replied.

  “About me? Uh-oh, that’s probably not good.”

  “Why not?”

  He studied me for a second. “Is it?”

  “Is it what?”

  He chuckled. “Is it something good? Or are you just wishing that you hadn’t come tonight.”

  “Pssh, no I’m not thinking that. I’m glad I came. It was fun.”

  “Hmm, then can I ask you one more favor?”

  “Sure.”

  “Can I have a ride home? Uh, to Wyatt’s house I mean.”

  I gave him a curious look.

  “I sold my truck this morning, so I’m kind of without transportation.”

  “Oh uh, yeah, sure…”

  We began walking toward th
e stands for the exit and he casually asked, “So what kind of thoughts were going through your head about me?”

  I glanced at him as we walked. “I’m not sure you’d want to know.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “That bad, huh?”

  I shrugged. “I just had a few questions, and I’m assuming you wouldn’t want to answer them.”

  He slowly nodded his head. “No, probably not,” he smiled.

  I smiled too, and we walked for a few more seconds in silence. He grabbed his gear from the dugout and we headed for the parking lot.

  “But maybe I’ll let you ask one question, and maybe I’ll answer it,” he finally said.

  “One question?”

  “One.”

  I silently considered that. I wasn’t sure which one I wanted to ask more than the others. I decided to begin with, “How come you never talk about your family?”

  After a few seconds he replied, “I said maybe I’d let you ask a question; I didn’t say you could ask it.”

  I playfully slugged him in the arm. “You’re not fair.”

  “I’m not fair, huh. Well maybe you’re not fair. Maybe I kind of like not having to deal with my family up here, and now you’ve totally dredged up a part of my life I’d rather forget.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  I looked at him, horrified. “I’m- I’m really sorry, I just—”

  “Ellie, I’m kidding,” he smiled. “Well not really, but you don’t have to look so dismayed.”

  “Well I am if that’s how you feel about your family. See, that’s why it’s better to keep my thoughts to myself.”

  He chuckled as I unlocked my car. After he put his bag on the back seat, we both sat down at the same time. He looked at me and said, “My family isn’t really a pleasant topic, but if you’d like to know more about them, then I’ll tell you.”

  I took a moment to study his face that was only two feet from mine. I loved his eyes, and even though it was turning dusk, I could still see the dark blue-green color of them. I think that combination—his dark hair and teal eyes—was the most striking physical feature about him.

  “I’d like to know about your family, but I don’t want you to share anything you’re not comfortable sharing.”

  He barely shrugged one shoulder. “Let’s just say I know what you meant by feeling like a disappointment to your parents. But the difference is that your parents probably loved you anyway; my parents actually told me how much I disappointed them, every day of my life. It started with my brother and then trickled down to me. The choices that I made, whether they were what my parents wanted or not, just never made a difference. Of course it didn’t help when I got arrested,” he smirked. “That was just proof to them that I was everything they said I was. Their approval meant nothing to me at that point, though.”

  “So what’s their deal? I mean what’s their major disappointment about you?”

  He paused for a few seconds, and I wasn’t sure if he would even answer. But he did say, “I was going to go to college to play baseball—I even got a scholarship—but… Well, let’s just say trouble with the law got in the way, and the cards were no longer in my favor. They retracted the scholarship when I went to prison. Can’t really blame ‘em for that I guess, but I had a hard time with it, especially because the whole charge was just…” He sighed. “But anyway, my parents haven’t spoken to me since, so I’ve just decided to feel happy about that.”

  “So your parents didn’t even stand by you through your trial or anything? They didn’t keep in contact with you or visit or anything?”

  “Uh, I would laugh, Ellie, but I don’t want you to feel bad. But no, they didn’t support me at all.”

  I took a moment to contemplate, and it just seemed so wrong. I couldn’t imagine my parents disowning me like that, no matter what it was I did.

  “But anyway,” he continued. “That’s all in the past. I don’t have a relationship with my parents anymore, and I have nothing in common with my sister either. It’s just meant to be that way, so I’m happy being on my own without their influence.”

  “What does your dad do for a living?”

  He studied me for a few seconds before he replied, “And how many questions is that so far?”

  I smiled. “Uh, too many, I suppose. Sorry, I just want to know more about you.”

  “Hm, well everything about me is right in front of you. My background won’t change your opinion about me, will it? I mean you already know I’ve served time. That should be enough for you to steer clear of me, but you haven’t so far.”

  “Steer clear? Is that what you’re used to?”

  “Girls like you, yeah.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  He only smiled but didn’t reply. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear an answer to it anyway. I was sure it meant he was used to wild girls, maybe girls that were drawn to bad boys, but what did that say about me? I was drawn to him; I liked him. I thought he was… Well okay, he was a hot-looking guy, and I was very attracted to him. But there was something about him that completely countered his particular stereotype, and I wasn’t sure if it was just one thing or a dozen, but I liked who he was, whatever that meant.

  “Well for what it’s worth, Tyse… I’m glad we’re friends. I think you were meant to be here this summer and I think we were meant to meet each other.”

  He slightly nodded. “I agree, even though I don’t really know if I believe in fate.”

  “Really? You don’t think things happen for a reason? You even told me yourself that if I didn’t get the fill-in spot on-air that there might be something better for me instead.”

  “I believe I used the word ‘hope.’ Don’t give up hope. That’s just being optimistic.”

  “No, now you’re totally contradicting yourself. You said not getting the job might mean that there’s something better for me. If that’s not ‘everything happens for a reason,’ then I don’t know what is.”

  He smiled and slightly shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. What about karma? How does that work?”

  “Well, I could believe in karma. Everything in life is about balance, I think. You know, the whole ‘one door shuts another one opens’ saying.”

  “So what’s the difference between fate and karma?”

  “What do I look like, an expert?”

  He shrugged again. “Probably more so than me.”

  “Well, I guess fate is something that happens no matter what; karma’s supposed to be based on what we dish out to the world. If you do something good, it’s gonna come back to you. And obviously it works on the opposite end. If you’re a mean and malicious person, it’s gonna come back to you one way or another.”

  “Mm, I don’t know. My dad sure doesn’t seem to take any hits in life, so I would otherwise agree with you on that one. He does whatever the hell he wants and faces no consequences from his actions.”

  “That you know of. How do you know what his challenges are? Most of the time we don’t realize what people are struggling with.”

  He shook his head with a defiant smirk but didn’t reply. I guess it probably wasn’t a question I should have asked him based on his disassociation with his dad.

  “I’m sorry, Tyse. I’m not trying to defend him or anything, I just… I don’t know. Sorry.”

  He took in a breath of air and let it out. “It’s fine. I don’t really expect you to understand.”

  I studied him closely, feeling kind of hurt by that assumption. “I’m sorry you feel that way. I could probably understand if you were a little more open about your life.”

  “I didn’t mean it as an insult to you, Ellie. I just meant it in general.”

  “Well maybe you should try opening up to me. Or at least someone. You have friends you can talk to, or other family members or something?”

  He didn’t reply.

  “What about Nate? Is he that kind of friend? You said that he’s helped you out and stuff. Does he know you well?”

>   “Yeah, he does. But he kind of has that ‘screw the rest of the world’ mentality. Even though he’s supportive of me, it really doesn’t do much for me because I question a lot of things. Nate doesn’t really think about anything beyond the day he’s living, you know? And I’m not some mental case, Ellie,” he chuckled. “I don’t have a bunch of ‘issues’ that I need to work through or anything.”

  We were both quiet for a few seconds and I took the opportunity to start my car. I kind of liked just sitting there talking to Tyse, but I figured he might want to get back to Wyatt’s house. Especially since he’d be leaving the next day. I was sure he still had things to do before he left.

  “So now is it my turn?” he asked as I pulled out of the parking lot.

  “Your turn for what?”

  “To ask questions.”

  I laughed. “Uh, I’m afraid you already know a lot more about me than I’m aware of. Who knows what deep, dark secrets I divulged the other night.”

  “Oh, quite a lot. So many I can’t even remember them all. Why don’t you refresh my memory? What big secrets do you have again?”

  With a smile I said, “Well that depends on how long I want to keep you around as a friend. If I choose to keep you, I’ll hold off on the soul bearing. If you’d like to jump ship now, I’ll eenie-meenie-miney-mo which one I unleash.”

  “Oh brother. If you’ve seriously got that many dark secrets then I’d really like to hear one. It might be nice to know you’re mortal.”

  “Ha, after Friday night? There’s your proof right there.”

  “Okay, besides a little lapse of judgment, I really don’t think you’ve got it in you to have any sort of bad secret.”

  “Well we all have a bit of shame under our belts. I don’t know what’s considered bad…”

  “Hmm, I doubt you could tell me anything that would be shocking, so we’ll just leave your little faults, blunders, and slip ups to unveil themselves in their own time. But I think I have earned the right to a question…”

  I shrugged. “Okay. But if I don’t answer it I don’t answer it.”