I leaned back on my pillows. “Yeah, and I bet having his daughter in the hospital overnight will give him a boost. I can only imagine what he’s telling the reporters,” I grumbled.
Grandma put the cup down and sat on the bed next to me. “His statement was ‘no comment.’”
“Really?” Somehow I didn’t believe that as possible.
“Yes. He’s told them your condition and that you’ll be fine, but he’s asked that they respect the family’s privacy in this matter.”
“No ‘women’s rights’? No ‘bullies need to be punished’? No big grand speech?”
“None.” She patted my arm. “Do you want me to get your parents?”
I thought of Daniel. That was who I wanted to see, but he wasn’t here. “Do you know if we won the game?”
Grandma smiled and sat straighter. “Ian struck out the side in the bottom of the eleventh. You won.”
“Are they … did anyone …” I fought back the tears that threatened. “Have you seen any of them?”
“Not since we left the field. Charles stayed back to watch the end. I knew you would ask what happened.” She stood and stretched her arms over her head. “But I haven’t seen them here. Your father insisted on tight security, so they may have come. And only family was allowed in the ER. I’m sure he wants to see you.”
I looked away from her, aware for the first time that I was in a private room and not an ER bed. Still, it wasn’t much to look at. “What time is it?”
“Around nine-thirty.”
They would be celebrating at Hansen’s now. Without me.
“The Perdays came by –”
“I hope Dad punched Erik.”
She chuckled. “I’m sure the thought crossed his mind. Erik wasn’t with them. Your mother screamed at them, but your father accepted their apologies. They didn’t think Erik was capable of anything like that. And you two used to be such good friends.”
Erik was the last person on my mind. “Should I call Daniel?”
She handed me my cell.
It rang.
And rang.
And rang.
I hung up.
“Would you like something to eat?” Grandma asked as she took the phone from me.
“Yeah, I guess. I am kind of hungry.”
“I’ll go downstairs for something. Will you be okay?”
I nodded and turned on the TV. There wasn’t anything on, but it kept me distracted from the pain that crept into my back as the drugs wore off. From the lack of concern from my team. From the fact that I wasn’t there to celebrate after we won. The 1950s sitcom I settled on kept my mind from thinking too much.
A soft knock at the door drew me out of my self-imposed TV coma. Just when Ricky was about to yell at Lucy for doing the same stuff she always does. I looked over as it opened, but couldn’t tell who it was. Then he walked into the light of the TV.
“Mind if I come in?” Daniel asked. He had a small tan teddy bear in his hand.
Tears spilled as I nodded. I never thought I’d be this happy to see anyone as I was at that moment.
He hurried over and sat on the edge of my bed. “Hey, don’t cry, Vic. There’s no –”
“I didn’t think you were coming,” I sobbed, wiping my eyes with the sheet. “I didn’t think –“
“I’ve been here since the game ended. They wouldn’t let me see you. It didn’t matter how much I screamed.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “We’ve all been here.”
“All of you?”
“All of us. We got tired of the waiting room. And some of the guys got hungry so we found the cafeteria. That’s where we ran into your grandma.” He glanced over his shoulder toward the closed door. “Adam’s in the hall. Can he come in?”
One by one, my teammates came in to see me. They each told me they were glad I was okay. They told me how the game ended, which varied a little depending on who said it. They told me about the big party tomorrow night at Hansen’s. Jayden was the last player to come in.
“Hey, Dan, split for a minute, alright?” Jayden said in his deep bass voice.
Daniel’s face screwed up in confusion, but he left without arguing.
Jayden looked me in the eye. “I’ve given you a lot of guff for playing ball. I’m sure you’ve heard most of it. And I talked to that dick reporter even after you asked us not to.” He jammed his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders. “So, I’m sorry about that. Okay?”
I knew it took a lot for Jayden to admit he was wrong. “Yeah, okay.”
“And you play good. Even for a girl.” He smiled and looked at the floor. I think he was blushing. “You going to be okay or what?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I tugged at the sheet. “Once I get my parents off my back.”
He laughed. It was the first time I’d ever heard that from him. I didn’t think he had a sense of humor.
“So, are you going to make it to Hansen’s tomorrow?” he asked.
“I hope so.”
There was no way I was going to miss that.
THE POST GAME
I left the hospital Monday morning with my ribs wrapped so tight it felt like I had on a Victorian corset. Mom and Dad wanted to hole me up at their house, but I begged to go to Grandma’s. They didn’t fight, which was the first sign that something was up.
Plus, we still needed to discuss my desire to change my address on a permanent basis. That was another argument that could wait for another time.
When we got to Grandma’s house, Daniel was there with his mom and dad. My parents were polite, thankfully. Mom went so far as to tell Mrs. Cho that Daniel would make a great doctor someday. After they all left, I took over the couch.
Daniel stayed behind. After twenty minutes and the best foot massage I ever had, I broke the silence.
“Are we … good?” I didn’t know how else to put it.
He took a few minutes to answer. “If you want me, yeah. If you don’t, I can’t blame you.” His hands covered mine. “I know what Mom told you. They did ask me to stop seeing you, but … It was stupid. I shouldn’t have … Victoria, breaking up with you was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.” He kissed the palms of my hands. “Forgive me?”
I closed my eyes, hoping that when I opened them he would still be there. When I did, I fought back a grin. “This time.”
Grandma insisted I eat chicken noodle soup even though it was ninety degrees outside. I slept off and on throughout the day. Around six, Daniel woke me up to get ready for the party.
Daniel helped me into the passenger side of my car, giddy about driving until I reminded him why he had to.
Everyone else was already there when we got to the second floor of Hansen’s. Daniel held my waist as I navigated the stairs. The guys smiled and waved. I was winded by the time Daniel lowered me into a chair. Coach stood up and made his way behind a makeshift podium.
“Alrigh’, settle down. Let’s get this started,” he growled. He yanked a sheet off the table behind him and uncovered the individual trophies we’d won. “Now, y’all are gettin’ one of these, but we got some player awards to hand out. It comes as no surprise to any of you that two of the awards go to Jayden. He had the highest batting average for one. And, as y’all voted last week, he’s team MVP.”
Jayden walked up and took the two plaques Coach handed him. We clapped. He totally deserved it.
“This is cool,” I whispered to Daniel. When I started the season, I’d never expected an awards banquet.
“Coach Strauss is the only guy in our district to do it,” Adam whispered across the table.
“Now, this is the first time for this next one since it’s the first year we’ve been in the championship game, and the first time we’d made the playoffs. But the league votes on a championship game MVP. The players from all the playoff teams vote I mean. Since we won, they had to choose one player from our team. And,” he pulled a small trophy from underneath the podium, “the winner gets this. Now, I doubt thi
s comes as a surprise either. Winner’s Jayden.”
Like there was any doubt.
“Damn, Jay, save some awards for the rest of us,” Reggie shouted from the back.
Jayden flipped him off and we laughed. It hurt, but it felt good too.
“Let’s eat,” Calvin added, sticking his nose in the air to sniff the food.
“Not so fast.” Coach stuck his chest out a little more. “We got something else. Daniel, help that girl up here.”
Daniel put his hands under my elbow and pulled me from my seat. What in the world was happening? I didn’t deserve anything. I put my hand on the podium to steady myself as Daniel abandoned me for his seat.
“Vic, I knew you was something special that first day you smacked the ball off Delvin at practice.” He put his hand on my shoulder and grinned. “When you started showing up in the paper, my wife saved the articles. I know it ain’t how you want to remember playing this year, but you might look back on all this with a smile when you end up as ancient as I am.”
He handed me a leather-bound scrapbook filled with the newspaper clippings from the entire season, even the box scores when nobody knew who Hudson was. There were clippings from other papers and a couple of articles from the internet. I wiped away the tears.
“That’s everything local up through yesterday’s papers.”
I hugged him. It hurt like hell, but I hugged him. Coach patted my shoulder and handed me my championship trophy. He smiled wider than I’d ever seen him smile before.
“We’re glad you played with us this year, Vic,” Coach Strauss said with a gleam in his eye.
“Yeah, me too.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lynn Stevens flunked out of college writing her first novel. Yes, she still has it and no, you can't read it. Surprisingly, she graduated with honors at her third school. A former farm girl turned city slicker turned suburbanite, Lynn lives in the Midwest where she drinks coffee and sips tea when she's out of coffee.
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