Page 95 of Home Run

“Well, he did. It was long before we got together, when we met at college. He’d follow me around acting like an idiot, behaving like a jock, expecting me to fall for him, but all I wanted to do was hang with my friends and have fun. He really was such an idiot.”

I felt myself frowning, because beyond terrible dad jokes, that wasn’t the father I knew. “Wasn’t Daddy on the football team? He always said his touchdowns were what won you over.”

“He liked to tell you stories before he left on assignment.” She laughed, taking a seat next to me. “He was on the football team, but only for a semester. And he only joined to impress me, but then he learned I wasn’t easily impressed. You’re a lot like me in that way.”

“So what changed?”

“I guessIdid. I realized he wasn’t going to stop, so I agreed to one date. To shut him up?—”

“Wait,that’swhy you went on a date with him?”

I’d heard this story so many times, or at least I thought I had—my parents’ first date that never ended. It was a story my dad loved to tell, it was one I loved to hear because he always said it felt like they were still on it.

I’d thought it was so romantic. But maybe it wasn’t.

“Yup, that’s why,” she replied. “I’d had all these preconceived notions about him, and I was so convinced that the date would last less than an hour, I made other plans.”

“When did you know you were wrong?”

“About ten minutes in,” she replied as a smile pulled the edges of her mouth, growing into a grin. “He picked me up in his battered old Jeep, held the door open for me, and when we got to the coffee shop, he parked, jumped out, and ran around to open my door again.”

I could feel my heart sinking slowly, any glimmer of hope that I could relate to this story died, and I refrained from huffing out the heavy sigh. “You fell in love with him because he was sweet to you.”

Pushing from her chair, she stood up and took a deep breath.

“To answer your first question, I knew I’d fallen in love with him when I realized he’d become the first person I wanted to see when I woke up, the first person I wanted to talk to, the last person I wanted to say goodnight to. I fell in love with him because he was sweet, yes, and also because he made me laugh, because we had things in common, and because he was the kindest man I’d ever met.” Bending down, she pushed my hair away from my face and cupped my cheeks. “But most importantly, I fell in love with him because I gave him a chance.”

Her underlying point couldn’t have been louder if she’d shouted it from the rooftops.

The only question was whether my heart was listening.

“How much force do you think Jupiter Reeves hits with?”

“I read somewhere it was around one hundred and five miles per hour.”

“Radley, how ’bout Lux. He hits harder than Reeves, right?” Matty asked, though he didn’t bother turning around. His eyes stayed glued to the screen, where Jupiter Reeves was passing second base after hitting the ball out into the left-side bleachers. The camera zoomed in on the fans scrambling to catch it.

“Yeah, he’s got the record for the farthest ball at the Lions. I think it was around one hundred and nineteen miles per hour, it was earlier this season. He got a little trophy for it.” You could hear the pride in her voice as she replied.

“They’re gonna win in three games. They’re going through to the championship,” announced Josh with all the confidence of someone who’d very recently jumped onto the New York Lions winning bandwagon, having callously ditched his previous team.

However, it did appear that Josh, plus everyone else in here all cheering for the Lions —my mom, Doug, Radley, Matty, and a couple of my brothers’ friends—was correct.

We were bottom of the seventh, currently three runs to two, or ratherfourruns after Jupiter’s mammoth hit,although the game had been much closer than it appeared. We only had two more innings to hang on for.

Running back into the dugout, I could see Tanner head down with Lux, having what appeared to be a serious discussion. Even under the peak of his ball cap I could see his face furrowed as he concentrated on what Lux was saying.

The Nats were playing much stronger tonight than they had the past two games, but the Lions seemed to have been prepared for it, because their fielding and defensive play was the best I’d seen in a long time. Tanner particularly was having an awesome game—making some seemingly impossible catches, and precision accuracy in his bullet-like throws.

Several times I’d had to get up and leave the room because I’d been too anxious to watch. I’d already demolished two bowls of popcorn in the hope of calming my nerves.

“Ohmigod,ohmigod.”Radley threw her arms around my shoulders and shook me hard as Boomer Jones took the plate next and made it to second on his first swing. “They’re gonna win,they’re gonna win.”

Like me, she was wearing her Lions shirt over a sweater, withweston 40printed on the back, though mine hadsimpson 2. My brothers were also wearing Tanner’s shirt, having bought two at the game last night. Even Doug was wearing the black Lions shirt, something Radley only seemed to notice as he walked back into the den with more beers for everyone.

“Doug! You’re aPhilliesfan!” Radley gasped, shaking her head. “What’s happened? Is this because of Tanner?”

It was well known that Radley and her family, especially the President, were Phillies fans. Her brothers hadn’t been as easily swayed as mine clearly were when she started dating Lux, and Radley still supported the Phillies if the Lions weren’t playing.

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