Page 3 of The Perfect Hit

Glancing down at my ancient phone, I wished I’d remembered the charger while hurrying out Friday morning. I’d turned it off Friday night with a bar of charge left, knowing I’d need it to get picked up when we got home. My mom’s car had died, and they needed my truck to shuttle my other brothers around while I was gone.

Not that many people would’ve contacted me since all my baseball friends were with me, but it would’ve been fun to text Hazel back and forth at night. It wouldn’t have changed our relationship, but a guy could hope.

Nate shifted in his seat to my left, and I glanced over to find the look on his face neutral. He was staring at his phone like it was a lifeline. I wasn't sure what that meant, but I hoped everything was okay.

“Good news or bad news?” I asked.

“It’s good,” Nate said, breathing out a sigh of relief. “Brynn said she’s been hanging out with Hazel this weekend. And that she’s sick of show tunes.”

The mention of Hazel made me laugh. She and Brynn were cousins, and even though they were nearly black and white as far as the differences of their personalities, they had a lot of fun together.

My phone, a hand-me-down flip phone, finally turned on. The only problem was, I had to wait for the messages to upload to it.

A few seconds later, a text sound buzzed and then several in a row, and as I glanced down, I couldn't help but smile. Most of the fifty-four text messages were from Hazel, probably giving me a play-by-play of her day, or even her worries over the play the theater teacher had assigned her to write after Christmas break. We’d spent a lot of time together while she tweaked the original story from her English class into a stage play, me usually there for emotional support as she freaked out every few minutes, but she’d turned in the final draft to Mrs. Sanderson at the beginning of last week.

A text from my mom caught my eye.I hope you had fun. Call me as soon as you get this.

My mom wasn't usually so cryptic. The fact that she hadn't said anything more made my nerves and brain go haywire. Had something happened to my family? My brothers had broken arms and legs before, but that didn’t usually signal a text message like that.

I dialed her number, tapping my leg with my hand as a way to distract myself somewhat.

“Hey, Colt,” my Dad's voice said over the line, his voice deeper than usual. “You on your way home?”

“I'm less than thirty minutes out. What's wrong? Is everything okay?”

“Hmmm, have Nate bring you over to the hospital. Grandpa Ken fell this morning, and we just got him here. The doctors should be coming in any minute with the results from his X-rays.”

“Is he okay?” I knew enough to know that when an older person fell, it was usually not a good thing because they didn’t heal as well. I turned toward the window and tried to muffle my voice, not wanting any extra commentary or questions from the guys after I got off the phone call.

“They haven't said much, but your mom has been there every step of the way,” my dad said, his voice hitching on the last word. My mom had given up her studies to become a nurse when my oldest brother, Sterling, was born. She’d always mentioned how she wanted to go back and finish, and she was finally taking the plunge at the beginning of the next school year, twelve years after my youngest brother was born. “They just said they're running some tests and will see with time what will happen.”

I blew out a long breath, hoping everything would turn out all right. Grandpa Ken understood way more than we all gave him credit for, and he was the one I turned to when I was having a hard time. He had a joke for everything, and a lot of great stories. I could sit for hours and listen to his voice weaving tales and explaining everything about the wars he’d had to take part in.

As if knowing my worries were skyrocketing, my dad said, “He’ll be okay, son. It’s probably just a break, and then he’ll need a few weeks of physical therapy. How was the camp?”

“Good, really good,” I said, trying to make my voice sound upbeat.

Shuffling muffled the line on the other end, and then a voice I couldn’t hear clearly spoke. “The doctor is here, Colt. I'll see you in a little bit.”

My dad said goodbye before he hung up, and I sat staring at my phone, the logo of the phone company coming up as the battery died. Of all times to die, at least I knew where my family was.

The downside was that if they found out anything major, they’d have to wait until I got there to tell me. I just hoped they didn’t find something more severe, like internal bleeding or cancer.

2

Hazel

Sleepovers were fun and all, but there was something about needing my own bed at the end of it mixed with the exhaustion from staying up all hours that made me ready to head home. Then again, this had been an extended sleepover, and I was all caught up on the sports movies I’d never seen. I pictured the lineup of musicals and plays displayed on my shelf at home. I’d have to turn one on once I got home.

I finished picking up all my stuff from all over Brynn’s house. With her mother gone and her brother and boyfriend at baseball camp, I knew she needed someone to lean on. It had actually been the best way to spend the last couple of days, allowing me to decompress after the edits to the play I’d had to fix most of yesterday.

“Let’s go do something,” Brynn said, coming out of her bathroom in something other than sweats. The girl could rock the casual-athlete look, but when she got dressed up, she could pass for a model. It was the Miller genes. I was a Miller too, but the tall genetics passed me up completely.

“That sounds great. I need to grab a few things from the store for Colt.” He was coming home today, and I was still missing some of the things to put in a little bag I’d planned to give him.

With a shake of her head, I already knew what my cousin was going to say. “He’s been gone for two and a half days and you’re giving him a present? Should I be giving Nate a gift? Or are you planning to ask Colt to be your girlfriend by showering him with gifts?”

I focused on folding my clothes, even though I was just going to throw them into the laundry basket once I got home. “No, we’re friends, and you know I love giving gifts. I’m pretty sure if I took one of those love-language tests, it would confirm it. And isn’t it awesome to come back and find something fun?”

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