Page 31 of The Perfect Hit

She was good. Leaving breadcrumbs to show she was looking out for him and then dismissing the conversation for tomorrow. I’d have to keep watching out for her. Not that I wanted to hurt her or anything. She was one of the sweetest people I knew from drama, where, back at my high school in Buffalo, things could be cutthroat to get the right position or part in the production.

I had so much on my plate that I didn’t have time to start worrying about Colt dating someone. I just hoped that no matter who he liked, we’d still have moments like this together.

19

Colt

Ben’s assessment of my ankle was correct, and I was back at practice after an extra day of rest. The small training room at our school wasn’t super decked out with all the fancy gadgets, but the trainer had taped my ankle before practice, allowing me to move with freedom, and I didn’t worry about reinjuring it.

It had been nice to have Hazel around for that first night, but she seemed stiff, like something was off, and I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. With Marcy texting me over and over, I was just ready for bed. I’d turned the phone to silent at one point, not wanting to hear the buzz with every conversation, even when she kept “forgetting she had to ask” about one thing or another. I just hoped Hazel hadn’t seen the texts. They were all innocent, but it would only hurt my future chances with her.

My parents got home around nine that evening, and after telling him what happened, my dad accidentally slapped my foot, sending sharp jabs of pain up into my calf.

But now I was back at practice, feeling the rising panic that it was going to go over and I’d be late to play rehearsal.

“Let’s put you into groups and get into a rotation. We’re going to imitate something the softball team does; just don’t tell anyone we’re doing it,” Coach Maddox said, a slight smile on his face. He pointed right at Jake, who raised his hands in the air.

“No problem, Coach. Penny doesn’t need to know.” The rest of us chuckled at the look of feigned panic on his face.

“As much as baseball is a great sport, I think having you all work instead of spending the entire practice shagging balls might help us get that edge when it comes to the end of the season. We’ll still have a ball shagging station, but then we’ll have you working on other aspects of hitting while the group up for the bullpen is going. Might as well go for quantity if possible.”

After we all got paired up, I was in the group with Logan, John Miller, and Adam Taylor. I was right when I’d figured I couldn’t get away from the guy.

We were sent out to the section to hit off the tee. Logan and John paired up on the first tee pretty quickly, leaving me with Adam.

I put a ball on the tee, allowing him to go first. It was kind of awkward for the first few minutes, as Logan and John were chatting in between hits.

I wracked my brain for some kind of topic I could ask Adam about. But I felt like we’d covered a lot the first time we’d spoken, and the competitive side of me wanted to keep him at arm’s length, worried he’d somehow swoop in and take my spot.

“Have you lived here for a long time?” Adam finally asked. He swung, his form nearly perfect, and the ball was a line drive off the tee and into the fence at the other end.

“Um, yeah,” I said, surprised he was making conversation. “I grew up on the other side of town. We moved to the house I’m in now about ten years ago. So I guess I was only at the other house until I was seven.”

“That would be nice. I’ve moved twelve times in my life.”

My mouth dropped open. “Twelve times? How is that even possible? Do you just keep your stuff packed?”

He shook his head and laughed. “No, but my mother has threatened to a few times. My dad does a lot of consulting work, and he’s changed agencies a few times.”

That blew my mind. Maybe it was because I was so used to living in the same place, but that was a lot of moving, and a lot of getting to know people. From his first question to kind of break the ice, he must be good at that part.

“So do you have to move again? How does that all work?”

He shook his head. “My mom made him promise I could stay until I graduated at least.”

“What about siblings?”

He shook his head. “I don’t have any. When I was born, I guess it was pretty complicated and my mother almost died. So they decided to be happy with just me.”

I laughed. “I have three brothers, and to me the sound of being the only child is like the crack of a bat hitting a homer out of the park.”

Adam nodded. “Yeah, it has its perks. But there are a lot of lonely days when it would’ve been nice to have someone else around. Especially every time we had to move. Then I would’ve had at least one or two friends with me all the time.”

I chewed on that for the last two balls and then picked up the bat, getting ready. How would that have been? Yeah, my brothers were good at constantly fighting, but at least we had some moments where we all got along.

I took a few cuts, loosening my arms, and stepped up to the plate. It felt good to swing the bat again, even though it had only been two days. Focusing on the ball, I drove the white cowhide down to the end of the batting cage.

“You’ve got a great swing,” Adam said, adding the ball to the tee.

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