“Thank you for coming out tonight and sharing my special day with me.”
She talked for a few minutes while I scanned the crowd. Tami and Harper were in the audience, as were Beth and Suzanne. Then I saw my family in the back. Mom looked happy and had some of her color back. I continued scanning the crowd and saw our JV baseball team. They had kept this a surprise for me. Even Moose was in the crowd.
“Dad roasted a hog,” Eve announced.
That caught my attention.
“If it’s okay with you all, I’ll sing a few songs while you eat. And then I’ll sing my new song.”
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Eve started out with Miranda Lambert’s The House That Built Me. Angel said I could go eat, as Eve was doing a thirty-minute set.
I went to the buffet, filled a plate, and found where my family was sitting. Kyle was fussing, so Angie handed him to me as I ate. I bounced him on my knee. Greg and Angie joined several couples dancing.
After I cleaned my plate, I took Kyle onto the dance floor. We had turned my room into a dance floor on many nights, and he loved to dance with his Uncle David. Harper came out to dance with me.
“Who’s your cute dance partner?” she asked me.
“This is my nephew Kyle. He’s a big fan of dancing.”
He reached for her, so I handed him over. She had a look that said she wasn’t sure what to do. Kyle reached out and grabbed her breast. The little twerp beat me to them! She gave me a look, and I just busted out laughing. Kyle thought it was funny that his Uncle David was laughing and giggled. Angie saw what was going on and rescued Harper. The next song was a slow one. Eve did a cover of How Do I Live Without You.
Halfway through the song, Angel caught my eye, so I excused myself and headed backstage. When the song ended, Eve asked me to join her.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce my very good friend, David Dawson.”
I walked out on stage and waved.
“I told David that he had to go with the flow tonight. Like a good boyfriend, he didn’t take off when he saw the crowd. A good friend told me that once I got him on stage, he wasn’t going anywhere. David just pretends to be shy.”
As she said that, the screen behind us started showing pictures of me modeling. The crowd laughed at some of my goofier shots. Then I saw Tami’s hand in this: there were pictures of me when I was younger.
“Well, David’s a special guy. I have to admit I’ve had a crush on him for a long time. So I wrote this little song. After he heard it, he asked me out and made me the happiest girl alive. It’s called Hometown Hero. I hope you enjoy it.”
While Eve sang the song they showed video of me playing football. Every once in a while, Eve would look over at me and smile. I could tell she was enjoying every second of her night. I was just happy to be a part of it. I do think, though, that if this were my first time hearing the song, the video would have freaked me out. It also helped that we were dating. Otherwise it would have had a stalker vibe.
She got a standing ovation when she was done. That song was going to be a hit, if their reaction was any indication.
We did a press conference for the local guys. Everything went off without a hitch. I met several of Eve’s relatives. They seemed nice. Not long after that, my mom looked to be dragging. I told Eve I needed to get going and my parents took me home. Overall, the evening was a success.
Wednesday March 19
THE CAMOUFLAGE T-SHIRTS were a big hit. The only people pissed were next year’s seniors who were working out with Brad. I’d anticipated that, and had Sandy make up t-shirts that said ‘Varsity.’ I didn’t want to be the one who ruined the team chemistry for next year. They went and changed. They couldn’t help being ass-hats as they declared that they were the real deal.
You could tell that they did seem to be bulking up. It sure seemed that whatever Brad had them doing was working. If I could stand to be around them, I might want to work out with them. But they made my skin crawl. I also knew if I spent any time alone with Tommy Cox, I’d kick his ass.
OUR NEXT GAME WAS AWAY and everyone looked good in the new uniforms. As captain, I had a ‘C’ on my left sleeve. Across the front was the word ‘Bulldogs,’ and your number was on the left side under the bulldog. Each sleeve had the logo of our bulldog mascot mauling a baseball. On the back was your number. I’d drawn number 2. My favorite pro player was Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies, who wore that number.
I was disappointed when Coach announced that Trevor was getting the start at shortstop. In fact, all the new guys who used to be on varsity were starting. Coach Haskins said he wanted to see all of them in a game situation. I really wanted to play tonight because we were playing Wesleyan. The good news was that Eve was on the bench with me. We were making eyes at each other, so Coach Hope told us we weren’t allowed to sit next to each other.
Wesleyan had a good team. It was obvious that having an indoor facility really helped them. Mike got a shot to start at pitcher. He was good at hitting the corners. The good news was that tonight’s umpire had expanded the strike zone so Mike was getting the benefit of the doubt on a lot of calls.
Wesleyan was up 1–0 in the bottom of the fifth when Mike reached his pitch count; you could see he was getting tired. Coach had me warm up. My ribs felt a lot better and I could tell I had more pop on the ball when I threw it. Mike survived the fifth by getting their catcher to hit into a 6-4-3 (shortstop-second base-first base) double play.
Mike was up first in our half of the sixth inning. He’d had a hot bat in practice, so Coach let him stay in. Mike responded by hitting our first homer of the season. I inherited a tie game going into the bottom of the sixth inning.
From the start, I was throwing harder than I had been. I struck out the first two batters I faced. The third one hit a tremendous shot that went just foul. I was watching it leave the county when Tim came out and handed me a ball.
“Shit, Cap, he hit the heck out that one. How about you just strike him out so we don’t have a repeat of that?”
Tim thought he had a future in comedy.
If my next pitch was a repeat, and he straightened it out, we were in trouble. I hadn’t thrown my changeup yet, so I figured this was a good spot. It fooled him big-time. Tim jumped up and rolled the ball to the mound and we were out of the inning. We had another first milestone for the season: I was the first to strike out the side.
Jim hit a double in our half of the seventh to score Bill from first to give us the lead. In the bottom half, I faced the meat of their order. Their leadoff guy was their center fielder and had some serious speed. He had run down a couple of sure doubles. On the third pitch, I tried the changeup to strike him out. He was waiting for it and laid down a perfect bunt to get on base.
The next batter was their first baseman. He’d hit a towering shot earlier in the game. I got set in the stretch, and Tim called for a fastball, high and inside. He wanted to back their batter off the plate. I put my chin on my shoulder so I could see where the runner was. He had crept out to a large lead. I eased the ball to the end of my glove and made my move to first. The throw just beat him back. He got up and just shook his head at me because he didn’t expect me to have that kind of move.
The next pitch was a towering shot almost straight up. Jake camped out under it at third and we had our second out. Wesleyan’s next player fouled off four straight pitches. He was working hard to make contact. The next pitch Tim called a fastball right down the middle. He wanted me to blow it by the kid. I threw the fastest pitch of the day and the kid hit a screaming line drive right at me. It was pure self-defense as I put my glove up. The ball bounced off it and went right to our second baseman for the final out.