I walked out with Dana on my arm. She was also involved in theater, so we chose her to be the female lead. She was looking at me as if she adored me. We sat down and I reached across and held her hand.
“Oh, David, I have a little surprise for you. You know how couples have a special song? I found the perfect song for us. Look at E7.”
I flipped the pages, ran my finger down the front of the jukebox, stopped when I found it and smiled at her.
“Is this the one?” I asked.
“Yes, play it for me while we dance. Our new song is Loving My Cowboy.”
I acted like I was putting money in the jukebox and making the selection. I took her hand and we stepped to the center of the stage. The lights dimmed and a spotlight hit us as I took her into my arms. In the background, they had pulled away our table and chairs so there would be room to dance.
We started to dance, a spotlight hit Eve, and everyone clapped. She smiled at them until the audience quieted down. Then she started to play. The lights on the rest of the stage came up and we began our dance routine. Each girl got a few moments to show off her skills. Several had me as their dance partner. There was some simple two-stepping, but also some more complex steps. It sounds disjointed, but they had all been dancing together for years and pulled it together. When we got near the end, we all joined up for a line dance.
For the last few bars of music, they dimmed the lights and there was only a single spot on Eve. Dana and I walked across the stage, timing the end of her song to step into the spot with Eve. Dana and I looked into each other’s eyes as the lights went black. The audience was on their feet, clapping. They brought the lights back up and we lined up to bow.
Eve, Dana and I were in the center as the dance team came forward and, once we all bowed, Eve pulled Dana and me forward and the three of us bowed again. The crowd was clamoring for an encore. Eve hung onto my hand so I wouldn’t leave her side as the dance troupe exited the stage. A big screen came down and they wheeled out a drum set and speakers for guitars. Then Eve’s Nashville band came out.
“I asked some friends to help me out. This song is currently on iTunes. I hope you enjoy Hometown Hero.” I grinned as the band kicked in and Eve sang. They played the video they’d shown at her launch party. When the song ended, Eve thanked everybody and we got off the stage.
We won, of course. The only downside was that it was a school night. Eve had that look in her eye, and I was disappointed we couldn’t do a follow-up. We made plans for Friday night for just the two of us.
Friday May 2
OUR LAST BASEBALL GAME was tonight. The JV had had a good baseball season this year with a record of 11 and 6. We were playing Mt. Vernon, who only had a varsity team. Moose had combined our teams for the last game. Tonight was all about the seniors who were playing their last high school baseball game. The varsity had had a rough year, especially after they lost so many players at Brad’s party. They were 5 and 12 for the season.
My season had been up and down. After the perfect game, I had gotten rocked the next time out pitching. After that game, I had a little tenderness in my elbow, so I hadn’t pitched since. Moose wasn’t planning on playing any of the JV but had let us dress as a reward for playing hard all year.
The varsity was down 4–6 in the bottom of the fifth when I saw Magic pull Moose aside to have a word. He was the varsity’s captain, and he really wanted to win this last game. We were bringing up the tail end of the order. Moose looked down the bench, then talked to Coach Haskins, and then made a decision.
“Eve, you’re up; and Wolf, I want you on deck.”
They both had hot bats, so I wasn’t surprised he called them up.
“Justin, David, go to the bullpen and warm up.”
We would give him options since Justin was a lefty. Justin and I stretched each other out as I kept an eye on Eve. She was working their pitcher over. She had fouled off four straight pitches. She slapped a bloop tweener between short and left field. Both fielders were sprinting to make the play so Eve ran through the hold sign at first just as both of them flinched away from the ball to avoid colliding.
Eve had a stand-up double and Coach Haskins was yelling encouragement from the bench. He’d taught us to be much more aggressive on the base paths than the varsity. Wolf came up and took a massive cut at the first pitch. Everyone on their team took several steps back. Of course, on the next pitch, Wolf laid down a nice bunt that caught even me by surprise. Coach had never before asked him to bunt because he’d hit 14 home runs this year. He just beat out the tag.
Justin and I were now up throwing pitches and trying to watch what was going on. Jeff was now up with Eve at third and Wolf on first. On the first pitch, he hit a screamer to short. I was surprised when the shortstop didn’t even look at Eve. She was off like a shot when Mt. Vernon turned the double play, conceding the run. We were now down 6–5, and that’s how the inning ended.
Moose called for Justin to come in for the top of the sixth. Coach Herndon trotted out to watch me warm up.
“How does the arm feel?” he asked me.
“I’m a little rusty, but I feel good. If you need me, I can go,” I told him.
He watched for a while, and then went back to talk to Moose. Justin got himself into a jam because he was trying to be too precise, which caused him to walk the first two batters. Moose went out to talk to him and he seemed to settle down. Mt. Vernon bailed him out by hitting into a double play. He struck out the next guy, leaving a runner on third.
Their pitcher was getting tired, but he was a real gamer and had battled us. He clipped the first batter, putting him on first. Magic was up next. The Mt. Vernon coach had seen enough and brought in their closer. He was rumored to be a mid-round selection in this year’s draft. He had a heck of a fastball, which gave him the luxury of choosing between playing in the minors or playing college ball.
Magic dug in to battle their kid. He was throwing smoke and would just dare Magic to hit his fastball. Magic was a three-year starter, and if it weren’t for football, he’d be getting a hard look from some of the local colleges.
The first pitch was intended to blow Magic away. He got his bat on it and slapped the ball over their first baseman’s head. It rolled into the corner where it got lost for a moment. When their right fielder finally dug it out, our lead runner was rounding third and Magic was halfway to second. The right fielder had a cannon for an arm. He put the ball on a rope to home. We were lucky it wasn’t on the line or he would have gunned down our runner. We were now tied 6–6.
Moose sent Mike in because he was a contact hitter. Mike squared up like he was going to bunt. Their pitcher threw three straight fastballs that were high. Mike was able to lay off them and ran the count to 3–0. I think Mt. Vernon figured that Mike was going to take the next pitch and you could see them relax. Their pitcher took a little off the next pitch and put it right down the middle. Mike got all of it and put it over the fence in dead center. We were now up 8–6, and that was how the inning ended.
Justin started the next inning the same way. There were soon runners at first and second with no outs. Moose came out and motioned me in. I found Moose grinning at me as I took the mound.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“I was just thinking how I wanted to cut you at the beginning of the year, and here you are pitching in the final game.”
“I see your point,” I said, smiling at him.
“Look, this is it. I know you’ve been holding back all year. I want you to give it your all.”