I gave him an even bigger smile.
“You got it,” I said, taking the baseball.
I decided to set the tone and uncorked the hardest ball I’d thrown all year. Unfortunately, my aim was off, and I hit the batter right in the middle of his back. It sounded like I had thrown it into a bag of wet cement. He dropped to the ground and I apologized like crazy.
Fortunately, everyone realized that there was no way I was headhunting in this situation. I now had bases loaded with no outs and had hit the first guy I faced. I needed to get my head into this game. I got the sign from the catcher and glanced over at the runner at first. You have got to be kidding me. He was joking with the first base coach, not paying attention. I fired over to first and Wolf made me look good by digging it out of the dirt and tagging him out.
Wolf was paying attention as their third base runner thought about going home. Wolf walked the ball back to me. The ball had dirt on it so the umpire gave me a clean one. The next batter had worn us out all game. I threw a split-finger fastball—on purpose this time—and got strike one. He smiled at me, which made me a little nervous. The next pitch I threw the four-seam fastball. He hit a golf shot to center field. I snapped my head around and saw Eve as she drifted back. Dang it, she was going to run out of room. She settled under it and took it in. It was deep enough that their runner on third tagged up and scored.
Eve had hustled the ball in so that the guy on second only took one base. Moose came out.
“Look over at the bullpen,” he told me.
There was no one warming up.
“We have faith in you. Go get the last one and win this game,” Moose told me.
I took a deep breath after he went back to the dugout to help focus. They sent in a pinch hitter. This boy was a lefty. I had only faced three lefties all year. I focused, and Tim called for the fastball low and outside. I decided to forget the pitching from the stretch and just did my normal windup. The pitch felt great when it left my hand.
“Steerike!” the umpire called.
The batter called time to adjust his package and spit. I chuckled at how silly that looked. I guess he was manning up. Tim called the same pitch. He must have figured he would see if this guy could touch my fastball. I fired it in and it was a little outside, but he bailed me out by swinging at it.
Tim called for another fastball but set up low and inside. I threw low and right down the center. I knew I was in trouble when I threw it. He hit a screaming line drive that would have taken my head off if I hadn’t been ready for it. I turned just in time to see Magic snatch it out of the air for the third out.
I momentarily thought about how good we could have been if we had combined teams. I had learned a long time ago that ‘what ifs?’ don’t get you anything. Magic came up and put me in a headlock.
“You big dork, what were you thinking with that last pitch?”
“I was thinking you needed to be the hero since it was your last game.”
He gave me a noogie and let me go. Since it was the last game, Moose offered to take us to Monical’s. I was in.
WE JUST THREW ON TENNIS shoes and went out in our uniforms. I put my duffle bag in the back of Eve’s truck.
“We have the rest of the night, what do you want to do?” I asked her.
She gave me a wisp of a smile.
“Mom and Dad went away for the weekend. I should probably go home and check on the house. Maybe we could have a slumber party. What do you think?”
This was good news.
“Hmm, who all’s coming to the party?”
“Well, it’s kind of short notice. It may just be you and me.”
“Do you want me to call some people? I’m sure I could get you some guests. I know you’re not that popular, but fortunately your boyfriend has some connections.”
She gave me a sideways glance.
“How many people were you thinking?” she asked, playing along.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe we could invite three or four more.”
“These wouldn’t all be girls, would they?”
“Why, of course. I think four or five girls and myself would be a nice mix. What d’you think?” I asked hopefully.
“As much fun as that sounds ... for you, I think maybe it should just be the two of us tonight.”
“Your call, but if you collapse on me, we may need backup.”
MOOSE WAS HAPPY WHEN all the parents showed up to feed us. Greg did his duty and got us free appetizers. I was glad to see Coach Hope working the room. He was talking to the parents about how well their boys had done this year. Greg, Angie and Kyle were doing the same, promoting his massage business. I felt like a slacker when Dad also made the rounds.
Dad had been doing well at Dunn’s Country Club. He had told me all about some grass fungus he was treating. I kind of glazed over for that part, but his boss was happy. He also had been meeting the members. Mom thought it was funny when he came home and complained that some of the women had come on to him. Greg had offered to go help him with his problem. Angie told Greg to go ahead since he was officially off the market in a few weeks.
I decided to take a pass on networking and found Alan, Gina, Jeff and his Prom date, Elissa. Eve and I joined them in an oversized booth. We had just settled in when Tim came and got us.
“You have to come hear this. Mike is doing Coach Haskins.”
Mike was good at mimicking people. He had been working on his Coach Haskins impersonation and he was spot-on. We all got big smiles on our faces and went to join the crowd. Mike had been careful never to let Coach hear him, but the coaches were all there for his performance. Mike saw me and pulled me next to him.
“On one of the first days of baseball, David had his dance class show up at the end of practice. Coach Haskins thought they were all David’s girlfriends. I mean, everyone has heard the rumors, so I could see where he’d think that,” Mike shared, getting a big laugh at my expense.
“Hey, in my defense, Coach Hope told me to keep my womenfolk away from him,” Coach Haskins said. “What would you think?”
“Thanks,” I said to Coach Hope.
“Anyway,” Mike said, taking the conversation back, “Coach Haskins gave David some much-needed advice.”
Mike switched to his Coach voice.
“Cap, are all these women here to see you?”
“Yes, sir,” Mike said in a good imitation of me.
“Son, let me give you some advice. Pick one. Take her out and ... ahh ... give her a test drive. If she’s no good in the sack, dump her and repeat the process. Once you find one that can keep up, date her.”
“But, Coach,” Mike said, switching to me, “they’re ALL good in the sack.”
I don’t know who was more red, Coach Haskins or me. The peanut gallery thought it was hilarious.
“I didn’t say that,” Coach Haskins said, trying to defend himself.
I was thankful pizzas started to come out, so I was saved from any further torture. I gave Mike a hug to show him I had no hard feelings. After we ate pizza, I found Mom.
“Hey, I wanted to let you know that I’m going to Eve’s for a sleepover, so I won’t be home tonight.”
That got her attention.
“Who all is going to be there?” she asked.
“Eve.”
“Do you have protection?” Angie asked.
Both Mom and I cringed when Dad suddenly became interested in our conversation. Angie noticed and mouthed ‘Sorry.’
“Yes. I’ll be responsible,” I said.
Dad seemed satisfied. Mom patted my arm.
“Go have fun, and thanks for telling me so I’m not up waiting for you.”
EVE AND I HAD A NICE night together. I don’t know when it happened, but over the last few weeks, we had switched from making love to just having fun. As soon as we entered the farmhouse, she had dropped her pants and leaned over the kitchen table. I had a condom on in a flash. I think she her plan was to christen every room in the house, and she wanted to try every position she could think of.