Home Run Page 6

  Josh put down his second taco only half eaten. The “two buddies” living together in a college dorm, working out and training for baseball, suddenly vanished like smoke. He’d probably end up living mostly on his own, but would that even be possible? Someone had to look after him, hadn’t they? Right now he had no friends and no teammates in sight. Of course he’d be in school soon and on a team, but there were no guarantees he’d even like the new kids. He hadn’t been thinking about that part of things, and now there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.

  He realized he was breathing fast. He tried to take a drink of milk but choked on it. His father distractedly thumped his back while he kept talking. Josh could only think of one thing. Jaden.

  He needed to talk to Jaden. She’d know. She was the smartest person he’d ever met, and not just with books but with people. He needed to call her, but he still had no phone. He poked his father without thinking whether the timing was right or not, only knowing that Jaden was the only person who might be able to think of a solution.

  “What, Josh?” His father’s voice was restrained.

  “Can I . . . ?”

  “Can you what, Josh? We’re talking.”

  “Can I have my phone? I need to make a call.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  HIS DAD FROWNED, BUT reached into his pocket and handed Josh his phone. “Take it out there.”

  “Thanks.” Josh left the two men to talk and let himself out through the glass doors onto a terrace overlooking a square of grass crisscrossed by brick sidewalks and spotted with palm trees. He sat on a bench but bounced up because the sun had turned it into a frying pan. He found a seat in the shade and sat down, dialing Jaden.

  She answered, out of breath. “Josh? Are you okay? Where are you?”

  “Did you get in trouble?” Josh asked.

  “Your dad never said anything. My dad has no idea, and I’m not going to tell him. I figured you got your phone taken away.”

  “I still can’t believe Benji told on us.” Josh could just make out the shape of his dad talking to the AD through the reflection on the dining-hall window.

  “Well, don’t go too hard on him,” Jaden said. “He told me his lips were sealed until his mom threatened to call his dad over that minute. It was like midnight, and the last time his dad got called over at midnight, he made Benji unload a pickup truck full of bricks and stack them in the driveway.”

  “He couldn’t hold out for that?” Josh asked.

  “His dad made him load it and unload it five times,” she said. “He said his arms hurt for three weeks, and he was sure a fellow heavy hitter would forgive and forget.”

  Josh laughed. He rested his forehead in his free hand and bent into the phone. “So, listen, I got a problem.”

  He told her what had happened and how it looked like he was going to be stuck down in Florida, spending most of his time completely alone. “I mean, six or seven days a week.”

  She was quiet for a moment before speaking. “Well, you’ll be in school soon, right? They start early down there.”

  “Yeah, it starts, like, next week,” Josh said.

  “And you’re going to be on a travel team, right?”

  “Supposedly.”

  “So you’re going to be busy, Josh,” she said. “Trust me, I don’t want you living down there. I can’t stand not having you around. I can’t believe it actually happened, and just like that.”

  Josh heard her snap her fingers.

  “So, nothing. You don’t have any ideas at all?” The heat pressed in on him.

  “I’m sorry, Josh. Let me think, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  “Hey, don’t sound so glum. Look at the bright side.”

  “What bright side?” he asked.

  “Well, you’re with your dad,” she said. “You’re gonna be playing baseball; and if things go well for your dad, with the contacts he’ll make, it’ll put you that much closer to the majors. I mean, coaching a successful travel team is great, but a Division One coach? It can only help.”

  “I guess.”

  “Hey.” Jaden sounded upbeat. “It might be great. Maybe the place you’re getting has a pool. Lots of places have pools down there. We had one in Texas.”

  Josh remembered that Jaden had lived in Dallas, where her father had been studying to be a doctor. They’d moved to Syracuse after her mom died. Josh suddenly pictured Jaden on the bus with the worry beads. Was it only two days ago?

  His father’s call broke into his troubled thoughts.

  “Here comes my dad, Jaden. I’ve got to go, but please think anyway.”

  “I will.”

  “And . . . Jaden?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I miss you guys. I miss . . . you.”

  The phone went silent.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  FINALLY, JADEN SPOKE, AND Josh wished badly she wasn’t a thousand miles away.

  “Yeah,” she said. “Me too.”

  Josh said good-bye and hung up just as his dad and the AD arrived. His father clapped his hands together and rubbed them like it wasn’t broiling hot. “Okay, my friend. Let’s look around the town. We can see where the apartment I got for us is before it gets too dark.”

  “Does it have a pool?” Josh didn’t want to get his hopes up.

  His dad looked at the AD.

  “Sure,” Mr. Enslinger said. “This is a really nice place, and they’ve got a pretty big pool. I think it even has one of those waterfalls and a slide.”

  “That’s kind of awesome,” Josh said.

  They said good-bye to the AD, then returned to their dorm for the car.

  Josh hesitated with his hand on the door handle. “Can I get the Speed Hitter? Maybe we can get some work in. Maybe the apartment complex has a grass area or something.”

  His father grinned. “Absolutely. You know what? Get your suit and a towel too. Maybe you can test out that slide at the pool.”

  “I can?”

  “Why not?” his dad said.

  “Well, we don’t live there yet.”

  “I’ll handle it if anyone asks.” His father stood a little straighter, and Josh couldn’t imagine that anyone would bother such a mountain of a man.

  Josh ran into the dorm for his gear and a bathing suit, threw it all in the back, and climbed in. When his dad’s phone rang, he looked at the number and hit Ignore again. It wasn’t Josh’s business who kept calling, but he had to wonder. He waited for his dad to say something, but his father cleared his throat and turned on the radio.

  The complex wasn’t too far away, and his dad explained that his school would be no more than a mile and he could walk. Josh didn’t ask any more about that because he was trying not to think about the possibility that his dad wouldn’t be around much. He’d try to take it a day at a time for now.

  They drove past some housing complexes and a strip of stores and gas stations around a shopping center that also looked new before turning into the River Ranch Apartments. Josh wondered where the river was but kept quiet about that too. The place was nice: three-story clapboard buildings with white railings, gables, and steep roofs. There were beds of flowers and fresh green shrubs that defied the heat.

  They got out of the car, and his dad said to bring his bathing suit. Crickets sang, and Josh was struck by the lack of people as they rounded one building into a courtyard area where the pool lay. “I wanted to show you the inside of the apartment, but it’s still occupied. If this pool area is any indication, it’s gotta be nice.”

  Josh looked around. A small waterfall hissed, and a modest mountain of concrete held a curving slide. No one else was around. Josh quickly changed in the men’s room, then walked over to the pool slide while his father reclined in a chair beneath the roof of an eating area.

  Josh hesitated at the top, but his father called out, “Go ahead!”

  Josh went down, slipping and sliding and making a huge splash. He laughed as he surfaced in a flurry of bubbles.

&nb
sp; “Fun?” his dad called.

  “You bet!” Josh hurried out and up and slid back down, laughing as he did. The slide was a great novelty, and the water was cool enough to provide some relief from the evening heat. Some lights came on after a while, and Josh’s dad said they’d better get going because one mosquito had bitten him already. Josh changed back into his clothes, and they were on their way to the dorm when he remembered the baseball gear.

  “We didn’t practice,” Josh said.

  “Well, you had fun, and you got to enjoy where we’ll live. There’s plenty of time for baseball.” His dad pulled through the gates of Crosby College, and his phone buzzed another time before he silenced it. “Tomorrow we can see your new school in the morning, then work out, and then later we can meet your new team.”

  “My team?” Josh felt a thrill go through him. Florida was a baseball state, and even though they’d had plenty of success with the Titans, baseball was year-round in the Southern states.

  “I told you you’d be playing for a travel team down here,” his dad said.

  “I know, but I didn’t know it was settled,” Josh said.

  “The Crosby Cougars. Mr. Enslinger told me about them when you made your phone call. It’s coached by a friend of his, Caden T. Helle. He used to play at TCU. The Cougars have done pretty well, but they’d love to have a second baseman who can hit like you.”

  From nowhere, lightning cracked and a white flash lit up the world. Rain began to pour down, and they had to scramble from the car to the dorm, laughing together. They got ready for bed before watching a movie on his dad’s laptop. It was after midnight when Josh crawled into his own bed. His father shut off the lights, and the darkness was complete. Josh lay there, thinking how impossible it was to know how he felt. Images of Jaden, Benji, his father, Diane, his mom, the Crosby AD, and his sister, Laurel, swirled in his mind.

  His father cleared his throat, and Josh’s mind stopped spinning. “Tomorrow you’ll meet the Cougars.”

  Josh felt suddenly proud and glad. The good thing about baseball was that wherever you were, the diamond was the same. The players might change, but the game was the game, pure and simple.

  “Dad, could we end up playing the Titans?” He wasn’t sure what made him think about it, but Josh thought it would be hard to play against his old team.

  “The Titans?” His father cleared his throat. “No, I’m pretty sure the Cougars are in another fall ball league. It’s NYBA or something, National Youth Baseball. Titans are in YBEL.”

  “Oh.” Josh felt the pinch of disappointment, suddenly remembering the contest Benji had told him about. Since the Cougars weren’t a YBEL team, he wouldn’t have a chance at the Home Run Derby, which sounded pretty fun. The chance to win a better home for his mom wouldn’t be a bad thing.

  They lay quiet for a while before his dad spoke again.

  “I don’t want you to ever do it again, but honestly? I’m glad you ran away.” His dad’s words hung there in the black silence.

  Josh swallowed. “You are?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  JOSH’S FATHER CHUCKLED. “WELL, yeah. I wanted you down here with me, Josh. I didn’t want to do this alone. You and me? We’re a team, right?”

  Even though it ached a bit for his mom and little sister, Josh felt his heart swell with pride. No matter how his dad disappointed him, he was still his dad, a giant of a man who impressed people. Hadn’t he been a first-round draft pick by the Mets? Didn’t he lead his son’s travel team to an impressive national championship and then get hired by a program heading for Division One?

  “Yeah,” Josh said, even with his words to Jaden about wanting to go home ringing in his ears. “We are a team, Dad. Always.”

  The next morning they went to the Marberry School. Josh and his dad met the principal and Josh’s guidance counselor, both upbeat and friendly women. Josh got a quick tour—typical classrooms, cafeteria, and gym—and they registered him for classes. Josh looked at his schedule. It was the same as he’d had at Grant Middle in Syracuse; but he realized that this school was private, and he wondered about the money, even though he said nothing.

  After that his dad took him to the ball diamond where the Cougars practiced, and they worked out for a while on the field. The storm from the night before seemed to have broken the intense heat and humidity, for a few hours anyway. Sunshine spilled down on them, and the breeze had just a touch of cooling power so that Josh had to work for his sweat. They got some lunch before his dad took him to a local batting cage that was sort of shabby. The pitching machine only worked well about half the time, and Josh had to duck a few errant pitches; it was like playing a game of dodgeball. They got some laughs out of the machine though, and Josh felt like his stroke had a nice rhythm.

  On the way back to Crosby College, his dad drove by the River Ranch Apartments. The place looked even nicer than Josh remembered it. Josh’s father’s phone buzzed, and as he’d done all morning, he checked the number, hit Ignore, and stuffed the phone back into his pocket.

  “The lap of luxury, right?” His father pointed at River Ranch and grinned.

  Josh thought about the apartment and now the private school. “But we can afford it and the private school? It seems like a lot.”

  His father lost his grin for a split second, then forced it back into place and nodded his head. “Yup. I can make it happen.”

  Something about the way his father answered made Josh look back at the apartment complex and wonder if they really could afford it. He remembered the papers his mother had handed his father, the ones from the bank.

  Josh had a sinking feeling that—nice as these apartments and the private school were—the two of them together were going to create problems he couldn’t even imagine.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  THE TRAVEL TEAM THE AD picked for Josh—the Crosby Cougars—practiced at the field Josh already had a flavor for. The day’s heat had built on itself, and while the sun had disappeared behind a city of clouds, the air seemed to stick to Josh’s skin. He marched up to Coach Helle with his dad that morning, both eyeing the players out on the field. There was no fooling around. Each group was involved in some kind of warm-up drill, either fielding grounders or working a long toss to loosen their arms.

  “Caden? I’m Gary LeBlanc. Jeff Enslinger sent us.”

  Coach Helle was a bear of a man. He looked up from his clipboard, tucking his pen behind one small ear and welcoming them in a low, rumbling Southern voice, with handshakes and a smile.

  He wore a cap, but Josh could see that he’d shaved his head, and his small, dark eyes in his big, meaty face looked Josh up and down. “Jeff said you had a big boy. I guess he wasn’t kidding. He’ll fit right in with this group. We draw from a fifty-mile radius, and I like my players big. Everyone but Declan Casper.”

  Coach Helle pointed to one boy who looked two years younger than the rest.

  “Clocked his fastball at seventy-seven the other day. Thirteen years old. You want to sign him up now, Coach?” Coach Helle laughed.

  “I might,” Josh’s dad said. “Can he mix it up at all?”

  “He’s got a nice curveball. Not much action on his slider, but we’re working on it. Josh, you can get right into the mix. Casper! Long toss with our new guy!”

  Declan Casper peeled off from his group of three and waved Josh over. Josh looked at his dad.

  “Get to it,” his dad said. “I’m gonna talk to Coach Helle, then head over to my office to make some calls and I’ll be back.”

  Josh said very little to his new teammates, and they seldom spoke among themselves. That was fine with Josh. He fit right in and didn’t hesitate to jump into drills. In the field, the other kids were every bit as skilled as Josh. They had quick reflexes, sure gloves, and strong arms.

  When it came to batting, though, Josh stood out. At the end of practice, they each got ten pitches against a live defense. Coach Jones, the assistant coach, had only just graduated from a big baseball fact
ory, the University of Central Florida. He threw the pitches right down the pipe.

  When Josh stepped up to the plate for his turn, Coach Helle encouraged him.

  “Okay, Josh. Let’s see that bat I heard so much about.”

  Josh’s new teammates were crouching and ready for a hit. Josh drilled the first pitch into the hole between first and second and took first base before jogging back for the next pitch. The second one was low and outside, and he missed, swinging for the fences. Josh felt hot shame, even though he shouldn’t have. Every batter before him had at least several strikes.

  The next one, Josh swung just as big. This time he connected, crushing the ball over the center-field fence.

  “No sense running the bases.” Coach Helle marked something on his clipboard. “Nice knock.”

  After they all brought it in for a team chant, Declan appeared beside Josh as he stuffed a bat inside his equipment bag.

  “Hey, that was pretty good.”

  “Thanks.” Josh looked up. Declan might be a friend, but before Josh got to do more than give him a cautious smile, Coach Helle barked his name.

  “Josh, got a minute?” Coach Helle put a hand on the frame of the dugout and leaned toward him before motioning to the bench.

  “Sure.” Josh took a seat and watched the remaining handful of players in the dugout scatter like mice.

  Coach Helle sat down beside him and patted Josh’s shoulder. “You’re good with a bat, and I like your defense too.”

  Coach Helle continued, “I know you’re used to having your dad be your coach, and I’m betting he didn’t allow you to second-guess him. Am I right?”

  Josh didn’t have to hesitate on that one. “Right.”

  “Good.” Coach Helle stood up. “I’m the same way, and it’s kinda like that Las Vegas ad you see on TV. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and what happens in Cougarland stays in Cougarland. No second-guessing. Got it?”

  It wasn’t a question. Josh thought about not talking over plays with his dad. His friends were a thousand miles away. His mom was a thousand miles away. If he couldn’t talk to his dad, he had no one. He didn’t want to just agree to something he had no intention of doing, but Coach Helle was staring and waiting, and Josh felt like whatever he said, it was going to have a big impact on him, and not just for this moment.