Chapter 12 #2
“Leo,” his mom said gently, from the far side of the room. “Let them breathe, sweetheart.”
“I’m breathing,” he said, without looking away from me. “Barely.”
I smiled again, trying to keep it steady. “So what’s the binder got? Scouting reports? Fantasy projections?”
“Everything,” he said proudly, flipping it open and showing me pages of printed stats, photo cutouts, even a screenshot of my college signing day from decades ago. “You’re, like, my guy. Everyone else talks about Garcia, but I like how you pitch. How you think on the mound.”
“Wow, Leo, thank you.” Emotion lodged in my throat, overcome with the admiration from this kid.
A kid who had way more challenges in life than I ever would.
I almost felt unworthy for him to be a fan of me, when he was the one fighting and battling a sickness.
“I’m incredibly impressed and honestly, honored. ”
Cassidy, still standing beside the bed, watched me with something softer than her usual teasing. I didn’t look at her directly, but I could feel the weight of her gaze like heat across my shoulders.
Leo tapped the binder. “I even got a page for notes from today.”
“You’re making notes?” I asked.
“Duh,” he said. “This is, like, the best day of my life.”
I blinked hard and coughed into my hand to buy myself a second. “You got a pen?”
Cassidy reached into her bag and handed me one without a word.
I took the pen and wrote a short message on one of the blank pages in Leo’s binder:
To Leo—The smartest scout I’ve ever met. Thanks for making me feel like a star. Keep chasing big things.—Nate O’Brien, #9
Leo read it twice, mouth open. “I’m gonna frame this,” he whispered, awe dripping out of every syllable. “And when I get better,” he added, looking up, “can I come to a game? Like, with seats behind the dugout?”
“You bet,” I said instantly. “You get healthy, I’ll make it happen. You’ll have the best seats in the house. Maybe we get you down on the field, too.”
Leo nodded, blinking fast like he was trying not to cry. “And maybe you can teach me your grip?”
Cassidy leaned forward, her voice soft. “You okay with a video? I won’t post it if you don’t want me to. But this … this moment’s kind of awesome.”
Leo grinned and nodded. “Please post it. My friends will freak out. Mom! Mom, can you get a photo of this too? We can send it to dad!”
“Sure, honey.” His mom sniffed and blinked a lot before smiling at me. “This is so kind of you, Mr. O’Brien, both of you. Watching games has been our ritual when we stay here for longer periods of time. Opening day is a holiday in our house and we’re … so thankful.”
“Baseball was a holiday for my dad, too.” Cassidy’s voice softened as she set all the free swag on the small table next to Leo. “It’s magic. It’s healing. It’s hope. I totally understand.”
“It is magic,” Leo said, grinning at Cassidy. “She gets it.”
“Alright you two, I want big smiles.” Cassidy directed us around for a few minutes, snapping a few photos. “Hey, Leo’s mom. Would you get me your email so I can send this all to you?”
“Oh my gosh, yes. That’s—yes.” She rambled off her email address to Cassidy when I still kneeled by Leo.
He kept looking at his binder, then me, his eyes bugging out of his head. “You might be my hero.”
“Nah, I think you might be mine.” I leaned onto the railing, meeting his gaze.
This kid might be young but he had wisdom and life experience very few did.
“Look at how happy and strong you are. Plus, your organization skills? My sister would want your autograph with how well you’ve taken care of all this. Its impressive, dude.”
Leo blushed before setting the binder down. “Can I have a hug?”
“Oh, honey, they might not—”
I interrupted his mom. “I’d love one.”
He pushed up as I leaned over and the same prickle of emotion tickled my throat as I gave this kid a nice squeeze. After a good minute, I let go and met Cassidy’s gaze. Her eyes watered and she gave me the sweetest smile, like she was proud of me.
“It was wonderful meeting you, Leo.” Cassidy shook his hand, then his mom’s. “We have to move to the next one but I’ll email you the photos. Please let us know when he can go to a game and we’ll make it happen.”
“Thank you.” His mom shook my hand, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “This … just, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Cassidy grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room, neither of us saying a word. Leo’s strength and joy did something to me. How could it not?
“Isn’t he a sweetheart?” Angie appeared, all smiles. “His mom and him are some of my favorites here. Just so kind. Okay, we’re moving onto our next patient. This is a special treat because his sister is in town visiting too.”
“Great,” I said, because it seemed I needed to respond. Cassidy tried pulling her hand out of mine, but I held on tighter, not letting her go. “Maybe we can do the tik tok dance in this room, right, Cass?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Who even are you right now?”
“Enjoying the moment,” I said, not quite being honest. It was some combination of Leo’s admiration and the fact I upset Cassidy earlier that had me wanting to do anything to make her smile. Plus, if a kid was that happy from it? Why the hell wouldn’t I do it?
I wanted to be in the moment for the rest of the visits, but I was counting down the minutes until I got Cassidy alone again.