Present Day #2
“Well, then that’s perfect, because I have a great player for you to scout.” Mick ramped up at Abby’s sigh. “Oh, come on. This was one shitty apology then. You save me for last, you don’t even write me one of your little love letters—”
“Okay, okay, fine!” Abby laughed.
Mick grinned, reached across the table to ruffle her hair, and while Abby smacked her hands away, it was like two parts of herself harmonized. Like she was twenty years old at Insley again, but not so she could hide there. This time she’d fully come back to herself.
The latest prospect sent Abby to an elementary school. She followed Mick past the playground, dodging kids and strollers, to a small baseball diamond where a team of first graders in bright pink uniforms warmed up.
“Aunt Abby!”
Juniper spotted her first, skipping over with her bat. Abby kneeled to hug her as Mick scoffed. “What am I? Chopped liver?”
As Abby stood, Jill almost knocked her over with another hug. She squeezed so hard that Abby knew she didn’t have to explain the last two years. Jill pecked her cheek, tears in her eyes when they released. “Mick told me.”
Abby tilted her head and frowned. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” she said. “Though I hate being the last to know. I mean, even after T.K.?”
T.K. appeared on cue, donning large sunglasses and a larger sun hat, out of place among the parents.
“That’s because I introduced her to some nice people, and what does she do?
Sleep with half of them and pillage their medicine cabinets.
” She rocked Abby into an embrace. “Let it stand as proof that I am excellent at keeping secrets. In fact, I didn’t talk about you once. ”
“Please, no one here is mistaking your narcissism for discretion,” Mick said, earning a shove from T.K.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Abby said.
“You kidding? Mick sounded the alarm. I got on the first flight,” T.K. said.
Abby smiled at the picturesque Saturday afternoon.
The sun warmed her skin, and everything glowed bright around them.
As she surveyed her friends—Jill in her pink hat, matching shirt, and mom jeans, T.K.
in her heels and wielding a designer bag, Mick permanently in Insley softball gear, she hardly noticed a difference from eight years ago. Except that they were missing one more.
Juniper tugged her hand. “Why were you gone so long?”
“Sorry, Junie. I’ve been traveling for work.”
Juniper pointed her bat at T.K. “She said in the car that you went to rehab.”
Abby rolled her eyes.
“Oh my God, she repeats everything.” T.K. scowled. “You don’t have to be such a snitch, Junie.”
“What’s rehab?”
“Juniper Faye Farrelly, not appropriate,” Jill said. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay.” Abby chuckled. “It’s like a time-out for adults, Junie.”
“Why’d you get time-out?”
“Booze mostly. Some pills too. And I got arrested.”
“Okay, let’s spare the details, shall we?” Jill muttered to her.
“Abby!” Dylan joined them with Dylan Jr. atop his shoulders. “Where’s Kate?”
Abby grimaced and the rest of the group recoiled too.
“Dill,” Jill hissed, and smacked his shoulder.
“What?”
T.K. shook her head. “This is where Junie gets it.”
“Well, no one tells me anything!”
“I’ve got an idea—how about I take DJ, and you do coach-pitch today so we can catch up?” Jill swiped the toddler from him.
“No, Jilly—”
“Hey!” Jill waved to the other parents. “Dylan is going to do parent pitch!”
Abby nodded at Juniper. “Come on, show me your swing.”
After a brief hitting lesson with her favorite pupil, Abby slid into the bleachers with the gang.
While she doubted any future MLB players skipped onto the diamond in their pigtails that day, she watched with the same reverence.
Perhaps because beneath the bobbling heads with helmets too big, clumsy little hands struggling to swing and catch, Abby recognized the same love of the game.
In fact, she might’ve very well been witnessing it take root as it had for her.
She pictured her mother in the stands like she always did, only now it didn’t hurt.
“So, I know it’s not your favorite thing, but I think we should talk about it,” Jill said.
Abby nodded, turning from the game. “Yeah. What do you want to know?”
Jill’s eyes widened as she stopped bouncing DJ on her lap.
“What?” Abby asked.
T.K. scoffed. “Damn, rehab really worked.”
“Told ya,” Mick said.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Abby peeled off her sunglasses to squint at the trio.
“You’ve just never been one to share,” Jill said with a grim smile, as DJ tugged at her hair. “Or let us help you. Like with this.”
“I just never wanted to burden you guys.” Abby’s brow drew together. She nodded out at the field. “I never wanted you to look at me different than you did out there. That’s where I always felt like I was enough.”
“You were always enough, idiot.” Mick nudged her.
“I don’t know, I kept fucking up. Then I felt like you all were growing up, changing, and I was standing still. I didn’t know how to ask for help. Plus, if I didn’t ask, there was no chance of being let down.”
“We would’ve been there,” T.K. said.
“I know that now.” Abby nodded.
A hit blooped to the infield and three players in pink raced to pick it up. The four of them chuckled at the chaos, the ball never reaching Juniper, who called for it at first base. The runner sat down to draw in the dirt after making it safe.
“You know, it’s not all on you either. We could’ve been better too,” Jill said as the clapping settled around them. “We knew you’d been through a lot when you came to Insley, but we never asked.”
“I would’ve blown you off.” Abby shrugged.
“Well, since you’re not doing that now, there’s something I wanted to say to you.
” Jill’s eyes welled again, and Abby considered deflecting with a joke or shifting attention to the circus-like game.
But she faced it instead like she never would’ve before.
“Ever since I had Junie, I’ve meant to talk to you about your mom.
I know the situation was different, but she’d never want to leave you, Abby.
No matter how it happened, she didn’t.” Jill tilted her head down at DJ and then at Junie.
“I look at them and no matter how bad things got for me, they’d never be the reason.
And I know if something happened to me, no matter how low things got for Junie, you’d never give up on her. That’s how we feel about you too.”
Abby didn’t bother hiding the tears. She let Jill wrap an arm around her and Mick pat her back while the game unfolded with giggles and nonsense before them.
“Thank you.” She rested her head on Jill’s and sighed.
T.K. sniveled. “Fucking Shupe.”
Abby chuckled, rubbed away tears, and reached for T.K.’s water bottle. “Give me some of that.”
T.K. quickly pulled back. “Oh, that’s not water.”
“Jesus.” Abby rolled her eyes.
“What? This is a boring Saturday for me!”
Mick dug into the cooler at their feet, handing Abby a juice box. “Here.”
“Can I have some of those orange slices?” T.K. asked.
“Hey, no, those are for the kids,” Jill said, but they were already passing them around, sucking oranges into their mouths, passing out string cheese too. Abby leaned back and slurped apple juice.
“Okay, my turn,” T.K. said as Jill swiped the “water” bottle for a drink. “Can we talk about Hutch? And what happened in Vegas?”
“Nothing happened.” Abby slurped harder.
“Have you talked since then?” Jill raised a brow, shifting her eyes between T.K. and Mick.
“No, but she wrote her a letter,” Mick said before Abby smacked her. She flashed her an orange slice smile in return.
T.K. groaned. “Not the letters.”
“I think it’s romantic.” Jill smiled. “What did you say?”
Abby shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Did she write back?” T.K. asked. “You know she’s—”
“I’d rather not.” Abby’s cheeks burned, and while her heart fluttered at the mention of her, she wasn’t ready yet. “Please.”
“Oh, here’s Junie.” Jill smacked the shoulders nearest to her. “Let’s go Junie!”
They cheered as she stepped up to the plate. She swung and missed the first pitch that Dylan lobbed in.
“That’s okay!” Abby clapped. “Just keep your weight centered like we talked about!”
“Scoot up in the box!” Mick shouted.
“No, stay where you are! Just let it come to you!”
“Rip it, Junie, this pitcher is a cupcake!” T.K. shouted, earning a glare from Dylan.
“The ball’s dropping early.” Mick shook her head. “Scoot up, Junie!”
“No, don’t!” Abby yelled.
Juniper turned back to them, eyes wide and exasperated by the conflicting advice.
“Choke up a little bit too,” Mick said.
Abby smacked down Mick’s hands as she demonstrated. “Don’t listen to Aunt Mick. Connect on a straight line, okay?”
“I’m her godmother,” Mick said. “She should listen to me.”
“Well, I’m her hitting coach.”
“Well, I’m an actual college coach now!”
“And I’m her mother!” Jill shouted over them. “Both of you shut up. Come on, June Bug, eye on the ball! Just have fun up there!”
Abby, Mick, and T.K. rolled their eyes at the advice.
Juniper gulped and got back into position, and while it was nothing more than a children’s game, Abby held her breath.
The pitch came in slow and when Junie made contact, they all leapt from their seats.
As she rounded the bases, the fans thundering, the players scrambling to the ball, Abby swore it was the best the game had ever sounded.
Gentler. Softer. Slower. Full of love and almost perfect.
“She should be here,” Abby muttered.
Jill smiled at her, Mick nodded, and as they lost themselves in high fives and hugs, Abby knew she was ready.