Read Online Four Play: A Collection of Novellas by Amalie Silver - Free Book Online

She should be aiming for pitches that are high and outside.”
    I stared at him confused for a moment and realized that he was giving me the advice he couldn’t when he was my umpire. He had no intention of seeing me after that moment. And that thought ripped a hole in my heart.
     
    As he turned and walked out, a sob escaped me before I could hear the door click shut.
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 12
     
    The fight in my mind raged on. One minute I was convinced we’d done the right thing by calling things off. The next minute I’d be curled up in the corner of my couch trying to find something on the TV to make me cry.
    I’d missed practice twice. And I had come up with excuses not to go to my lunch dates with Wanda for almost a month.
    I hadn’t truly considered how Nolan felt about the game. But he knew going into this how committed I was, and yet he’d pursued me anyway.
    It was useless to try and come up with a solution to whose fault this whole thing was. Because after a week of that, I’d finally stopped being over-emotional and angry.
    Now I simply missed him.
     
    June 11     College World Series     96 degrees Fahrenheit
     
    I was completely tuned out. Of all the games to choose where I wasn’t completely focused, I had to pick this one.
    I was a shame to the game.
    I sat in the dugout with my glove in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. The girls were riled up, and I was happy that we’d worked so hard in the season to make it this far, but their enthusiasm wasn’t having any effect on my glum outlook.
    For the first few innings, I was a robot. I wanted to smile, I truly did, but my entire body was moving like a machine. I felt like I’d been reliving a Sunday afternoon hangover for the past three weeks.
    “I’ve been watching you,” Coach said, sitting down next to me on the bench. “Something has changed, hasn’t it?”
    I ignored her and kept my eye on the game.
    Coach Marny leaned back on the bench, and I looked to the gravel at our feet.
    “It’s the umpire, isn’t it?” she asked.
    I opened my eyes wide and looked at her. My heart instantly rattled at the thought of him, and a smug smile spread to her cheeks.
    “It’s nothing. It’s no one,” I snapped.
    “Look, Jack, I’ve been watching you for three years in a row. I’ve stood back and watched you build and nurture this team. From the first day of practice when you were a freshman, you were able to make these girls focus on the game, you took charge, and you’ve assumed your role as the captain. And I’ve stayed silent and tolerated it because it seemed to be working.”
    I rested my chin against my palm and kept my eyes on the dirt.
    “But the minute that new umpire walked on the field, you became someone else completely.” She laughed. “You fell for him, didn’t you?”
    I began shaking my head when Jessy cut in. “Yep, she did. I didn’t know who he was until a couple of games ago, either. But I knew he existed. Jack even bought a dress!”
    My glare turned toward Jessy, and that’s when I realized the majority of the team stood behind her. All eyes were on me as they gasped.
    I slumped and resumed my stare toward the ground.
    “Listen to me, Jacqueline,” Coach continued. “There are a few things I’ve learned in the past fifteen years coaching girls like you. You take the game too seriously. You mother the girls too much. And you act like this is a matter of life or death.” She leaned into me and lowered her voice. “But what is your future?” Her brow lifted, assuring I was making a self-assessment. “What comes next for you? Fifteen years of coaching college teams only to realize at age forty that the girls you coach never needed you? It’s a hell of a lesson to learn in a game in which you’ve invested so much of your life.”
    I swallowed and adjusted my cap, fighting tears.
    Coach Marny rested her hand on my shoulder. “We couldn’t be the kind of team we are today if it