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Emily curled up on her couch with a cup of tea and the softball rulebook. Nick Carraway, her male tabby, curled up in her lap. Daisy Buchanan, her female tabby, curled up on the back of the couch and looked out the window.
The rules were remarkably similar to men’s softball, though she couldn’t remember any man sprinting to first after striking out. Just the thought made her giggle.
She was dismayed to see that high school bats had to have an ASA Certified stamp on them. She didn’t even have to look at the relics she’d found to know they had no such stamp. She was going to have to start fundraising. Pitchers and catchers were to start Monday; the rest of the team, the following Monday.
She decided to have a team meeting the next day. As she was thinking about how to raise funds in a community with no funds, her landline rang. She jumped up, thinking it was James. He was the only one who called her—him and the debt collectors looking for the previous tenant. No matter how many times she told them that Alec Pratt didn’t live there anymore, they didn’t believe her.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is Danny Kirk.”
It took her brain a few seconds to recognize the name, but when she did, she was thrilled to hear the voice. “Hi, Coach. Thanks so much for returning my call. I wanted to talk to you about Juniper Jasper. She has moved—”
“I know. I wasn’t surprised to get your message. You’re going to have your hands full.”
“Well, I’m thrilled to have her. This is a brand-new program, and we’re happy to have someone who’s played the game, but she isn’t exactly thrilled to be here. In fact, she says she doesn’t even want to play.”
“If she doesn’t play, I’ll eat my hat. That girl loves softball. But you’re going to have to set some firm boundaries, or she’ll try to run the show. She’s a confident young lady and she can be mouthy. I’ve had to bench her before. But once I let her know she wouldn’t disrespect me or her teammates, she toed the line.”
Emily sighed, unsure of how to respond.
Coach Kirk didn’t let her. “She’s a good kid, really, she is. She’s just ... volatile, and if you have a new program, she’s probably not going to be very patient. But I think if you don’t let her push you around, she’ll respect you for it.”
“Easier said than done.”
“Absolutely. If you have any specific situations, give me a shout, anytime.”
“Thanks. I will do that. What’s the best time to call you? I don’t want to interrupt you at work.”
“I work in the woods. So you can usually get me on my cell. Might not hear you over the saw, but I’ll get right back to you.”
Emily wrote down his cell number and thanked him profusely before hanging up. Then she returned to her couch, lay down, and proceeded to memorize the rulebook.
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The next morning, Emily asked Julie to announce that there would be a softball team meeting during lunch.
“No one does that,” Julie said.
“OK, well, I’m doing it. Please ask all the softball players to sit at my table.”
As Emily walked away, she could still hear Julie muttering, “If no one does that, there’s a reason no one does that ...”
Thomas showed up in Emily’s doorway alone.
“Where’s Chloe?”
“I think she’s mad at me.”
“Why?”
“I gave Juniper a ride to school today. Chloe was pretty cranky about it. Then when we got here, she disappeared. Not sure where she is.”
“You still gave Chloe a ride too, right?”
“Yep.” Thomas collapsed into a chair on the other side of her desk. “But I didn’t tell Chloe first, so when she got to the car, and Juniper was in the front, Chloe was all mad.” He shook his head. “Girls.”
“How’s Juniper?”
“How should I know?”
“I’m not accusing you of anything, Thomas. But you just saw her. How did she seem? Better? Happy? Miserable?”
“I would say she’s holding steady at miserable.”
“Ah, perfect.”
Thomas hung out till the bell rang, but Chloe never appeared. In fact, Emily didn’t lay eyes on her until the lunch line. On her way to DeAnna’s table, Emily passed Chloe and whispered, “You OK?”
Chloe shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I just didn’t see you this morning. Thomas mentioned you might be upset about something.”
“Yeah, well, Thomas is an idiot,” she said and took several steps forward in line.
Emily sat down at DeAnna’s table only seconds before she got there.
“What are you doing?” DeAnna asked.
“Didn’t you hear the announcement? We’re having a softball meeting.”
“At this table?”
“That’s right. You’re part of the team, right?”
DeAnna looked around like a scared rabbit. “I don’t know—”
“Just sit, DeAnna. Relax. I’ve got your back.”
MacKenzie joined them next. Then Hannah. Then Chloe. Then Thomas.
“Thomas?” Emily said.
“I’m the manager, aren’t I?” Thomas asked. Then he nudged Chloe with his hip. “Slide over, Chloe.” She slid over without looking at him, but Emily sensed she was pleased with the interaction.
Then they came in a swarm—all but Juniper. Emily got up to make room for them. She glanced at Juniper sitting by herself at a different table, her back to the team. She thought maybe Juniper wanted her to beg, so she decided not to. She had wanted a softball team back before they had a ringer from Mattawooptock; she still wanted them now, even if they were going to be terrible.
“OK, ladies. Just wanted to discuss a few things with you,” she said, loudly enough for Juniper to hear. “First, we have a full schedule. Wherever the baseball team goes, we follow. Pitchers and catchers start Monday. We’re sharing the gym with the boys, so we won’t start practice until four. Please try to have a glove by then, because I want you all to show up for pitchers and catchers. We have no idea who will be playing where, so let’s all try out each of those positions. OK?” She didn’t wait for them to agree. “Now, we have a schedule, we have some uniforms, we sort of have a field, but—”
“What field?” Hannah asked, but Emily ignored her.
“—we don’t yet have any equipment. We need some bats, some balls, some bases, and some catcher’s gear, and we have no budget. So that means fundraisers!” She raised her voice to a ridiculous pitch to fake excitement. If you can’t genuinely be excited about something, might as well fake it and hope for a laugh.
No one laughed.
“You won’t be able to raise any money, Miss M,” Thomas said.
“Well, that may be. But we have to try. So, who has fundraising ideas?”
The carwash was vetoed because no one on Piercehaven washed their vehicles. The bake sale was vetoed because none of the girls knew how to bake anything and didn’t think their mothers did either. The bottle drive was vetoed (for this Emily was relieved) because everyone already gave their returnables to the nursing home. A spaghetti supper was a possibility, and Hailey promised to ask Marget if she would donate noodles and sauce.
––––––––
Promptly after the last bell of the day, Thomas appeared in Emily’s doorway.
“Hey, what’s up?” she asked, sincerely delighted to see him.
“You don’t have to fundraise.”
“I know it’ll be difficult, but we’ve got to—”
“No, I mean you really don’t. I called my dad and he said to just tell him how much you need.”
It took a while for this to sink in. “Seriously?”
Thomas nodded. “Of course, he wants full credit, you know, mention him at the banquet, and in your championship speech ...”
She laughed.
“But yeah, he said to just give him a number and he’ll write a check. He’s not a bad guy, really.”
