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James entered the gym just as Juniper threw her last pitch. Emily praised Juniper a little, MacKenzie a lot, and then thanked Jake profusely for catching for his daughter. Without saying so, she was also thanking him for bringing his ringer to her island. Then she approached James.
“Hi, James. What are you doing here?”
“What was that all about?” he asked, sounding grumpy.
“What?” She looked behind her as if the answer lay in the now empty gym.
“Who was that guy?”
“Oh, that’s Juniper’s father.”
“The windmill guy?”
Emily frowned. “You’re starting to sound anti-windmill. But yes, he’s a foreman ... or something. James, what’s wrong?”
“And he’s practicing with you? Do you really think that’s appropriate?”
Emily held both hands up. “Whoa, James. He didn’t practice with us. He just showed up at the end, you know, to pick up his daughter. We don’t have any catcher’s equipment yet, so I wasn’t letting MacKenzie catch for Juniper. So he offered. Juniper wanted to show me her stuff, and he caught a few pitches for her. That’s all.”
James’s jaw clenched. “Well, you might want to be careful. There are people on this island who wouldn’t like that.”
“James, you sound like one of those people. What’s your problem?”
“What’s my problem? I drop in to check on my future wife ’cause she’s doing something crazy again, and I find her hanging out in an almost empty gym with some single windmill foreman.”
Before he even finished his sentence, Emily took two quick steps and wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t even hear the second half of what he said. If she had, she might’ve wondered how James knew that Jake Jasper the windmill guy was single, but if she’d wondered, she would’ve just admitted that island people just know things, that personal information seems to travel on the sea’s breezes. But she didn’t care about any of that because James had called her his “future wife.” That meant all systems were a go. He still wanted to marry her. A proper proposal was still forthcoming. Maybe Thomas had been right. Maybe they were just waiting on a ring.
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Emily walked into school on Tuesday morning with a bounce in her step. She had a pitcher from heaven and a husband in store. Could life get any better?
During second period, Hailey asked if she could talk to Emily after class. Emily said of course. Hailey had been uncharacteristically quiet during class and Emily wondered if softball was the root.
“What’s up?” Emily asked when Hailey’s classmates had vacated the room.
“I was just wondering if I’m going to pitch at all.”
Emily suppressed a chuckle. “Do you want to pitch?”
Hailey shrugged. It looked like false humility.
“No, really. Are you asking because you want to pitch and you’re worried you’re not going to get to, or because you don’t want to pitch and you’re worried you’re going to have to?”
“I obviously know I’m not going to have to pitch. We’ve got Juniper, and she’s like amazing or whatever. MacKenzie told me. But I still would like to try.”
“Well, then of course you can try. And I haven’t said anything about who is pitching when. We’ve only had one practice. If you want to pitch, then keep working at it. I have no idea what’s going to—”
“But Miss M, that’s my point. I don’t want to work at it if there’s no point to it, if Juniper is just going to pitch all season.”
Emily leaned forward in her chair and looked up at the serious young woman. “Hailey, you of all people know that’s not the way a sports team works. I honestly don’t know yet if we will need you to pitch. As I was saying before you interrupted me, I don’t know what’s going to happen today, let alone four, six, or eight weeks from now. Now, do I think it would be a good idea if you would practice pitching a bit, just in case? Yes. Of course. But am I going to make you practice? No, I am not.” Emily heard pounding on the classroom door. Period three was ready to come in. She ignored them. “And there’s more to a softball team than its pitcher, Hailey. Juniper might keep them from hitting the ball, but she can’t score runs from the pitcher’s mound. We’re also going to have to get on base. And we’re going to have to run the bases. So whether you pitch or not, we need you—you know that, right?”
Hailey nodded, looking satiated.
“Great. Now, would you please go let my AP students in? It’s time for class.”
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At lunchtime, Emily tried to act casually as she approached DeAnna’s mostly empty table. Juniper sat at the other end of the table, and Blake sat opposite her. He gave Emily a critical look as she slid into the seat opposite DeAnna. He probably thinks I’m interfering with his courting, she thought, and then silently made fun of herself for calling it courting.
“Hi, DeAnna,” she said, trying to sound perky.
“Hi.”
“We missed you at softball practice yesterday.”
“I said I wasn’t going to play.”
“I know. But I really want you to. So what’s it going to take?”
DeAnna stared at her. “Why do you care?”
Emily shrugged. Now was probably not the time to tell DeAnna that she cared because Jesus cared. “I just do. So, will you play?”
“I don’t have a glove.”
“We can get you one,” Emily said quickly.
“I don’t have any sneakers.”
“We can get you some of those too.”
DeAnna stared again. “OK.”
“OK?” Emily was surprised.
“OK. You know I’m going to suck, right?”
“It’s not about that. It’s about getting outside, getting some exercise, and being part of a team.”
“Miss Morse, no one on that team wants me to be part of their team.”
Something in Emily’s heart cracked. “I don’t think that’s true, DeAnna, and even if it is, so what? I want you to be part of the team.”
DeAnna didn’t look convinced. “Bojack says you just want me on the team because you want a team and there’s not enough girls.”
It took Emily a second to remember who Bojack was, and when she did, she wondered why he would be talking to DeAnna about softball. “First of all, we have more than enough girls signed up. And second of all, how do you know Bojack?”
DeAnna scrunched her brow together. “This is Piercehaven. Everyone knows everyone.”
“I know that, but why do you know him well enough to listen to his advice about softball? Is he your uncle or something?”
“Ew! No!” DeAnna said, as if that were absurd. “He’s my mom’s boyfriend.”
“Oh!” Emily said, careful to hide her cringe. “I didn’t know that. How long have they been dating?”
“Couple a months, but I wouldn’t call it dating. He just sits on our couch and drinks beer. And he’s technically still married to someone else.”
“Sorry to hear that. Sounds like yet another reason to spend some time away from home.”
DeAnna looked confused.
“You know, if you’re on the softball field, you’ll get a break from your mom’s boyfriend.”
DeAnna actually smiled.
