Happenstance 2 (Happenstance #2)(23)
Author: Jamie McGuire

“Hi, sweetie,” Julianne said when she answered.

“I’m…I’m driving to the baseball field. Weston’s last game is tonight.”

“Oh?” she said without judgment.

Her lack of surprise surprised me. “He asked me to come. He also reminded me that I promised to go to prom with him.”

“This is beginning to make more sense,” she said, trying to sound positive. “As a mother, I’m not sure I’m okay with coercion.”

“Tell me to come home.”

“You don’t want to go to the game?”

“No. But yes. But no.”

Her breath blew into the phone. “Can I come?”

“To the game?”

“Yes. Your Sam is here. I bet he’d like to go to Weston’s last game too.”

“Um…yes. Yes. Please come.” At least I would have someone to sit with.

“On our way in ten,” she said. “See you soon.”

I set the phone in the cup holder and turned the wheel to the right, into the baseball field’s parking lot. It was already full, with vehicles overflowing into the grass belonging to the fairgrounds to the north. A white, newer, high school bus that read CHISOLM LONGHORNS was parked on the south end of the parking lot, empty. People were still filing in to the gate, but by the scoreboard, I could see that the game had already started.

When I walked in, Weston just happened to be walking from somewhere near the dugout to home plate with a bat in his hand and a maroon helmet on his head. He looked up into the stands for a moment and then looked down to his cleats, tapping the bat against his left foot.

He took a step and glanced back one more time, seeing me walk in. He jogged to the fence, sticking his fingers through the holes and hanging on with a wide smile and relief in his eyes.

“Erin!”

I pulled my mouth to the side, my emotions torn between being embarrassed by the attention and being flattered by his reaction.

“Get going, Gates!” Coach Langdon barked.

He looked back to his coach, to me, and then jogged to his position. I watched him as I climbed the steps. He let the first ball go by.

“Strike!” the umpire called, holding his fist in the air. The crowd booed.

Weston leaned forward and twisted his hands around the grip of the bat. The pitcher hurled the ball at him, and Weston swung. The ball met the bat with a crack and then launched, low and straight, right past the shortstop, and bounced into left field, sending the outfielders sprinting.

The crowd cheered while Weston ran to and reached first base. He kissed his index and middle finger and held it in my direction.

“Erin!” Veronica called with a smile. She waved me over, and I sat with her on the fourth row, to the left of home plate.

Julianne and Sam joined us less than an inning later, sitting on each side of me. None of them had a clue how much was riding on this game, and I began to feel guilty about putting that extra pressure on Weston.

The first two innings, the Blackwell Maroons were up, but the next two were plagued with mistakes, and we were four runs down. I could see the frustration on Weston’s face, and he began yelling cheers and jeers to his teammates from the dugout and the pitcher’s mound.

Once he pitched the ball, and it came straight back at him. He ducked, and it went straight into the second baseman’s mitt. The crowd let out a collective ooh.

“Lord, that was close,” Veronica said, putting her hand on her chest.

“The pitchers should really have to wear helmets too,” Sam said.

Weston coughed into his elbow and waited for the catcher. He shook his head twice and then nodded. He reared back, hiked his leg, and launched the ball at the batter.

“Someone’s lit a fire under his ass today,” Peter said after Weston threw three consecutive strikes.

The umpire called the out, and the players jogged into the dugout. The Chisolm players put on their mitts and ran to their positions on the field.

In the sixth inning, we were batting, down by one. I could hear coughing from the dugout.

“Is that Weston?” Veronica said. “He has his inhaler, right?”

“He always does,” Peter said, trying to sound casual, but I caught a hint of worry in his voice.

“He’s been having a lot of flare-ups with his asthma lately,” Veronica told Julianne.

A commotion drew our attention to Blackwell’s dugout, and then Coach Langdon stepped out and yelled. The paramedics standing by rushed to the coach, and players began to hop out, walking backward as they watched in astonishment at whatever we couldn’t see. Peter stood, taking two steps at a time down the bleachers. Veronica took the cement steps.

“Oh God,” I said.

My parents stood too, and I followed them down the stairs and through the gate.

“Let’s go!” Julianne commanded.

“Weston?” Veronica cried.

Peter was holding her shoulders as she cupped her hands over her mouth.

One of the paramedics ran to the ambulance and came back with a gurney and supplies, quickly loading Weston onto the stretcher. That was the first time I got a good look at him. He was pale, his hair soaked and stuck to his forehead. His eyes were rolled back into his head as he gasped for air. His inhaler fell out of his hand to the ground.

“Go! Go!” Sam barked, helping Julianne and the paramedics push the stretcher’s wheels across the dirt and grass to the sidewalk, and then to the ambulance.

The entire crowd was silent. The players all took a knee, holding their hats over their hearts.

“No, no, no,” I whispered, watching helplessly.

The ambulance sped off with full lights and sirens down Coolidge Street toward the hospital, and Peter and Veronica ran to their cars.

“Erin! Erin! Come on!” Julianne called to me from the parking lot.

I ran with her to her G-Wagon. The door slammed behind me, and I watched her twist the ignition and yank the gear into reverse and then into drive.

“Where’s Sam?”

“In the ambulance. Weston’s had asthma attacks before. Not in a long time, but he will be okay. He will.”

“You promise?” I said, my entire body trembling.

Julianne’s lips pressed together, making a hard line. “He can’t do this again. He wouldn’t.”

“Who?”

“God.”

I blinked and then looked out the window, watching the houses pass by.

Julianne pulled into the back lot of the hospital where the ambulance bay was located. The ambulance was already parked, its back door hanging wide open.