Page 8 of Wait For It

Cotton candy.

I breathed them in, all while knowing that most people would kill to be in my cleats. Inside this chalk baseline, I was king, and there was no better feeling in the world.

It was going to come down to a bang-bang play at first. I just had to pray the ump ruled in my favor. I heard the smack of the ball on leather just as I hit the bag, but instead of being called out, it hit the heel of the first baseman’s glove and rolled back toward the dugout.

I risked a glance to my left and watched as Jimenez rounded third, heading for home. The first base coach threw up the sign and told me to stay, but I knew I could make it to second. One more base hit, and then I’d score the winning run—no extra innings needed.

I was the hero.

With adrenaline coursing through my veins, I planted my left leg to cut toward second base. For a fraction of a second, I thought I had it.

Then, I felt the pop.

The pain was like a freight train, stealing the breath from lungs and taking my legs out from under me. I exhaled a low groan, coming down hard on my left side.

“And Reed is down as he turns to second,” the announcer helpfully reiterated, on the off chance the fans had their eyes closed during the play. “It looks like they’re going to tag him, but he’s hurt.”

I tossed my helmet, gritting my teeth as I writhed in the dirt, worthless as a sidesaddle on a sow. The Bears’ first baseman, Kelly, somberly walked over and dropped down to tag me.

“Your knee?” He nodded toward where I held my leg in a death grip.

I squeezed my eyes shut and nodded, knowing I’d be making today’s edition ofESPN’s Not Top Ten. Thoughts of my father filtered through the haze of agony as the team closed in, rapidly firing questions I had no way of answering.

Not in my current state.

Unable to handle the sudden silence that had descended over the ballpark, the announcer continued his long-winded rambling. “There’s certainly some confusion over on first base. I think Reed thought he had an opportunity to make it to second—and it appears they’re calling for the stretcher. After reviewing the replay, it looks as if his knee goes inward. Killian Reed is down just after making the turn at first base, and it looks bad, folks.”

Asshole.

One of the trainers helped me into a sitting position, but the movement sent shockwaves of white-hot pain radiating throughout my leg, damn near forcing me back down.

I was just getting started—what if this was it?

Chapter Two

Ariana

“I’m jus’ pain covered with skin.”

-John Steinbeck,The Grapes of Wrath

I was dreamingof the boy again.

Over the years, the details had faded to little more than a shadowy figure with blue-gray eyes and sun-kissed skin, but I knew it was him.

The moment I went into the water, I broke the rules and found goodness where none should have existed. Coincidentally, it was also when I discovered there was truth in the old adage, ‘no good deed goes unpunished.’

My father hadn’t believed for one second I’d simply fallen into the fishing hole. Especially not after Brother Bradley—or Brad, as he’d insisted I call him—had informed him I’d been missing for hours. In the end, I accepted defeat and took my punishment in stoic silence.

I’d saved a life, and though the boy had never answered me, I wholeheartedly believed he was good. Perhaps if he hadn’t been, things might have played out differently.

Maybe then I would have been able to do as my father commanded and set my mind on things above, and not the things of earth.

But even ten years later, the boy with blue-gray eyes was still the one fantasy that hadn’t been tempered with a harsh dose of reality. Night after night, he haunted my dreams, leaving me aching for a life I could never have.

I was dreaming of him again, only this time we didn’t reach the shore. Angry waves battered our bodies and dragged us down into icy depths. The pressure was like a band around my chest, increasing until I was sure my ribs were going to snap. I inhaled the frigid water, desperate for relief from the ever-increasing pain.

Relief that was just out of my reach.

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