Page 123 of Passed Ball

I cut them off on their way to my dad's work truck.

"Morning, sweetie," Dad says, stopping to drop a kiss on my forehead.

"Hey, Dad."

I turn towards my brother, stopping him before he can get into the truck. If I don't do this now, while Harlowe's encouragement is still fresh, I'm afraid I'll chicken out.

"Leo, can we talk? It's important." His brow knits together.

"Everything okay with Tenley?" He pulls his phone out to check it, like he expects to see a call or text from her.

"It's not Tenley."

"Can it wait? We're about to head out."

Before I can open my mouth to tell him no, my dad steps in. "The vines will wait. Talk to your sister." I flash him a thankful smile and he returns it with a sympathetic squeeze to my shoulder. "Love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

Leo shuts the door to the truck and waits as my dad, Levi, and Luca pull away.

"What's going on, Vi?"

Erica was the first person to call me Vi, and it's the only way my brother refers to me to this day. Hearing him say it now is like the first blow in a long fight.

Standing in the driveway doesn't seem like the place to have this conversation. I glance around, my gaze snagging on the tire swing. It's not the same tire or rope Leo hung for Erica when they were in high school, but it still hangs in the same old tree. Her favorite spot to spend evenings with my brother and with me.

"Maybe we could . . ."

His gaze follows mine. When he looks back at me, there's fresh pain in his brown irises.

"I want to feel close to her for what I'm about to say."

Silently, he leads me to the swing, holding it by the ropes for me. I can almost hear the sounds of mine and Erica's laughs. He'd take turns pushing so high that my mom would come out to scold him. The two of us would be in fits of uncontrollable giggles while he took the heat.

I step in front of it, looking over my shoulder at him. "Is this thing going to fall apart on me?"

There's a tick at the corner of his lip, like maybe he's lost in the same memory as me. "Nah. Levi and I changed it out after Gus and Russo broke the rope at the beginning of summer."

Of course the twins would have been the ones to break it. "Think they will ever stop being such menaces?"

"Not if they can help it."

My hands grip the thick ropes and the swing sways back and forth. Leo gives me small pushes, keeping it slow enough not to interrupt the flow of conversation.

"Tenley really seems to enjoy working for that baseball player . . . What's his name again?"

"Stop acting like you don't know. Xavier's one of the best catchers in the league. Football might be your sport, but you know who he is."

"So, Tenley was right, you do like this guy."

"A trap? Maybeyou'rethe family menace. God, no wonder your daughter is the way she is," I tease. It's been a long time since Leo and I have talked like this. Maybe it's the swing. Or maybe it's him.

"I don't know. She had some positive influences too, didn't she?"

"Erica was the best." I sigh.

"I wasn't talking about her mother." His whole tone changes, going from playful to the serious brother I've come to know. "I was talking about you."

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