Page 24 of The Perfect Steal

John grinned. “He said hello at Hazel’s party on Saturday. And I talked to him at the last game. He was pretty cool, teaching me about reading the ball in the outfield. He said I’ve got speed and that it would help as an outfielder.”

“Aren’t you a catcher?” I asked, trying to remember if I’d missed him talking about moving positions.

He nodded. “Yeah, but if I want to play in the tournament, I have to find a spot until Dax graduates this year. Coach has been having me take fly balls the past few weeks.”

I felt bad that I hadn’t been to one of his games in a while. He usually played them when I was at work. But from the games I’d watched last season, Dax was a really good catcher. Not that John wasn’t too, but John could use a little more meat on his bones. I worried that some of the older high school players would take him out and he’d get a concussion.

“Why do you want to know about Nate? I thought he bugged you.” A sly grin and wide eyes waited for my answer, showing how much he was enjoying this moment.

“I didn’t know him enough to be bugged by him. Maybe he irritated me after one time when we hung out with all the couples, but he’s been pretty good so far. We got paired up on a project in one of my classes. He keeps surprising me.” That was an understatement. Especially by taking over the research part of our assignment and freeing up at least an hour of my time. I’d finished my paper soon after and had gone to bed earlier than I’d expected because of his work. And I’d thought about him the rest of the night. Oh man, I was a goner.

“Yeah, I don’t know much about school stuff. But he puts in the time when it comes to baseball, though he doesn’t like people to know that.”

I pulled into our driveway, parking in my usual spot at the side of the garage. I didn’t turn the car off right away, taking a second to breathe before heading inside. My dad’s truck was sitting outside the closed garage door, which could mean a fight was brewing inside. Mondays were a day off for the college players since they usually traveled all weekend.

“What do you think it will be today?” I said. It was a little twisted to guess what my parents would be fighting about, but it helped take the edge off a bit, allowing me a somewhat outside perspective on the fact that all was not well in the Miller home.

John shrugged. “I’m going to go with the same thing it’s been for the past week: that Dad has been working too much. Which, to be honest, this is the most he’ll be home for the next few months. I think he has his first away game next week.”

I opened the door and got out, grabbing just my backpack from the back seat. I’d have to head back to the school in less than an hour for practice and didn’t want to haul everything back out again.

We headed in through the side door, the only sound silence.

“Maybe it’s a good day?” John said, walking into the kitchen and opening up a cupboard.

“Don’t start eating things now,” my mother’s voice came to us from the other room. Another few seconds, and she appeared. “Dinner will be ready soon, and I want you to eat it.”

I turned and trudged upstairs, not ready for the onslaught of questions. Sometimes I wondered if my mom forgot we weren’t ten anymore. But if she made dinner, that would be better than scrounging up something before or after practice.

I had to squeeze in some homework before practice because afterward I had to scorekeep for the old men’s basketball games. Leaving John to figure it out downstairs with my mom was the only way to keep my sanity right now.

14

Nate

“Hey, Ben,” I said, answering the phone. “What’s up?”

“Are you up for playing some basketball?” he asked, making me think about Brynn. I could tell he was smiling.

That was a sport I hadn’t played in a while. “What do you mean?”

“My dad’s team needs a few more players for tonight’s game. Dax is coming.”

I’d read a bunch of the book we’d been assigned for English, and nothing else was pressing. “Sure, why not? But I’ll need a ride.”

My parents had finally decided a week was enough punishment, but I was only three days into it and already hating life. My mom wasn’t too thrilled to have to take me to school in the mornings either. My guess was she’d have me ask Serena for tomorrow.

“What do you know about Brynn Miller?” I asked, surprised that the words had tumbled out so easily.

Ben chuckled, and I knew I was going to have to fend off some remarks about having a crush, at least until I was ready to admit out loud I did have a growing crush on her. I just wasn’t ready to tell the guys yet, though.

“She’s pretty cool. Serena says it takes her a while to open up, but she’s a fun girl. She hasn’t been hanging out with the three of them lately. They think it’s because she’s single. Or dating Garrett Park secretly.”

His comment stopped me. Was that the reason she was so busy? I knew a sport could take up a lot of time, and I was learning that homework could take over life, especially if she was in a lot of the advanced classes, but Garrett Park, the football player?He had to be my height, about six foot even, but he had at least twenty pounds on me, which helped him as the tight end of our school.

A slice of jealousy cut through me. The best way to get rid of that was to run it off. I might not be the best asset for a basketball team, but at least it would give me a chance to stop thinking about the girl I was starting to like dating a football player.

15

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