Page 5 of Home Field Advantage
Dallas
“You know, I didn’t believe you when you said you were moving out of state,” Mitch says before taking a pull of his beer.
“Same,” Tyler adds. “I just thought it was some sick joke after that season-ending loss.”
Shaking my head, I huff out a laugh. “I’m still not sure how I feel about it, even after weeks of figuring out the details. But when April said she had this opportunity, I jumped on it too. I need the time away from San Francisco to get over my shit without everything hanging over my head.”
“I’ll be honest,” Mitch starts, pausing nervously as he looks down at his hands on the bar top. “I felt like you jumped quickly into the coach position.” He looks up and holds his hands up in defense before even giving me a chance to say anything. “Not that I didn’t think you were gonna kick ass at the job. You just didn’t allow yourself enough time to get over what happened. I know that had to be devastating for you.”
“Agreed,” Tyler adds.
“If I were to lose baseball,” Mitch continues, “I would be a mess. Someone would have to pick me up out of bed every morning.” He laughs to lighten the mood.
I nod because he’s right. “I think losing baseball, or at least…losing the opportunity to play, just snowballed into everything else crashing down around me. I just needed something else to focus on when things with April…”
Mitch scoffs. “Let’s be honest, your marriage was never going to last regardless.”
“Agreed,” Tyler says.
“Then I was delusional to think things would look up with the head coaching position,” I continue, ignoring his comment about my failed marriage. “Only for that to also crash and burn.”
Mitch rolls his eyes. “That didn’t crash and burn. This is all only temporary, according to Clark. It will be good for you to get this time away.”
“Yes.” Tyler nods in agreement.
Mitch turns his chair to face him. “Are you just going to agree with everything I say and repeat after me?”
He nods and starts laughing. “You’re a wise old man, so I’m just being smart to agree.”
“Call me old one more time,” Mitch warns before relaxing in his chair. “I’m only two years older than you.”
While I may be their coach, these two have been my best friends since the beginning of my baseball career. Mitch, Tyler, and I all attended the same high school in South Carolina and met at tryouts in junior year. Tyler, a freshman at the time, asked if anyone had an extra glove because he’d forgotten his. Mitch gave him one, and then we all fell into hysterics that this guy shows up to baseball tryouts without a glove. We all made the team and have been inseparable since.
“Anyway…” Tyler ignores him and focuses his attention on me. “Did you find a place there?”
I shake my head over the brim of my beer bottle. “I’m not living in the city.”
“Where the hell are you going to live?” Tyler asks.
After losing that game and my conversations with Clark and April, I left the stadium feeling every emotion swarming me. Iheld it in for Sage while I took her to get ice cream, but after that, I sat in my Tahoe in the parking lot of April’s apartment complex, staring through my front window until the street lights turned on, thinking about everything that led me to that moment. Thinking about every reckless and impulsive decision I ever made without thinking things through.
The one constant good thing in my life is Sage. But I feel like I fuck that up more often than not, especially when it comes to being a good father to her.
I’ve never had the opportunity to fully be there for her the way I should’ve been as a dad. I struggled with my erratic schedule, and my marriage ended because of all of it. April hated that baseball always came first and that I couldn’t change the drive in me to be the best there was. I was so caught up in my dreams that I never once realized how much it was affecting the people around me.
“I can’t go from living in one city to another,” I answer honestly. “I found a small town less than an hour from Cheyenne, where she’s going to be, called Bluestone Lakes.”
“That sounds…” Tyler starts.
“Oddly therapeutic,” Mitch finishes for him. “Is this one of Clark’s many getaway recommendations?”
I laugh, shaking my head. “I found it online.”
Tyler spits out his drink and can’t hold back his laugh. “You just found this place online? Did you search for small towns to live in Wyoming?”
“Actually…yeah.”
That only makes him laugh harder. “This just made my day.”
