Page 53 of Home Sweet Home

“Hi, Coach,” Freddy said. “Hi, Evie.”

West jumped back, stumbling over a cone in the grass, and Evie covered her laugh with a hand. When he recovered, he handed Freddy the stack of cones. “Help me with these? Twenty feet apart. See those over there?”

Freddy nodded, starting toward the outfield.

Once Freddy was out of earshot, West leaned in and said in a low voice, “Think I could kiss you right now without him seeing?”

West’s words melted down the anxiety she’d worked herself up over, and it took all her willpower to move away from him. “No way. And if they find out, the next month is going to be hell. So be on your best behavior.”

As practice ramped up, Evie couldn’t concentrate. West kept brushing up against her as he scooted past her, his hands light on her upper arms, so light that he might not have even touched her, but it sent a current through her. When she handed him a cup of water on the field, their hands brushed against each other. She wished she could snap her fingers and make everyone else vanish, imagining West pushing her up against the back of the dugout…

“Evie?” Oliver said, holding out his foot, bringing Evie back to reality. “My laces.”

The lace on his left cleat had severed at a frayed spot.

“Got you covered.” Evie unwound a lace from a spare pair of cleats she kept on hand. One boy or another was always forgetting their gear. “Give me yours.”

Oliver peeled the cleat off and handed it to her.

She sat on the dugout bench and started to unlace the broken string as Oliver sank down next to her. “How are you liking the team?”

Oliver pushed his glasses up his nose. They were constantly sliding down. “It’s been okay.” His cleated foot toed a circle in the dirt. “West is cool.” He shrugged like it was no big deal, but there was an undercurrent of admiration in his voice.

Out on the field, West was watching the boys running sprints, bolting between the cones.

“Well, I’ve been impressed. That pop fly you caught last practice was no joke.” She tried to catch his gaze.

He didn’t make eye contact, though. His nose was scrunched up, his mouth curling to the side, probably reliving the horrible experience with his father during the same game. Evie wished she had magical powers, so she could hex Robert Martin for being such an asshole to a boy as sweet as Oliver. “Thanks.”

Evie glanced out at the field. Josh’s sprints had slowed to jogs, and he was clutching his abdomen like he had a stitch. She handed the newly laced cleat back to Oliver. “Haven’t seen you at the house in a while.”

Oliver’s eyebrows drew into the center of his forehead. His eyes darted toward the patch of grass where Josh was before turning back toward Evie. “I don’t think he wants me there.”

“Course he does,” Evie said. “You’ve been friends since you were in diapers.”

She watched as he turned something over in his head. She didn’t know what it was, but something happened. She was sure of it now.

“At school,” Oliver started. “In English, we—”

The shriek of a whistle cut through the air.

“Circle up,” West said. The boys arranged themselves around him, hands on their hips, tilting their heads back to let more oxygen into their lungs. West spotted Evie and Oliver and waved them onto the field. “Both of you too.”

Walking to the huddle, Evie’s brain swirled with possibilities of what Oliver might have said.

“Listen up,” West said. “We play Bend again next week. And we play them right here.”

“We can’t beat that dude,” Freddy said, shaking his head. “He’s a beast.”

A few boys nodded in agreement. Evie felt Oliver tense beside her, holding his breath.

“I really don’t like that word,” West said. “Can’t. We can. All we gotta do is put in the work. And yeah. We might lose again. In this game, someone wins, and someone loses. But if we go out there with that attitude? That wecan’t? Anyone here know what a self-fulfilling prophecy is?”

The boys panted from the sprints. Dozens of pairs of eyes squinted against the afternoon sun. Oliver’s hand rose a few inches into the air.

“Tell us, Oliver,” West said.

“Like when you believe something’s true, and believing it makes you act a certain way that makes it come true?” He answered like he was asking a question.

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