Page 81 of Running Home to You
Abby nodded and grabbed her bat. The Eagles led but were stillthe undisputed underdogs against West Georgia State. Of the whole national tournament really. A single error, a shift in the momentum, might make the game’s gods turn on them. Though Abby was certain they’d already turned on her.
“Come on, Abby!” Audie shouted as she went up to bat. “Aye!Aplasta la pelota!”
She hated his power over her. Hated that he echoed with a frequency she never forgot. She recalled his visits. Birthdays, a drunk Thanksgiving, a few Christmases standing on the porch while her parents argued and the neighbors threatened to call the cops. It always ended in screaming and her mother clutching a liquor bottle.
“Vamos, Abby!”
She came to as she chopped under a rise ball and flew out to left field. “Fuck.”
Abby trudged through the remaining innings and outs, consumed by the very person who made the game part of her. The only one with the power to take it away.
When it ended and the victorious Eagles sent West Georgia State to the loser’s bracket, Abby hurried from the field. Kate didn’t say a word. She simply didn’t leave, trailing behind her toward the team bus.
“Abby! You’re really not going to talk to me?” Audie shouted, but Abby walked on. “I came here to see you. I deserve to talk to my daughter!”
She halted at the last words.My daughter.Abby turned with her jaw locked into stone. Her nose reacquainted itself with him first. Cigars and cologne masking the tang of liquor in his sweat. Then she scanned the rest. A collage of her features. Iridescent amber irises, a wide nose with a slight crook from multiple breaks sustained on the field and in bars, thick lips raised in a half smile. Audie was nearing sixty, but for all his vice and hard living, it barely showed.
“It’s wonderful to see you, mija.” He opened his arms, but Abby stepped back.
“Don’t,” she said.
“Just like when you were a little girl.” Audie chuckled. “Our little storm.”
“I don’t want you to come to any more games,” Abby said. She miraculously stayed level enough to make the demand without shouting, mostly thanks to Kate hovering behind her.
“Why are you not playing shortstop?”
“We already have a shortstop. The team needs me at third.”
Abby pivoted for the bus, but Audie grabbed her shoulder. She jerked away as big, angry buttons sprang along her spine and bubbled beneath her skin, waiting to be pressed. It would just take one careless bump, and she’d lose it. And Audie was plenty careless.
“Why is the head of Team USA calling me? Skip says you’ve ignored multiple invitations to try out—”
“Why do you care? Why are you even here?”
Abby’s neck smoldered. More of her teammates took notice. Mick and Jill circled closer, lingering behind her and Kate like guard dogs.
Audie shook his head, switching to Spanish in his frustration. “I’ve seen you play. You’re wasting your potential. You should be preparing for gold. If you don’t want to play for Skip, you can play for Puerto Rico. You should be competing for a D1 championship instead of slumming it here!”
This hit the biggest button straight on. “Who are you to talk about my potential? Aboutmyteam!” she roared back in English. “We haven’t talked for years, and you show up to lecture me about fucking softball? You decide to care now because I can hit a ball like you?”
“¡Soy tu padre! Of course I care.” Audie snarled, threw his arms out at his sides. “You think I haven’t been around? Who do you think pays for you to come here?”
Abby scoffed at his blatant, desperate lie. “No, you don’t. It’s covered because Isla works for the university.”
“After what you did? No.” Audie tsked. “Whose idea do you think it was for you to transfer? Huh? Do you think any team wanted you?”
Abby’s knees wobbled, and she might’ve fallen if it wasn’t for Kate subtly bracing her back. She shook her head. “No. You didn’t. You never had any money.”
“There’s a trust, mija. I made your sister the executor. You’ll get it when you graduate.”
“Oh, you’re paying me off now?”
“It’s always been there!” Audie shouted. “Your mother wouldn’t let you have it! She kept it from you to punish me. She didn’t care if it punished you too.”
“You’re a liar!”
The fans, parents, and players around them lowered their conversations.
