home run

locked

Anthony had driven about an a hour and a half until all the suburbs turned into empty farmland, the remaining snow melting into the fertile dirt to create muddy fields. He pulled into Leigh's family's driveway, hopping out and meeting her mother, Rachel, at the door.

"Hey, she's up and over at the high school." Rachel said as a greeting, quickly hugging Anthony in a maternal way he appreciated from the kind older woman.

"Did she mention why?"

"Yeah, she's probably running or something. You must have had a good influence on her because that's not something she would have done ten months ago." Rachel shrugged, pointing over to where the high school sat. It was about three miles away but in the flat farmland it was easily spotted.

He got back in his car, driving slower than he was before. If she was up and about, Leigh must have calmed down from last night.

When he pulled up to the school, he spotted her motorcycle among a gathering of cheap older cars. Anthony got out, following the noise of a crowd. He walked around the side of the small school and found the entrance to the gym. From inside, he could hear what sounded like a group of feminine voices and the sound like a bucket of balls being dropped on hardwood.

He walked into the gym, trying to act as non-threatening as possible when he saw it was a high school softball team practicing.

"Uh... Coach?" The girl closest to him gaped and called for the coach over her shoulder while keeping him in her sights.

Anthony focussed and saw the stocky blonde man striding towards him from the other side of the gym, looking pissed. He scanned quickly and found Leigh's taller frame jogging over to him quicker.

"Hey Anthony." She said, having the courtesy of looking abashed at his presence, "What are you doing here?"

Before he could answer, the coach approached both of them and put his hand on Leigh's shoulder as he fumbled to put his glasses on.

"Coach, this is my boyfriend-" Leigh started and Anthony lifted an eyebrow, making the connection that this must be the same coach she had in high school.

"Anthony Rizzo?" He sounded confused, now looking at Anthony through his slightly smudged glasses. He took his protective hand off of Leigh's shoulder and extended it to the baseball player.

"Coach is a Cubs fan." Leigh filled in, rolling her eyes good naturedly.

Anthony smiled at him and shook his hand, "Pleased to meet you, sir. I didn't think I'd ever be able to meet Leigh's former softball coach."

"It's good to meet you! Did you know she could barely hit a ball when she first joined up—"

Leigh laughed, pulling Anthony away, "That's great, Coach, I gotta speak to him for a second though."

The man waved his hand and retreated to the girl he was working with, now chatting with her teammates at the batting cage set up behind her.

She led him into the hallway adjacent to the gym and stood across from him, starting with, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Anthony said, crossing his arms and leaning against a locker. It was hard to be stern with her but he knew she wouldn't talk about her feelings otherwise. And this was a conversation that needed to happen sooner rather than later.

"For bailing like that." Leigh sighed, wiping her sweaty cheek on her shoulder in lieu of dragging her hand down it. "I know I need to talk to Michael and Kate. Did they show you what they had hid from me?"

Anthony let out his own sigh. Time to bite the bullet. "Actually, I knew he was sending letters. I didn't know what was in them."

Confusion, anger, and finally irritation crossed her face quickly, "And you three didn't think to tell me that I was receiving a shit ton of weird ass letters from my stalker?"