Page 54 of The Way We Swing Back

“Easton?” Tanner said. “You good?”

“Oh–yeah. What do you think?”

“I think it’s a great idea.”

“Then I think we should, too.”

Mrs. Quinn said, “Okay, good. I’ll look into it in the morning. I’m not sure exactly how that works.”

“Try to stay with Gavin and Zach as much as you can for the next couple of weeks, too, please,” Mr. Quinn said. “Just watch out for yourself, okay?”

“Got it,” I said. My throat was dry, and I wasn’t sure what else to say. Would this be what the rest of my life was? Him in my head, him at my front door, him at my games? To me, Mom's death had been a firm cut-off, but to him… it was just a blip on the radar. Like she didn’t mean anything.

The next two hours blurred. No one said much until the pizza came, and then everyone seemed to relax. Tanner kept glancing at me, and, even when it seemed like he was watching the game, I could sense the side of his eyes always on me, waiting to see if I’d break.

After the game ended and the pizza was devoured, he said, “Wanna watch a movie downstairs?”

“You sure you don’t need to study, dude?”

“Naw, I’ve mostly got it covered.” His eyes darted away from me as I stood and followed him downstairs, Gavin trailing behind us with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

I jumped on the couch, half expecting Tanner to follow me like he used to. Wishing he would. Instead, he took one of the movie chairs next to Gavin. His phone was in his palm, vibrating with a call, but he ignored it as he turned on the movie and Gavin turned off the lights.

“You alright?” Tanner asked.

“Yeah, man.”

He gripped the seat handles and squeezed. “You’re sure?”

Half of me wanted to say it. I could probably get away with it tonight, too, and just blame it on dad. I could tell Tanner what I hadn’t for years now.

Which wouldn’t be fair to him. Because of Calvin.

Not like I hadn’t had my chances before him and wussed out.

“Yeah,” I opted for. “Thanks for coming back.”

“Always, Easton,” he said. His eyes lingered before moving to the screen, and my insides clenched themselves tight.

Halfway through the movie, as I lay sprawled across the couch, Gavin came over. He threw his blanket over me and lay next to me, his head inches from mine, his back pressed up against my chest. The kid who'd made sure I knew he was taller than me a week ago was small again now, folding into me the way he used to fold into Tanner. His breathing was steady, in the way that steadied me.

It should have been enough. It nearly was. But my eyes kept drifting to the chair where Tanner sat, ten feet and a whole world away.

I shoved the idea out of my head and wrapped my arm around Gavin, never wanting to let him go. Never wanting to let anyone in this family go. Not again.

Chapter 24

“Easton,” Coach Berrios said, pointing at me from across the English room. Maybe I should have called him Mr. Berrios since technically we were in his class, but that was plain weird.

It was two days after my dad had shown up at the house, and my classmates were filing out, buzzing with the excitement of a Friday night football game starting in four hours and the last class of the week completed. I scrunched my nose, not sure what I’d done to be held after class; usually, if Coach needed to talk to me, he’d grab me at practice.

“Pull up a seat,” he said once the room had emptied. Noise trickled in through the open door, but I focused on Coach while pulling a seat next to his desk, which was covered in papers, tests, and score books.

“What’s up?” I said.

A smile spread across his face, informing me this was a good meeting. Maybe I had aced his test on Wednesday; Zach and I had studied for two hours for it. “I got a call from the coach from Central Missouri that I’ve been working on for months. He’s interested.”

“He’s what?” I said, standing up from the chair and sliding it back, the legs screeching against the floor.