"Jeremy Patterson..." Mr. Caron mumbled. He looked down at . "Are you guys now on good terms? I haven’t heard of any developnts in a few weeks."
I shrugged, not sure myself. "We had a talk. We aren’t close."
"But, he’s here. You didn’t invite him?" He lit up. "Wait. He has a ga himself tonight. He skipped work to be here."
Noah laughed. "You sound a little too excited, Mr. Caron."
Mr. Caron blushed. "Well...it’s news. Related to a pro baseball player. And I’m a sports reporter."
"Co on, Jake, let’s go introduce him to Jeremy." Noah wiggled his eyebrows. "Maybe let Mr. Caron give him a few tough questions."
"Can I?" Mr. Caron perked up like a toddler in a candy store. He looked at , trying to tone down his excitent. "It’s up to you Jake. I don’t want to say anything that will make you uncomfortable."
"The only one that should feel uncomfortable is Jeremy. Jake, co on." He grabbed my arm, taking outside the dugout where his parents were. And...where the Patterson’s stood nearby.
I took solace in the fact that they looked as awkward as I felt. Sohow...it made want to laugh.
"Mom! Dad! We won!" Noah said excitedly. "Jake is just a monster at the plate! I can’t wait until-" He stopped mid sentence. Then looked up at his dad. "Do you think they’ll let us play sumr ball now..?"
"Let’s save that conversation for another day." Mr. Atkins patted his son head. "Congrats on your big win. We’re so proud of you." He looked at . "Both of you. All my boys beca state champions on the sa day. Not too many parents can say that." He smiled proudly.
"Mr. Caron." Mrs. Atkins greeted politely. "I hope we didn’t interrupt. You went easy on Jake, right?"
"Of course." Mr. Caron nodded. "I’ve never heard him speak so much. I got enough to write my review of the ga. It’s been great following your boys all season long. There’s no other team I like watching more."
Mr. and Mrs. Atkins laughed. "I never knew you were a suck-up."
"I’m still trying to get that invite for Zeke’s draft day party." He joked.
"Of course you’ll be invited!" Mrs. Atkins agreed. "You’ve done a lot for us over the years. I’m sure Zeke will agree to even let you interview him afterwards. You’ll be the first to know if he decides to go pro or not."
"He won’t." Noah spoke up. "You don’t know, but before the ga, he got Rhys to talk to that Stanford coach. I think if Rhys decides to go here, Zeke will put the pros off for a chance to play in the College World Series."
Both parents blinked in surprise. Mr. Caron was just as shocked as he looked down at his phone, still recording. "Do you guys mind if I go interview Zeke right now?"
"By all ans.." Mr. Atkins gave him permission.
"Don’t you want to et the Patterson’s first?" Noah halted Mr. Caron. "After all, you know where to find Zeke. It would be harder to see these two guys again." He tilted his head at them, making and Mr. Caron glance their way.
Jeremy and Jack noticed the looks coming their way. We made eye contact. I guess they took that as an invite to co over.
"Hey." Jeremy said in a gruff voice.
I nodded at him, staying distant.
"It was a great ga, Jake." Jack spoke up. "You did well. You definitely have the Patterson blood in you."
"Sure, you say that now." Noah snorted. "After the blood test."
"Noah." Mr. Atkins said in a warning tone. "Let’s try to be more civil."
Noah nodded slowly. "Sure. Sure. Whatever you say, Dad." He looked at Mr. Caron. "This is Jeremy and Jack Patterson, Mr. Caron. Confird blood relatives of Jake."
Jack looked at Mr. Caron wearily. "You’re a reporter?"
Mr. Caron nodded excitedly. "I mostly cover high school sports, but specifically baseball."
Jeremy looked uncomfortable. "Do you mind giving us so space?"
"Oh." Mr. Caron’s excitent deflated. "Okay. Sure." He looked at the Atkins. "I guess I’ll go look for Zeke."
I glanced at Noah. Was he just going to let them scare Mr. Caron away like that?
Noah caught my look and understood. He held up his hand to stop Mr. Caron. "You don’t have to listen to him. If you have anymore questions for and Jake, we’ll happily answer them."
Mr. Caron looked surprised. He held back. "Well, just a few more, of you don’t mind." He looked at and I nodded. He lifted his phone. "Can you recap what happened when your bat broke in the sixth inning? How did you feel? I ask because I know you specifically use a wooden bat in all gas and practices."
"I don’t actually know what happened." I shrugged, feeling depressed. "I was so focused on getting a hit, that I didn’t even realize it was broken until I was standing on second, looking at the broken piece in my hand. As to what I was feeling...I think I was on the edge of having a breakdown." I gulped. "I can’t play with an aluminum bat."
"Do you mind if I ntion why in my article?" Mr. Caron asked.
"We would prefer that you didn’t." Mr. Atkins interjected. "I don’t want anyone poking at Jake’s weakness until he feels more comfortable with it."
"Understandable." Mr. Caron nodded, then faced again. "So you were scared that you couldn’t play in the ga anymore. At that point, did you think you were going to have another chance to bat?"
"The whole team knew that if we wanted a chance to win, it would most likely co down to Jake." Zeke said, joining the group. "So I sent Noah to find our parents to try and get a new bat."
"No spares?" Mr. Caron asked.
"We didn’t think Jake would need one." Mrs. Atkins answered. "He broke one before, but we thought it might be do to misuse. So when we bought him one to use, Noah looked up how to care for the bat. We never had a problem since. I’m just happy that-" She looked at Jeremy, stunning us.
Jeremy shrugged, putting his hands in his sweatshirt. "I had an old bat in the car. Once I saw that his broke, I went to go get it."
"It was yours?" Noah and I asked at the sa ti, but with different kinds of feelings.
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