“Hey, what’s the score?” She asked him while he kept his eyes glued to the TV. She had taken to the young kid and was happy to see him starting to evolve. Gone was the shaky boy that looked too frail to stand. The young man beside her looked eager to take on whatever lay ahead of him.
“Did you see that? The Yankees had the lead by three! They just blew it!” He said exasperated. Cara turned her head and looked at the TV, watching one of the players from the opposing team round the bases. She knew enough about baseball to know that the guy just hit a grand slam and cleared the bases. She looked up at the scoreboard in the top corner of the screen. The Yankees were losing by two. She leaned back against the cushions of the couch and wrapped her arms around herself as she watched the players cheer at home base. Her mind wandered to Luke and she pictured him hunched over grabbing the rim of his baseball hat as he stared at the TV angrily. She covered her mouth with her hand when the giggle erupted from her lips. The broody Lanza was probably having a small fit right now.
Collin looked over at her. “Are you actually laughing that the Yankees are losing?”
Cara peered up at him, not hiding the small smile that she was wearing. “No, I’m just thinking about someone who is probably feeling the same way you are.”
“You should probably call he or she, and talk them off the ledge.” He said and winked at her in good humor. She reached out and tousled his hair before rising to her feet.
“You know what? You’re right.” She said and then nodded towards the TV. “They can come back.”
Collin lifted his hands and showed her that he had his fingers crossed. She smiled and made a beeline towards her room. She took a deep breath once inside and decided she didn’t have to avoid Luke anymore. She was beginning to understand that part of recovering from all that she was suffering from was accepting things for what they were and moving past them. She felt guilty for so many reasons, but the one reason that was currently nagging at her was that she had hung up on Luke and never called him back. Knowing the type of person that Luke was, she knew that he was probably beating himself up and at her expense. She dialed the number that she had now memorized and lifted the phone to her ear.
Luke sat in his car staring up at the bar, he couldn’t bring himself to enter. When he left the game he didn’t feel like going home. The whole ride back from the Bronx he thought about how he could make this right and came up with nothing. He sat in front of Rudy’s and debated on whether or not he should go inside and drown his sorrows. His phone vibrated on the seat next to him and he banged his head against the steering wheel, figuring it was Nick. He felt like an ass for spilling his guts to his friend on a night that he should be enjoying himself. He sighed and glanced over and noticed the familiar number wasn’t Nick’s.
He reached for it and quickly answered it, cursing himself for letting it ring for as long as he had. “Hello?”
“Hi.” Cara said softly as she twirled the ends of her hair around her finger nervously. “The Yankees are losing.”
He leaned his head back against the headrest of his seat and closed his eyes. “Are they?” He said hoarsely.
“You’re not watching?” She asked a bit surprised.
“No.” He said simply.
She remained silent for a moment and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She blurted out.
He opened his eyes and straightened up, leaning one hand on the steering wheel. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”
“I do.” She whispered and then blew away the strands of hair that had fallen into her face. “Can you just hear me out for a minute?”
Luke swallowed and nodded as if she could see him. “Go ahead.”
“Okay, here goes… After we spoke I cried myself to sleep that night.” She admitted, but her voice didn’t weaken.
Luke closed his eyes and gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white as he did so.