301 A Lead 1 (1/2)

Mary sat there by herself for a few minutes before getting up and going to the field. Even though she was thrown off by Zeke's lack of a reaction, she still had to go and support him. She arrived in the stands just in time to watch them finish warming up. Zeke was already out there, fitting in with a group of serious looking young men. She glanced to a separate group that were sharing a laugh and looked like they were having fun.

She sighed to herself. She loves her sons all the same, but sometimes she wished they weren't so baseball crazy. Just a mini side hobby would make her feel that they're more balanced.

A ding from her phone alerted her that she had a text.

From Wayne: I found out why the boys went to a party on Saturday night=girls. Specifically, Kyle and a girl from the softball team. He's trying to use this to get out of being grounded so he can go on a date. Lord help us.

Mary brightened up. Just what she wanted. She sent her husband a reply.

To Wayne: Let him! Finally! A normal teenage boy out chasing girls!

From Wayne: So you just want me to let them all off the hook just like that?

To Wayne: No, of course not. But I'll allow him to go on a date. On the weekend. After midterms. But, he'll have to take Noah and Jake as chaperones. Either them or Zeke. He can decide.

From Wayne: Wow. Who knew you were such a cool mom? Shouldn't we just make it a double date?

To Wayne: Do you want our boys to be single all their lives??

From Wayne: Just kidding. They'll be fine. They're only in high school. I didn't get my first girlfriend until college.

Mary didn't reply to that. She remembered his so-called first girlfriend; twenty-five years later and it still ticks her off just thinking about it. She turned her attention to her son and watched as he practiced with the college team. Even though she wished he wasn't so baseball crazy, she was proud of how great he was. He practiced super hard to get to this level and it's good to see baseball opening doors for him. She sent out a mini prayer: please go to college.

After watching the full practice/tryout, she made plans with Zeke to pick him up tomorrow morning to bring him to the third college, California State University Fullerton (CSUF). It was more inland and outside of Los Angeles so she would have to switch hotels as well. She gave Zeke the same old speech about being safe with these strangers before leaving him again. She wanted to be there for every step of the college picking process, but knew Zeke liked being on his own and had to find out by himself whether he liked the school or not.

Just as she got back into her hotel room and started to get comfortable, her phone started to ring. Thinking it was her husband, she blindly answered. ”Hello?”

”Hello Mary, it's Camila. You came to my house a couple days ago?”