The Hitting Zone
chapter-1193

"This is it." Mom dabbed her eyes with the sleeve of her t-shirt. We were back at the house minus Kaylee and her sister.

Kyle's car, formerly Dad's, was all packed up. With every little item Mom could think of at the last minute to stuff in. His baseball bag had a seat of its own just to insure he didn't lose sight of it. He said everything was replaceable except for his gear. His glove was broken in to fit his hand perfectly. His cleats were still relatively new and didn't give him blisters. His bat was mostly symbolic now, just a reminder that he was able to swing in high school. He said he might still take some practice swings in the cages to let off some steam. Which made Noah laugh and claim that it would just make him more angry.

Kyle let Mom hug him and just rubbed her back. "Mom, I'll be back before you know it. You can even try to make it to one of my starts when you guys get back from Omaha. I'll let you know when I know more."

Noah's eyes lit up. "Yes! Another roadtrip! We can also go see the Diamondbacks play and their stadium." He looked at me. "You would like their stadium. It's indoors most of the season so controlled climate. Way more modern than the A's. I think it's even better than the Giants."

Kyle let go of Mom and reached out to push Noah's cap down over his eyes. "You're an idiot. I'm inviting you to watch me play, not the majors."

"Who says we can't do both?" Noah swatted his hand away and fixed his hat. "Don't lie, you would want to go to Chase Field too. I bet you go before we even get a chance to visit you."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Why would I wait for you all?"

"That's what I thought." Noah grinned. He held out a closed fist. "Good luck down there."

Kyle bumped it with his own and then held it out towards me.

I gave him a fist bump too. "Yea, good luck."

He pointed at me. "You too. When I come back, I want to hear how you made it to Team USA and will be representing the country next summer." He moved onto Dave.

Dave didn't settle for a fist bump and threw his whole body at Kyle. Kyle tried to back up to dodge, but Dave still caught him and gave him a bear hug, lifting him off his feet. He tried to spin around, but Kyle stopped him and got put back down.

"You've got a head start on me and Zeke now." Dave slapped Kyle on the shoulder. "At the very least, beat him to the top. Then I can claim that I could've done the same."

Kyle scoffed. Then grinned. "Don't forget to visit. Then I'll visit you at school. See what that college life could have been like for us."

Dave nodded.

Kyle hugged Grampa, accepting the old man's request to kick butt. Rookie ball couldn't be that much different than being at the Tulare Invitational. Just a bunch of all-stars gathering for the beginning of their careers. Kyle hugged Mom one more time, then got into the driver's seat.

Dad's goodbye wasn't nearly as long as it was simply: "I'll meet you boys in Omaha." He hugged and kissed Mom, then rounded the car and got in the front passenger seat.

Kyle started the car and put it in reverse, pulling out of the driveway. He and Dad gave one last wave, honked, and went down the street.

Dave put his hands behind his head. "Feels weird knowing that we'll see Dad so soon, but not Kyle."

Noah shrugged. "I'm used to it in the summer time. You and him always going from one camp to another." He looked at me. "Want to go to the cages?"

I nodded immediately.

He looked to Mom, who was still wiping the corner of her eyes occasionally. "We're going to go now, Mom. We'll be back for dinner though, okay?"

"Be back by 7pm." Grampa said. He walked to Mom's side and started to guide her back to the house.

Dave rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe we should stay with Mom today?"

"Dude, she needs a moment to herself." Noah rolled his eyes. "She'll be okay by dinner."

"You really think so?" I asked in a low voice, trying not to be overheard by Mom.

"Yea, yea. She'll forget about him in no time." Noah waved our worries away. "Soon we'll be busy in Omaha and then she'll be catching up on work stuff when we get back. You know how it goes. Just look with Zeke. She missed him, but then she got used to him being gone. Same thing. We'll visit him later when he knows his schedule and if he'll get to start in the future."

"Of course he'll start in the future." Dave said, knocking Noah on the head. "He's too much of a ball hog to be doing relief work." He headed for the garage. "Come on. Didn't you guys want to go to the cages?"

Noah rubbed the top of his head. "This guy is going to be moody all week, I just know it." He glanced at me. "It's not Mom and Dad or even Grampa that we need to worry about. It's Dave."

I was taken aback. "No…what? I don't think so. Dave has always-"

"Dave has always been with Kyle." Noah cut me off. "He's going to feel alone so let's keep him preoccupied."

As we headed to the garage and got our gear to put in the car, I thought it over. Noah was right. Very rarely did the twins do something alone. Last summer they only did one different camp and I couldn't say for certain what that was like for Dave. I always thought he hated to be compared to Kyle and this would be his chance to stand alone, but maybe the transition won't be as smooth as I had imagined.

At the cages, I could already see a difference in attitude as Dave was constantly giving Noah a hard time. Noah gave it right back, mocking Dave's swing after a bad go around.

Normally being at the cages was a time for peace and practice, but this afternoon was a bunch of goofing off and smack talk. Noah didn't leave Dave alone for a second. I didn't either.

I was still able to get my swings in and give pointers to the pair while also being a small-time referee. Dave was over-swinging, trying way too hard, leaving room for a lot of ugly swings. Noah was making more contact, but had a lot more fouls than usual, letting Dave give him grief for not being able to get it to go forward. They tired themselves out leading to a quiet ride home.

Until my phone rang. Jeremy.

I answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Jake, it's me. I just saw Kyle's instagram story." Jeremy said. "He's already on his way to Phoenix?"

"Yea, he should get there tomorrow." I answered. "Dad and him are going to stop around LA for the night. Maybe get there by lunch time tomorrow."

"How are you feeling about it?"

I shrugged. "Okay so far." I caught Dave glancing at me using the rearview mirror so I added a little more. "He's not going to be gone for too long. Noah said it's kind of like last summer when the twins would go to a bunch of pitching camps."

"Yea, he should be back no later than the end of September." He paused. "Hey? I think we play in LA around that time…sort of. It's the Angels. It's…"

"I know." I took a deep breath. "Near where I used to live. Where we used to live." I corrected myself.

Noah turned around in the front seat to look at me, raising his eyebrows.

"Jeremy might be near LA when Kyle's season possibly ends." I explained. I put him on speaker.

"Yea, I think we can take a look, ya know." Jeremy said. "If the timing lines up right."

"We would be in school." Noah sighed. "Might just be a Kyle thing unless Mom and Dad agree to let us miss some time."

"We'll see. It's months away. Maybe Kyle would be in the league championship and Mary and Wayne will want to see him in action." Jeremy threw out there.

"We're thinking about seeing him this summer when we know the rotation." Noah told him some of our summer plans, which start with a trip to Omaha.