t day, I carried my

ok and the gloves outs

movement

fork and turne

le smile, but his eyes

do you

t answer

him for a

you," I

more. You have basic baseball cl

not re

I caught sight of the far

able. A cup of black coffee sat in front of him

is gaze landing on th

e book, then lo

or a s

s eyes and kept dr

rge announced som

ut into his steak, his tone flat. "Liam is pla

, you're going too. Sit in

down m

Liam's fork paus

." He picked up his g

ed, "Don't worry. I'll

scraped lightly a

and stared at the

the table w

between the brothers pull tighter and

e final, Liam began t

e backyard batting cage staye

I went to the ki

the glass door, I

hirt was soaked through, and an ice pa

in the d

w me

air was so quiet I could he

ss from the cabinet, an

ice pack slowly melte

glass, I paused

e glass o

ater, then up at me, he

ut and took it, his fi

were

ng and turne

hl

came from

nd looked b

, the mist on it bl

hing

, he turned and l

there in

..

ok me to the seaside o

ed me a

on t

lose against his back. The shape of his shoulder blades ben

er, sunset burned th

e bike and took

hl

aused on

he sunset, his face half in

," he said softly, "would you

wind h

y grip on the

d and stepp

k at me, his gaze serious. "But I want you to know... The

eat sudde

y mind was Liam's startled face in the kitche

before t

I got up and went to

light wa

I saw light spilling thro

was hal

old baseball in his hand. The leather was

t the ball, h

om

o soft I could

ch me play tomor

my chest clenched as if som

old and distant, had moments