Chapter Seven
Carter
Whack!The ball smacks hard against the bat, flying into the net before I reposition and get ready for the next ball. I swing hard, missing, and then throw my bat down in frustration. “Fuck!”
“Dude, calm down. What’s up with you today?” Cole asks from outside the cage.
I shake my head. “Just need to blow off some steam.”
“Yeah, that was obvious. What happened today? ’Cause I know you blew a lot of steam last night.” He laughs.
“Just frustrated about work.”
“What? Is saving kids getting to you now?” he taunts.
I sigh and drop my head. That’s what I should be doing. But with Kyle I can’t and it’s tearing me apart. Gaining my composure, I’m ready for the next ball. “If only it were that easy,” I bark out as I hit it hard.
“Need to talk about it?”
“There’s not much to talk about.” I stop batting and walk out of the cage before continuing. “There’s this kid who’s really sick, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.”
“Why not? I thought you were all superhero status,” he mocks me.
“Not on this one. He needs a bone-marrow donor, and we haven’t found a match.”
“Then you haven’t looked hard enough,” he states like it’s that easy.
“We’ve been searching, but no luck so far.”
“Have you held one of those donor drive things?”
“No, I haven’t, but companies do them all the time.”
“If you haven’t found a match, maybe you should put your energy toward putting one together yourself instead of taking it out on the poor ball over there.”
I drop my head, my shoulders moving up and down with my inner chuckle. Cole’s always one to make me smile when I feel there’s nothing to smile about.
“You might be on to something.”
“Of course I am. I’m me.”
“Okay, that’s enough of your ego today.”
“Nope, not even close. Watch this,” he boasts as he enters the cage. He gets ready to swing the bat and then hits it hard into the net.
* * *
When I mentionedthe donor drive to our supplier, they were more than happy to help out. We picked a day for a few weeks away, and now, I need to get the word out, so I call Cole again. After the batting cages, we put together a plan, and he called his law firm to see if they’d be interested in getting involved as well.
“Okay, we’re all set. Can you help me with a flier, so all your information is on there correctly with the firm?” I say into the phone after he answers.
“I’m on it. Email me the info and a picture of him so I can put it on there. We’ve already set it up with our web guy, and he’s going to blast it to everyone we know, and then I can print the flier to post it all over the campus.”
“Right on. Hey, Cole.” I pause. “Thanks for helping out. It means a lot.”
“You know I’m here. I got you,” he says before hanging up.
I head to Kyle’s room to tell him the good news and get a picture. When I walk in his parents are there. “Mr. and Mrs. Bradshaw, how’s our little patient?” I ask, holding out my hand to greet them.
