Grand Slam

Part 13

We headed back to Ashlyn's house to grab my few clothes and Bentley. Her parents were still there, and her dad was sitting in the living room when we walked in. "Hey baby, y'all are back early," her dad said when we got inside. "Yeah, the meeting didn't last as long as everyone thought so we were just going to grab Dansby's stuff so he can take it back to his house since the water pipe is fixed," Ashlyn said, leaning down to rub Lou and Bentley. "Well, I won't hold y'all up. Mom's getting ready so I can take her out to eat before we go get your brother and Sharon." Her dad said before he started coughing, causing Ashlyn to look up at him with concern. "Are you okay daddy?" "Yeah baby I'm fine," he said, though it seemed like he sounded tired. "Okay, well we're going to get ready and go," Ashlyn said, walking into her room and flopping on the bed while I got all my stuff.

"Your dad sounds tired," I said, throwing some clothes in a bag. "Yeah, it seems like he's always stressed. I wish I could do something about it," Ashlyn said, absentmindedly rubbing the dogs. "Well, what's he worried about?" I asked, grabbing more clothes. "I don't know, me, Shane, his job. There's really no telling." "Maybe we can take your parents and my parents out to dinner tomorrow since we have an early game," I suggested, zipping up my bag. "Yeah, I think they might like that," she said, smiling as she got off the bed. "We can ask them later tonight at the game," I said as we walked back into the living room.

"I'll see y'all tonight," Ashlyn said, going over to hug her dad. "Okay baby, y'all stay safe. Love you," Kevin said, hugging her back. When we were pulling out of the driveway, I looked over at Ashlyn and grabbed her hand. "I'm sure your dad is okay," I said, sensing the worry she felt. "I don't know, he seemed off," She said as we passed my parent's house. "It might just be a cold or something making him feel bad," I said squeezing her hand for reassurance as Bentley stuck her head up from the backseat and licked Ashlyn on the ear, making her laugh.

When we pulled into my driveway, I saw Ender's truck in front of the house with a door open and the front door wide open. "What's happening?" Ashlyn asked looking over at me. "I don't know," I said getting out of the truck and letting Bentley out of the backseat. When we walked in, there were boxes everywhere, and all of Ender's stuff was gone from the living room. "He's just going to up and leave like that?" Ashlyn asked, looking around at the mess. "Did he already sign somewhere else?" I asked, walking further into the house.

When I walked into Ender's room, he was in his closet, grabbing clothes and tossing them onto the bed, and putting them into boxes. "What are you doing?" I asked, making him stop and look up at me. "Packing," he said, continuing to grab clothes. "You literally just got released and you're just going to leave like that?" I asked, looking down at Ender. "I would stay and say goodbye properly mi amigo, but I signed a minor league deal with the Yankees. They want me there tomorrow." Ender said, finally stopping and standing to look me in the eyes.

"I'm going to miss you man," I said, holding my arms out to embrace Ender. We helped him finish packing all his stuff and put it in his truck so he could start towards New York. "I'll come down and visit some as long as y'all come visit when you're up north," he said, hugging me before reaching out to hug Ashlyn. "Of course, we will," she said, hugging him tight before letting go so he could get into the truck.

As he drove off, Ashlyn laid over on my shoulder and took a shaky breath. "How do y'all do this all the time?" she asked as I hugged her to me and we walked back inside. "I don't know. Sometimes it isn't this bad" I said, flopping down on the couch with Bentley. "We're going to have to go ahead and start for the field if we don't want to be late," Ashlyn said, sliding her shoes back on as I got back up.

When we walked into the clubhouse, one of the batting coaches stopped us and said, "Ashlyn, Snitker wants to see you in conference room A," "Okay, do you know why?" she asked, looking confused. "No, he just asked me to tell you when you walked in," he replied, walking towards the field. "Well I'll see you in the locker room I guess," Ashlyn said, walking towards the conference rooms. "Yeah, I'll see you in a minute," I said, walking towards the locker room alone.

Ashlyn's POV
I knocked on the door and walked in to see Snitker sitting with Shane. Shane had that look on his face like he was up to something, but I decided to try and be the better person. As I walked in and sat down, Snit looked over at me before talking. I could feel Shane's eyes on me the whole time. "Ashlyn, why didn't you tell me your brother was also in the MLB?" Snit asked looking between Shane and me. "I didn't feel like it was relevant to you being able to manage and coach this team. I'm sorry if that was wrong," I wasn't actually sorry about it. It was never fun having to live in Shane's shadow growing up, which felt like it never ended. He was always seen as the better sibling between us and it didn't matter if I tried to explain we were different, it would always be, 'Are you going to make it as far as your brother did?'

"I apologize for my sister sir," Shane says as soon as I finished talking. "My sister and I haven't always been on the best terms, so she doesn't always like to talk about me," I wasn't going to look at Shane. I was going to keep a level head. It would probably be a losing battle anyway, knowing how he acts. "Well, you can go get ready to warm up Ashlyn and I hope you're staying for the game," Snit said, standing up and shaking Shane's hand as I walked out of the door and towards the locker room.

Dansby caught my eyes as soon as I walked in, and gave me a look as if to say, "What's wrong?" "Later," I mouthed back to him. I didn't want to tell the whole team about my family issues. "Someone looks upset today," Austin said jokingly as I got to my locker. "Don't start with me right now, please," I said as I opened my locker to put my phone and other things up. "Alright," Austin said, backing off of me with his normal, sarcastic remarks.