Free Out of Left Field: Marlee's Story by Barbara L. Clanton

out of place.”
    Marlee hadn’t even considered bringing Bobby, but she said, “Oh yeah. That’s cool. I’ll call you. Maybe tomorrow.”
    “Tomorrow would be cool. And you’ll have to tell me all about him sometime. Friday maybe,” Susie said softly.
    They said their goodbyes and Marlee gently placed the phone back in its charger. She stood up and stretched, stiff from having stayed in one place for so long. She walked to the window to drink in the warmth of the late afternoon sun. Marlee didn’t think they’d be talking about Bobby on Friday. Not if she had anything to do with it.
    A sudden chill broke her mood. Bobby. He hadn’t called her yet, but he probably couldn’t get through since she’d been on the phone forever. Funny thing, though, she hadn’t heard the beep of a call waiting. She turned on her cell phone. No missed calls. No messages.
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Dumped
     
     
    “HE NEVER CALLED you?” Jeri took off her softball glove and plopped on the team bench. “Did you call him? Why didn’t you tell me?”
    Marlee grabbed her batting helmet and said, “I was embarrassed, okay? But I’m telling you now. And yeah, I did call him. But he was out. Not home. Zilch. Nada.” She pulled on her batting gloves and said, “Listen, I’m on deck. I’ll fill you in after my homerun.”
    “Ha. You already hit one of those today, Marlee,” Jeri called after her friend.
    The Clarksonville Cougars were beating the Northwood Wolverines by a score of 10-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning in the Tuesday afternoon contest. The game had begun with blue skies and a temperature that hovered between needing to wear a sweatshirt and not needing to wear a sweatshirt. But dark clouds had rolled in forcing the sweatshirts back on.
    Marlee took her practice swings in the on-deck circle and was almost sorry she’d mentioned Bobby to Jeri because now she couldn’t get him off her mind. Bobby hadn’t called on Saturday like he promised, so Marlee called his house. His mother said he was out and didn’t know when he’d be back. Marlee figured he was on his way to her house, but when he didn’t show up after an hour, she got worried. Maybe he’d gotten into a car accident or something. She called his house again and his mother, seeming a little impatient with Marlee, said he had gone to play ice hockey with his friends at the rink. Stunned, Marlee hung up the phone and decided that Bobby would have to call her. She was done waiting.
    Even though she was pissed at him, she still had warm and fuzzy feelings for him. She loved his easygoing manner, his ready smile, his boyish good looks, and the way he had obviously taken to her. But her feelings for him had never turned into anything more. She wished those amazing feelings she experienced that night at Lake Birch had been for him. But they weren’t. Those delicious, tempting, powerful feelings had been for Susie and that was way too scary and confusing to think about directly.
    With concentrated effort, Marlee forced her thoughts back to the game. Julie, their number two batter, promptly got hit by a pitch. The Northwood pitcher didn’t have much control so when Julie got hit Marlee wasn’t surprised. Marlee walked up to the plate feeling strong but angry. Angry that Bobby had stood her up on Saturday so she decided to take it out on the Northwood team. A slow pitch, right down the middle, came her way. Marlee waited just the right amount of time and exploded. Her powerful swing connected with the ball, and it landed in the right-center field gap she had aimed for. Adrenaline pumping, she sprinted to first and got waved toward second. As she rounded second base Coach Spears waved her on to third. She raced toward the bag and Coach Spears threw her hands up signaling Marlee to stop. Marlee slowed her stride and cruised into third base with a triple. The plate umpire called time.
    “Nice hit, Marlee,” Coach Spears congratulated her with a clap on the