The Bottom of the Ninth

The pool water tasted like chlorine and regret. Marcus surfaced from his tenth lap, gasping, as the friend who had once saved his life sat on the deck, swinging his legs like a teenager.

"You still swim like you're escaping something," Danny said, tossing a baseball in the air. The motion was casual, but the ball landed hard in his palm each time. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Marcus pulled himself up, water streaming down his face. "I'm not escaping anything. Just staying in shape."

"Right." Danny's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Like how you're not escaping the fact that it's been fifteen years since we've spoken properly?"

They'd been best friends since Little League. Danny had been the pitcher with the golden arm, Marcus the catcher who could read his mind. Then came the accident—the wrong pitch at the wrong moment, a career-ending injury for Danny, a lifetime of guilt for Marcus. Baseball had been their language, their bond, their everything.

Now Danny was here, at Marcus's gym, unannounced and unwelcome.

"I heard about the divorce," Danny said softly. The baseball stopped moving. "I'm sorry, Marcus."

Marcus's chest tightened. He couldn't breathe, and this time it had nothing to do with the swimming. "Thanks. It's been... hard."

"You always swam when things got bad. Even in high school, when your dad—"

"Don't." Marcus stood up, water dripping onto the concrete. "Just don't."

Danny set the baseball on the deck between them, a peace offering and a reminder all at once. "I wasn't escaping my injury, Marcus. I was escaping the fact that I blamed you. For years. Until I realized it wasn't your fault any more than it was mine."

The words hung between them like humidity before a storm. Marcus thought about his empty house, his failed marriage, all the things he'd been swimming away from for decades.

"Want to grab a drink?" Danny asked. "Catch up? Like old times?"

Marcus looked at the baseball, then at his friend. For the first time in years, he didn't feel like drowning.

"Yeah," Marcus said. "Like old times."