Anything but Minor - Kate Stewart Page 0,80

off the lineup and took a deep breath.

“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we salute number three, Andrew Pracht!”

I looked over to Andy as he took the field and waved to the roaring crowd. Minutes passed as the entire stadium stood and said goodbye to one of their favorites. Tears flowed freely down my cheeks as I clapped and whistled before I raised my hat in the air. Andy’s eyes found mine and he lifted his hat up with a smile, a testament to our friendship. I laughed with pride as Dutch made her way back to us with frothy beers. We toasted to number three as we watched nine innings of Andy’s best ball. He’d placed two runners at base and scored the point with a homerun in the eighth inning that won the Swampgators his final game. And in the time the first pitch was thrown to the minute I watched Andy stomp across home plate, I forgot about my aching heart.

Realization dawned as I turned to Dutch. “I’m in love with baseball.”

“I know,” she said without an ounce of surprise.

“I didn’t,” I said with a smile. “You wise old lady,” I cracked as I gave her the elbow. “What else do you know?”

“Hush,” she said as she nodded and the Gators took the field with Andy on their shoulders to give him one last walk around. Dutch and I raised hell as he looked over the crowd with appreciation and longing. When the field began to empty, I sat with Dutch as the crowd dispersed.

“It really is over,” I said as I looked over at Dutch and cursed the fresh tears that brewed in my eyes.

“It’s not over,” she said as she looked on at the field. “The season isn’t—”

The absence of light cut her off as the whole stadium went black. The announcer remained silent, which puzzled us all, and I heard a few people in the crowd voice their distaste.

“What the hell?”

“I can’t see shit. They should at least give us a few minutes to get to the lot. Turn on your cell phone light—”

Then it hit. One guitar rift, one single rift had my mouth opening, and I looked over to Dutch. “Oh. My. God.”

“What’s going on?” Just as she said it, a solid line of fire lit up the sky and burst into purple fizz. Then another just as rapidly streaked the sky above the Jumbotron and burst into flowering, purple flames. The crowd paused as rapid cheers erupted around the stadium and my chest exploded with emotion.

“Rafe,” I whispered as I clutched my hand over my chest to keep it from spilling out.

I looked over to Dutch as the levy broke, my voice raw. “One song can change everything. Did you know that?”

Dutch looked up as the sky burst with solid purple and Prince sang over the speakers. I felt every word hit me and began to cry openly as I finally let my love and heartache seep through.

“Rafe,” I whispered again as I lost all sense of reality.

I looked up to the purple clouds above that lit the park with streaks of beautiful light designed specifically for me. I began to look around with desperate hope of any sign of Rafe and came up empty. Seconds later, my whole heart burst as I felt a hand clasp mine to the left of me and looked over to see Andy with an encouraging smile before he looked up at the colorful sky and shook his head with a smile. I could see the pride in his eyes for his best friend.

Rafe wasn’t there...but he was.

For seven minutes of song, I was completely surrounded in Rafe’s love for me, and that was enough.

I squeezed Andy’s hand as he held mine back and let the river flow as the song hit its crescendo and sprays of purple rain glittered down into the stadium. The crowd roared back to life, completely blown away as I swallowed the last of my pain and whispered a thank you to the heavens for every single minute of the last months of my life. With renewed hope, I pulled Dutch into a reluctant hug.

“That was for you?” she asked as she finally squeezed me back with the hug of a momma bear. “Well, missy, I can say it twice. I told you so.”

I nodded as Dutch looked on at me when I pulled away. “See you next game?”

“I’ll be here,” I said with enthusiasm as she made her way out of