Lost Boy (31 page)

“I said, ‘I'm sorry you had to wait.' It wasn't right. I . . . it's hard to explain. I won't even try. But you were right. I lied. I
did
love her. Part of me still does. . . .”

Ryder was afraid to even ask, but he had to. “Can they save her?”

“I think they can.” Thomas Trent smiled weakly. “I wanted to tell you, in person. I had to do this, but now I have to go. I won't ask you to understand that either, but this is the last time you'll see me, Ryder. There won't be any more money, and I can't be a father to you.”

“I . . .” Ryder's eyes blurred with tears. “I don't
care.
”

Ryder laughed and cried and he hugged Thomas Trent tightly before letting him go. The big league player looked like he might cry too, but he bit his lip and nodded at Mr. Starr and Doyle, then turned and walked out the door.

Darkness filled the window of his mother's hospital room by the time the doctor came in later that night.

Ryder jumped up. So did Doyle. Mr. Starr jerked awake and straightened in his chair.

“She's very strong,” the doctor said. “I feel pretty safe saying she's going to make it.”

They whooped and hugged the doctor. Mr. Starr beamed up at them from his chair and they hugged him too. Then Doyle picked Ryder up and spun him around. The doctor laughed and excused himself and said Ryder's mom would be in recovery for another hour or so.

They talked and laughed and Ryder glowed with a joy whose warmth and depth he could never explain. Finally, each of them settled quietly into his own thoughts. Ryder studied his hands, thinking of all he'd seen and done—Yankee Stadium,
Atlanta, the batting contest, the Braves' locker room, the lawyers' offices, and then the literary agent. He looked up to see Mr. Starr staring warmly at him with that odd smile of his.

“What?” Ryder asked.

“I was thinking . . . about happy endings.” Mr. Starr's eyes twinkled.

“Are you going to write it now?” Ryder asked.

Mr. Starr only chuckled.

In Central Park, birds chattered and sang in the trees behind the bleachers. Ryder turned his face up to the sun, soaking up its warmth and marshaling his concentration. He opened his eyes and blinked at the batter. His team had two outs. It was the bottom of the final inning, but the winning run stood bouncing atop the third base bag. When the batter stepped into the box, the runner stretched his legs, leaning toward home, then taking a four-foot lead.

Ryder punched his glove and coiled his muscles, ready for anything.

The pitcher wound up and sent one low toward the inside corner of the plate. The batter swung and a crack exploded into the sunshine and the breeze. Ryder sprang from his spot, leaping into the air without the shred of a thought. The ball sounded off against the pocket of his glove like a rifle shot.
The stands erupted. His team jumped into the air, hooting and hollering and swarming toward him. He stood and let them swamp him with hugs and backslaps and cheers.

Ryder laughed and his eyes grew misty when he looked into the stands and saw his mother and father on their feet, cheering with the rest of the parents and random spectators just out to enjoy the glory of a perfect spring day. His coach barked them into line. The teams shook hands.

The team huddled up and Coach awarded Ryder the game ball. He'd made several spectacular plays on defense and hit three for four with two home runs. He accepted the smooth round ball, so perfect, and stuffed his gear into the bat bag his father had bought him for his birthday.

He shouldered the bag and turned the ball in his hand as he marched toward the stands, thinking of another baseball from a time that seemed so very long ago. His life was so different now. So wonderful.

His mother hugged him and his father too. Doyle's mustache chaffed his neck and Ryder laughed and pushed him away like he always did. It was a running joke between them, father and son. Ryder took his mother's hand and his eyes focused on the gold band around her finger. He liked to just see it there, as if he were afraid the whole thing hadn't really happened.

But the ring was there, and they really did live in a small two-bedroom apartment on Amsterdam not too far from the firehouse and not too far from Mr. Starr so that they could see him once a week. It was always for dinner, and he and Ryder's dad could go at it about politics and religion and the reasons for the general decline in the world.

“Hey!” Mr. Starr's shout surprised Ryder.

Ryder hadn't seen him during the game and he spun around and said so. Ashleigh Love smiled and said hello, her hands firmly on the back of Mr. Starr's chair.

“That's because I just got here, you knucklehead. More books and less baseball might make you a little sharper between the ears.” Mr. Starr didn't look any better than he had a year ago, but he didn't look any worse, and the tone of his voice wasn't quite as sour, despite his determination to be a grouch. “Speaking of books, I've got something for you. I finished it this morning. Well, almost finished it. I still have a couple pages at the end, but I thought you'd like to see it before anyone else. Ashleigh?”

“Oh!” Ashleigh Love dug into the pouch in the back of the chair and removed a thick stack of papers held together by a sturdy metal clip.

Ryder took the manuscript. He read the title page, grinned at Mr. Starr, then at his parents. His mother nodded at the bleachers.

Ryder sat down and flipped Mr. Starr's book open to page one.

Chapter 1

Ryder smashed a ball over the fence and tried not to smile.

He jogged the bases while his teammates whistled, catcalled, or clapped, depending on the kind of person they were and which side they'd bet on. His team's best pitcher, Ben Salisbury, said he'd strike Ryder out with
four pitches. Ryder knocked it out on the second. Only the kids who went to Dalton School with Salisbury bet on him, and they did it out of loyalty. Everyone knew Ryder had the best Little League batting average in Manhattan. . . .

Photo by Laure Lillie

TIM GREEN
played Little League baseball for many years before specializing in football. After graduating as covaledictorian from Syracuse University, he was a first-round draft pick and played as a star defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons for eight years. He earned his law degree with honors and has worked as an NFL analyst for FOX Sports and an NFL commentator for NPR.

When his sons began to play baseball, Tim drew on his early love of the game to coach their teams. His exciting books for young readers include the
New York Times
bestselling
Unstoppable
,
Baseball Great
,
Rivals
, and
Best of the Best
. He has also written the novels
Football Genius
,
Football Champ
, and
The Big Time
, starring Troy White, and
Football Hero
, starring Ty Lewis. Troy and Ty meet in Tim's exciting Football Genius novel
Deep Zone
.

Tim Green lives with his wife, Illyssa, and their five children in upstate New York. You can visit him online at
www.timgreenbooks.com
.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.

Cover art © 2015 by Cliff Nielsen

Cover design by Kate Engbring

LOST BOY
. Copyright © 2015 by Tim Green. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Green, Tim, date

Lost boy / by Tim Green. — First edition.

pages   cm

Summary: After a near-fatal car accident, twelve-year-old Ryder's mother needs an operation they cannot afford, and while a new friend tries to raise funds, Ryder travels with a grouchy, disabled neighbor from Yankee Stadium to Turner Field, seeking the Major League Baseball player who might be Ryder's father.

ISBN 978-0-06-231708-7 (hardback)

EPub Edition Edition © February 2015 ISBN 9780062317100

[1. Mothers and sons—Fiction. 2. Fathers and sons—Fiction. 3. Identity—Fiction. 4. People with disabilities—Fiction. 5. Fund-raising—Fiction. 6. Baseball—Fiction. 7. Traffic accidents—Fiction.] I. Title.

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CG/RRDH
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