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“Yeah… I’ll be ready. Can you make sure Amari gets a new glove?” Juvie asked.

“Absolutely! I’ll put one aside now. Mike should be coming with your mic,” she replied.

Kendra rubbed my arm as she passed, then stopped. “Everything alright, Savannah? You look flushed.”

I chuckled nervously, trying hard not to make eye contact with Juvie. “I’m fine. Just a little warm. The heaters work.”

“Alright. If you need anything, please let me know.”

She walked away, but I could still feel Juvie’s eyes on me. Another kid walked up to talk to him, giving me a moment to get my shit together. Mike fought through the crowd, holding Juvie’s mic high.

“Savannah, can you help Juvie get this mic on? I gotta run inside to get some more hot chocolate. These kids runnin’ through it,” Mike asked.

I nodded. “Sure.”

He passed me the equipment, and I stepped in front of Juvie, keeping my eyes on his chest. My hands shook lightly as his cologne filled my nose. His warmth wrapped around me without him even touching me. I was struggling to do something that I could usually do with my eyes closed. When Juvie’s warm hand came down over mine, I looked up at him. That was the worst thing I could have done.

“You good?” he asked, holding onto my hand.

“Yeah,” I muttered, avoiding his eyes. “Must be my nails.”

His thumb rubbed across my finger, and a chill ran through me. “I got it. You can chill for a minute. Get somethin’ to drink and sit down. You been workin’ all mornin’.”

“Alright. You want a hot chocolate or coffee?” I asked, stepping away from him.

He reached for me and rested his hand on my waist. “Yeah. Grab me a coffee.”

I walked slow enough to keep myself in check, but fast enough to put some distance between us. My hands were still shaking when I got to the concession stand.

The concession stand was pretty much clear when I got there. I grabbed a hot chocolate and a glazed donut for me, and a coffee for Juvie. As I made my way back through the crowd, Juvie stood at the podium, ready to make his speech. His eyes moved over the crowd, searching until they landed on me. I stopped mid-stride, and he tilted his head. When he realized I wasn’t moving, he tapped the mic a couple of times, then looked out over everybody.

“Y’all hear me?” he asked. “Aight… I ain’t really no speech nigga, so don’t expect nothin’ fancy.”

Everybody laughed, and he grinned before looking around again.

“For real, though, I appreciate everybody comin’ out. Especially the parents, coaches, volunteers—all y’all that show up for these kids every day when nobody got a camera in your face. That shit matters.”

He paused, rubbing his hand over his beard.

“I grew up not too far from here. Same streets, same kind of programs, same beat-up gloves and hand-me-down cleats. I ain’t have the best of everything, but I had people around me who made sure I had somewhere to go, somethin’ to do, and somebody tellin’ me I could be more than what I saw around me.”

The crowd got quiet, listening closer.

“I know everybody out here ain’t tryna play baseball. Some of y’all hoop. Some of y’all play football, run track, play soccer, whatever. And some of y’all might try five different things before you figure out what you really love. That’s cool too. The point is, havin’ somewhere safe to figure that shit out.”

A few parents laughed, and Juvie grinned.

“My bad. I know it’s kids out here.”

“Sports gave me somewhere to put my energy. Gave me discipline before I even knew what discipline was. Gave me people who expected me to show up, work hard, listen, and keep goin’, even when I was pissed off or didn’t feel like it. I didn’t understand how important that was back then. I do now.”

He glanced around the crowd, then held my gaze a second too long. That same warm feeling crept up my neck to my cheeks.

“That’s why all this shit matters to me. And this ain’t just baseball equipment out here either. We got stuff for different sports because I don’t want some kid who loves basketball feelin’ like today ain’t for him. Or some little girl who runs track thinkin’ she don’t belong here because I play baseball. If you play somethin’, we got somethin’ for you. And if you don’t know what you wanna play yet, try some shit until you figure it out.”

He grinned and shook his head as the crowd laughed again.

“Nike put a lot behind today, and I appreciate that. But I told them from jump, I didn’t want to come out here just to slap my name on some shit, take pictures, and leave. I’m from here. I know what it’s like when a program needs new equipment, and everybody gotta stretch the old shit for another season. I know what it’s like when coaches and parents are paying for shit out they own pockets because they don’t want the kids to go without.”