Page 129 of Payoff Pitch

Arizona asks Sulley, “I know where you went to college, you can’t turn on a television these days without seeing your awesome plays, but where are you originally from?”

“A small town in Montana. The same one as Vance McCaffrey.”

Kam wiggles her eyebrows. “He’s so hot, in a broody, mysterious kind of way. Did you bang him in high school?”

Sulley scrunches her face. “He’s eight years older than me.”

Kam shrugs. “So?”

“So, when he was a senior in high school, I was ten.”

Kam scrunches her face in disgust. “Oh. Right. Whoops.”

Sulley offers, “He was friendly with my older brother though.”

Her face falls as she says that. Kam must catch it too because she turns her attention to me. “Speaking of banging older men, what’s your current status?”

My steakhouse romp with Tanner weeks ago somehow managed to thaw the iciness between us. We’ve gotten back to semi-friendly terms. It’s easier for Harper this way and holding onto anger isn’t really my style. I still don’t stay for dinner, it’s too personal, but we’re able to engage in polite conversation before I go.

June has her eyes closed on the chaise lounge chair but says, “Nothing wrong with banging older men. I preferred them atyour age. They know what they’re doing in bed. I’ve seen that fine man. I’m sure Bailey was getting it pretty good.”

Sulley’s eyes widen, but the rest of us are used to the way June St. James talks.

I sarcastically respond, “Thanks for the support, June.”

“Anytime, sweetie.”

Looking at Kam, I answer “We’re friends. It’s gotten back to a cordial place. I’m fine with it as is.”

“Friends with benefits? It’s weird that you went from love to hate to friendship. It sounds like you banged it out to me.”

“Can we please keep things PG in front of Sulley? We just met her.”

Sulley giggles. “I think you guys are a riot. I come from such a conservative town. No one outwardly talks about this stuff. It’s nice that you all are so open.”

Arizona snort-laughs. “If you want open, you’re in the right place, Sulley. I’m married to my brother’s best friend. Ripley had a baby with my brother. Kam bangs everything in sight, both men and women, and then tells us about it in graphic detail. And June is, well, June. In high school, I’d bump into her naked body in their kitchen in the middle of the night letting out her latest bedfellow. She’d simply offer me a high five as she went about her business.”

June giggles as she fixes her red hair into a messy bun. “There’s nothing wrong with a healthy sexual appetite. I’ve always had one.”

Ripley rolls her eyes, but Kam nods in agreement. “Preach, Mama June.”

I cover Kaya’s ears. “You guys aren’t going to be able to talk like this in front of her for long. Poor baby will be scarred for life. You should see how Kam talks to the girls we coach. I can’t believe I don’t have more parent complaints.”

Kam scoffs. “They don’t complain because we’re undefeated. We’re running a well-oiled machine. I’d take this team on the road to local high schools, and we’d probably kick their asses.”

I turn to Sulley. “Kam and I coach a softball team for eight-year-olds. One of the players is the little girl I nanny for. Our championship game is tonight. Arizona said you can hang with her during the game and then we can all meet up later.”

Sulley smiles. “Can I come to the game? I want to watch them play. It sounds cute.”

Kam raises her eyebrow. “We’re not cute. We’re a killing machine taking no prisoners on the way to winning the championship and collecting our trophies tonight.”

I remind her, “We get trophies, win or lose.”

Kam’s jaw drops. “Are you kidding me? Second place gets trophies too? What a joke. How will they learn to be competitors in this participation-trophy society?”

I smile at Sulley. “Kam used to toss all second-place trophies.”

Kam shouts. “It’s not like there were a lot of them. I’m a champion. First place or bust. You don’t want these kids living in their parents’ basements at thirty years old, clinging to ninth-place shit-brown ribbons, do you?”

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