Page 30 of The Show

I stood up again and started pacing, my brain now firing on all cylinders and working at full throttle after its recent lack of use.

“I’ve watched every Lions game this season so far. Raider Johns, Hoxton Mills, and Jorge Rodrigo are the players which stand out every time. But because the rest are playing sub-par, they’re dragged down.”

“Jones is there now too, right? He got traded after his accident?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t think he’s been rehabbed properly. He’s not the same as he was.”

“Might be worth keeping though. We need forty and twenty-six.”

“I need a starting nine, is what I need.”

“Okay, go back to your fantasy list. Watson, Reeves, Weston…”

Rafe sat back up, looking fractionally less hungover and more interested in this conversation than he had earlier. “Start with Reeves. Go and see him.”

I rolled my eyes. “I can’t just ‘go and see him’, Raferty. You know he won’t come. How many times have I tried to get him to come to The Yankees? I’ve lost count. If I can’t get him for The Yankees, I’m sure as hell never going to get him to come to The Lions. He doesn’t want to come to New York.”

Rafe removed his sunglasses and pinned me with a challenging glare. It was the same one I’d seen him use in court when he cross-examined a hostile witness, and one which usually cracked them open like a piñata, spilling all their secrets.

“You don’t know he doesn’t want to come to New York. He might not have wanted The Yankees, but he could come and build a new team with you. There’s not much left for him to achieve; it would be a good challenge for him. It’s all in how you spin the offer.”

“You could speak to Drew,” Murray suggested, mentioning a good friend of his, who also happened to be Jupiter Reeves’ brother-in-law. “You should at least give it a shot. He’s in free agency now.”

“Yeah, please don’t tell me you’re going to give up on hounding Reeves now you actually have a team for him to come and play at.”

I turned away and walked slowly along the white lines, touching each base as I passed. One foot in front of the other.

Even though he played for the Dodgers, Jupiter Reeves was my all-time favorite player. He was a level above the rest. Widely regarded as the greatest third baseman of his generation; maybe every generation. He’d been at the Dodgers for the entirety of his career. His career batting average was three eighteen; he’d had four hundred and seventy eight home runs, and on base plus slugging of one point zero seven five, as well as two hundred and ninety eight stolen bases. He might be in his early thirties, but he still had years left. They’d be prying his cold, dead body from the field.

It was no secret that I tried to get him to play for The Yankees. I’d pleaded my case to him on more than one occasion, as well as The Steinbrenner Family, Yankees G.M., coaches, and The Commissioner when I was feeling in a particularly feisty mood. In fact, the recent trade deadline would probably be the first deadline when I hadn’t put in a last minute Hail Mary request to all of the above for ten years.

It was true he’d achieved almost everything he could in his career. Almost. And as I stood staring down at Rafe with his smug knowing grin, maybe he was right and I could persuade Jupiter. I just needed a different way in.

A few sparks started to fly round my newly cleared brain, enough that I could see the beginnings of a path… and with it, the pressure in my chest lifted; not completely, but a little.

“No… if I speak to Jupiter…” I started slowly, arms crossed over my chest, while I was still thinking about it, “I need to do it by surprise. I need him to know I’m serious this time.”

“As opposed all the other times?”

“As opposed to this time I have a team for him to come to. I’m in control.”

“Failing that, you can always throw money at it…” Rafe added with a grin. “How much spending money have you got again?”

“A bil. I need to make sure I’m not fined too heavily for the salary cap though. I need to trade some of the team, and I need some younger players. I need to build for the long term, or it won’t last.”

“What’s the farm system like?”

“Dunno, guess I should pay them a visit too… Wanna come see the Jungle Kings?”

“Fuck yes! I need to see where my dog will be employed for the summer.”

Okay, so this was going to be a thing, because unless I actually made it happen, I would never hear the end of it.

“One ridiculous problem at a time…” I repeated his words back to him just as another element occurred to me, one I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten, albeit momentarily. “Actually, there’s something else I need to get around… My grandfather wants me to help Lowe out.”

Rafe’s eyes widened, fully awake now. “What does that mean? Help her with what?”

“Dunno, but Lauren asked the same thing. They want her to come and work with me to set the team up. Work on the PR or something.”

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