Page 32 of The Show

Rafe leaned forward so quickly she almost toppled off his lap.

“Hey!” she grumped, shaking off the coffee drips on her hand.

“Sorry.” He kissed her, then looked between us all his eyes filled with excitement. “But actually, Beulah can help you. She doesn’t have a job right now.”

“I literally just said that.” She scowled at him.

“I know, sorry.” He kissed her again, “But it’s true. You can help.”

“Help with what?” I seemed to be employing a lot of people this morning.

“Contracts. New Contracts. Players. All that baseball knowledge you taught her won’t have gone to waste.”

Beulah turned to him again with a look that conveyed some of the thoughts I was having. “Latham, Penn will have actual sports lawyers at the club to deal with this. They’ll know better than I will. Plus, Idohave to study if I don’t pass.”

“You’ll ace it.” He punctuated each word with a kiss.

Ignoring the studying bit, what Beulah said was true; therewouldbe a dozen in-house lawyers, all dealing with any form of negotiations, salaries, trades… which I was about to do a lot more of. Once more, it dawned on me just how much there was to do.

And I couldn’t do it alone.

“Actually, you might be able to help. I have no idea who’s at the club or how good people are. And as you recently beat Rafe,” I shot him a decidedly evil grin, “I’d say you’re one of the better lawyers I know. I’ll need someone to help me get Reeves onside before I speak to anyone at the club. So yeah, Beulah, I’d love your help,”

Rafe clapped his hands together. “Awesome! And because you’re getting someone who’s capable of beating me, you can pay her the salary to match, as your new Head of Legal.”

“Head of Legal?! Latham, are you still drunk?!” She tried to spin in his lap to object but he held her firm, amusing himself if no-one else. She turned back to face me. “Penn, you really don’t need to listen to him, or offer me a job out of politeness. I’d be happy to help you.”

Rafe scoffed loudly. “Penn has never done anything out of politeness. You should know by now he only does what he wants.”

He wasn’t wrong, but I punched him in the arm anyway for being a dick; the sneaky bastard moved out of the way before I made contact. I smirked at him then turned back to Beulah as professionally as I could, seeing as I was likely still drunk from last night, and she was still in her pajamas.

“No, we’re going to do this properly. Give me a number, and…” I sighed, “I guess you’d better get Lowe’s contract sorted as your first job.”

“Lowe?”

“Yeah, she’s coming to work for me too, apparently.”

Beulah’s eyes lit up. “No way! I wonder why she didn’t say anything last night.”

“She doesn’t know yet.”

“Oh…” Her eyes narrowed for a split second and I wondered if Rafe had told her about my undying love for Lowe, but I doubted it. He didn’t break oaths, and if he’d wanted to share this with Beulah because ‘we don’t keep secrets from each other’ and all that, he would have asked. And he hadn’t.

“You know, bringing her on board isn’t a bad idea. Use her to start fresh and create something that helps people remember what an awesome club it used to be.”

I turned to Murray. “Murray, those people are practically dead. It was seventy years ago.”

“Then remind them of the history, Dum-Dum.”

I didn’t have time to respond or think about it before we were joined by another; this time it was Lauren, who was on her own, but likely not for long.

“Where’s Lowe?”

“She went back to her parents last night. Her mom wanted her there as they hadn’t seen her all summer, and they have a family brunch later.”

My chest deflated at the same time the anxiety lessened. It was a strange sensation, and one I needed to get a grip on if I was going to offer her a job.

“Oh.”

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