Page 64 of The Show

I turned to Cody who was doing well to hide his amusement, given he was used to Rafe’s curmudgeonly ways when it came to any request I had. Granted, this one was a little more out there than usual.

“I don’t need tohack ithack it. No secrets-to-the-universe-life-on-Mars type shit, just look at the employee list, and you know…” I waved my fingers in the air, mimicking his warp speed typing skills, “do your thing?”

Cody glanced up at Rafe. “Won’t take long, boss. Child’s play.”

“Her name is Marnie Matthews,” I offered up quickly, hoping to add more weight to my argument.

Rafe shook his head with a sigh. “Fine.”

One big stride and I was hugging him hard. “Thank you! You know I love you, Raferty.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Rafe peeled me off him and moved round his desk to sit in the chair. “So, apart from hacking N.A.S.A., how’s it going?”

Cody was already clacking away on his keyboard. I sat in the chair usually occupied by Rafe’s head of investigation, Diego, a behemoth of a man. This chair ought to be housed in the Guinness World Records’ Museum; I was six foot three and my legs would have been dangling over the edge if I hadn’t placed them up on his desk. It was the only way to sit.

“Good, so far. Lowe and I went on a tour of the stadium this morning, met some Lions superfans.”

“The Lions have superfans?” Rafe shot me a sardonic side-eye.

“They do actually. Buck, his name was. He was very helpful.” I pulled my cap up and scratched my head. “The Lions have a lot of love, very loyal but disheartened fans. And I’m going to make it right.”

“Sounds like a great idea. If anyone knows what it’s like to be a fan, it’s you,” he said as he finger-gunned me.

“Yeah,” I grinned.

“And how was it being around Lowe? I take it you were unaccompanied.”

“I didn’t have an emotional breakdown, if that’s what you mean,” I laughed.

Telling him about what had happened with Lowe was on the tip of my tongue, but something stopped me. This was Lowe.Lowe.A perfect, unattainable woman I’d wanted my entire life, and I wasn’t ready to share it with anyone yet. It wasn’t something to gossip or speculate over.

I’d never kept anything from the boys before.

I would tell them; I just wanted the magic of it all to myself for a little while longer, while I figured out exactly whatitwas.

“That’s good to hear,” he smirked.

“Yeah.” I leaned back in the chair, briefly glancing round at Cody to see if it looked like he’d found anything, but he was concentrating on the giant screens on the wall behind me. “And she’s so eager to learn about baseball, I nearly fell in love all over again. I went to watch some practice and found her later in the archives, surrounded by dusty books and loads of plans for the new season - new logo, fresh look, three year plan, that kind of thing. She’s good.”

“Three-year plan, eh? So who’s next on your list?”

“I’m thinking August Chase. I need a decent manager.”

“You have always loved that guy. Have you ever emailed him? Does he know what’s coming?”

I shook my head slowly. “No, I don’t think he’s ever been a recipient, but I’d need to check to be sure.”

That earned me an eye roll. “Pennington, have you thought how you’re going to keep all this quiet? You’re not exactly subtle.”

I’d been thinking about this one on the way over, and whether I should announce earlier than planned, especially after this morning. I wanted to be over at the stadium, I wanted to meet people, and I couldn’t do that if they thought I was wandering around as Chet Michaelson from Ohio, no matter how much I nailed that role.

I picked up the bottle of water that had been sitting on the desk and swigged it. “Do you think I should do it sooner?”

“It’s not a bad idea,”

“I need to get Reeves to sign before I do. He’s the lynchpin.”

Rafe peered around me at Cody. “Code, how’re you getting on?”

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