Page 11 of The Third Baseman

I shook my head. “No. I tried everything I could to get out of it, but my lawyer said there was nothing I could do without it costing me a fortune.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault; you were doing your job.” I looked between them. “We’re required to go through therapy and psychometric testing at work, but I hadn’t had my own therapist for over a decade. That morning I found one, went over, and downloaded everything onto her. I was there for three hours. Her diagnosis was that I had some kind of PTSD; I needed closure, and that’s how I should approach the job. So here I am, in a city I don’t know with a job I can’t do. But… closure, right?”

I rolled my eyes at the last statement but sat back feeling lighter, as if the burden I’d been carrying had suddenly been diluted somehow.

“Sorry, that’s a lot to take in. I didn’t mean to dump. I promise I’m not a weirdo.”

I gave them a second to absorb my life story. Lowe started first.

“Oh, Marnie, I’m so sorry.” She reached over and covered my hand with hers, and surprisingly, I didn’t want to cry in frustration, which was new. “That must have been so hard for you to deal with alone. Does your family know?”

“My brother, Will, is in the navy on deployment, so I haven’t been able to talk to him. My parents think that David and I grew apart. It wasn’t hard to believe, seeing as we barely saw each other. My therapist said I picked him because we spent so much time apart, so it was easy to keep my independence.” I rolled my eyes again, and snorted because it was all so obvious now.

I was supposed to be smart, yet it had taken over a decade and someone else to figure it out.

Beulah put her coffee down slowly, and looked up at me. “I know we just met, but I’m proof you can completely change your life. It’s never too late. And I understand what it’s like to hold onto something for so long.”

I smiled softly. I was positive she had more to add to that, but I didn’t want to push it the very first time we’d met. I hadn’t had a lot of girlfriends before, and was kind of liking it. “Thank you. I’ll be okay, I’m just angry I’ve got myself into this situation. I should have never said yes to Penn. I could have dealt with my divorce and my feelings for Jupiter back in Houston. I didn’t need to come to New York for that.”

“If it makes you feel better, it’s very hard to say no to Penn.”

Surprisingly, that did make me feel a little better. Not much, though.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the waiter approach, then turn away. One look at Lowe and I realized her glare had stopped him from interrupting us a second time. I let out a small laugh, because I realized I was about to get to the one question I’m sure they’d been dying to ask all morning.

“So what are you going to do about Jupiter?”

I held my open palms out. “I dunno. I wasn’t expecting to see him the other day. I’d been bracing myself to bump into him in the corridor at some point, but not on day one. I was totally unprepared.” My head dropped into my hands. “I can’t believe I slapped him! I shouldn’t have done it, but it was like my body and mind had been hijacked by some other girl – a really angry one.”

“Lowe said it was an impressive blow.”

My head shot back up to find Beulah and Lowe grinning wide.

“Oh, God!” I groaned, letting out a deep sigh as my mind filled with the one other thing which had been bothering me more than I wanted to admit. I chewed a little on my thumb nail while I figured how to word it, but then decided I’d already told them enough, I may as well tell them everything. “I mean, it’s just so typical isn’t it? I feel like a poker thrust into the fire. Though I did think it was weird, Jupiter coming here. The boy I knew would never have left The Dodgers. All he ever used to talk about was being a Dodger for life – on and on and on about it.”

Lowe and Beulah were both frowning at me. I knew I was going crazy.

I gave a heavy shrug. “Never mind, I’m just… frustrated I guess. I wanted to lick my wounds in private. I just hope I never have to meet his wife.”

“Wife?”

“Or girlfriend, I guess. Jupiter was never short of females clamoring to get his attention. That hasn’t changed based on that lot outside.”

Lowe and Beulah exchanged that look again, just like they had earlier.

“What?”

“Marnie, Jupiter doesn’t have a wife or a girlfriend.” Beulah’s eyes narrowed while she stared at me. “The only reason Jupiter came to play at The Lions was to get you back. That’s why you’re here.”

I frowned, first at that statement, and second at my heart, which gave a hard thump. “Wait, what? How? That makes no sense… what does that mean?”

“He would only come to The Lions if Penn found you and offered you a job. I think he wants to try and win you back,” she said simply, and not in any way like that news didn’t hit me as hard as an asteroid.

No, not hit. Wiped me out was more accurate.

Lowe nudged her but looked at me. “He definitely wants to win you back.”

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