Page 5 of The Third Baseman

I pulled my bag over and dug around in it for the LifeSavers I habitually kept, then popped one in my mouth.

“Knock knock.” I twisted back around to the door, stopping myself with my foot on the desk before I went a full three-sixty, to see two women walking through it; one with a sleek blonde bob, one with thick, glossy, dark brunette curls bouncing on her shoulders. “We wanted to come and see how you’re settling in, and if we can steal you away for some coffee, if you’re not busy.”

The pair of them stood in the doorway, smiling like they’d won the lottery. The blonde one was Lowe Slater, the fiancée of Penn Shepherd. I knew this because when I arrived a couple of days ago, I’d been waiting in his office and he’d introduced me to her, at which point she pulled me into an embrace like I was her favorite stuffed toy from childhood and she’d found me in the back of a closet.

I hadn’t had a chance to follow up as less than a minute later, Jupiter had walked into the room, and I’d lost the ability to speak, breathe, or stay calm. Every shred of self-control I possessed melted away as I stepped toward him, my eyes clouding with the reddest rage the closer I got.

He’d stood there, grinning down at me with his perfect smile that I wanted to knock straight off his perfect face.

I hadn’t even cared that there were witnesses.

I soaked my hand in a bucket of ice that night; it was still a bit sore.

And now…

From the way they were both staring at me expectantly, I assumed Lowe had told this other lady exactly what had happened.

“Marnie, are you okay?” asked Lowe.

I blinked moisture back into my eyes and jumped up. “Um, yes, sorry. I’m… sorry, I’m in a bit of a daze. My first morning… this place…”

“Overwhelming?”

I smiled and my throat thickened out of nowhere. Now I had too much moisture in my eyes. “Yeah, you could say that,” I croaked out.

Lowe stepped forward as if to hug me, but I waved her off because that’s all it would take to get me going, and if I started I had no idea when I would stop. I’d already embarrassed myself in front of her once; I drew a hard line at a second time.

“No, no. Thank you, I’m okay. A lot has happened in the last week, and I think it’s all about to hit like a sledgehammer.” I let out a droll huff.

The brunette stepped forward on a pair of tan, gravity-defying heels with her hand held out, likely to stop me from embarrassing myself further. “I’m Beulah Holmes by the way, head of legal. We haven’t formally met, but I signed your contract.”

My contract. I wonder if she knew about the monumental headache I’d had the last three months because of my goddamn contract.

Deep breath, Marnie. Deep breath.

I took her hand and shook it, unable to stop a small grimace creeping up my lips. “Hello, sorry, this is really unprofessional. I’m not normally like this.”

“Don’t worry about it. First days of work are always hard. I was a wreck too, especially as Penn also strong-armed me into working here, and I knew nothing about baseball.” She rolled her eyes. “He can be very persuasive when he wants to be. I do know more about baseball than I did a year ago though.”

“I’m certain I’ve forgotten everything I knew about baseball.” I gave a small groan of support. “Not that it was that much to begin with.”

“You’ll remember. I’m sure Penn will have a series of pop-quizzes lined up,” she laughed.

I looked between the two of them, and it was clear from the expressions on their faces that they weren’t joking.

“A baseball pop-quiz?”

Lowe nodded with a sigh. “Yeah, he loves them.”

“Oh…” I replied, then wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Anyway,” Lowe started before the silence became awkward. “We’re your welcoming committee.”

A flash of my first day at N.A.S.A. when my new supervisor had handed me a stack of papers fifteen inches thick and told me to get reading because he expected a report by the end of the day – this was not that.

As much as I didn’t want to be here, I could admit it was kind of nice.

“Thank you.” I smiled genuinely at the happiness on her face. “I appreciate that.”

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