Page 72 of The Third Baseman

An equally sweaty Beulah threw her empty bottle in the trash. “Now I need to pee. Give me five minutes.”

“You looked good out there, a natural right hook. I’ll remember that.”

I spun round to find Barney standing behind me.

“Thank you,” I chuckled. It was hard not to smile at this guy. There was a certain charm in spending an hour with someone and sweating until you’re borderline dehydrated.

“So I was thinking I should probably teach you what proper coffee is like. What do you say? Maybe next Saturday?”

Not that much charm though… nervous knots began tightening in my belly. “Oh… Um…”

“What’s going on?” Beulah asked, returning to my side.

He turned to Beulah. “I’m just asking Marnie here, if she’d like to meet me for coffee next week. You know, on a date.”

“Oh, really? That’s interesting.” She looked between us, at my face, and the fresh sweat droplets rolling down my cheek. “Marn, can I talk to you a second?”

I didn’t get the chance to object before she pulled me to one side. “This is the fun you should be having.”

“What?”

“Fun.” She stared, daring me to argue. “Go on the date and have some. He’s cute.”

“He’s too young,” was the first argument I could think of.

“So?”

“What about Jupiter?” was my second.

“What about him? You don’t owe him an explanation,” she shot back, and I knew she’d have an argument for every point I raised.

I looked to the floor, shuffling a piece of dirt with the tip of my sneaker, while I tried to think of some more reasons to say no, beyond me not wanting to go out with him, because Beulah did have a point, kind of. I owed Jupiter nothing. Yet why did the thought of going out with this guy cause little balls – balls that felt a lot like guilt – bounce between my ribs like it was a pinball machine.

“Look, you’re not going to marry him, his name is Barney. So I say give him your number and have some fun.”

My eyes flicked up, confusion plain on my face. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“You can’t be Marnie and Barney.” She threw her head back and laughed loudly. I cracked a smile.

“I guess it was nice to be asked politely, and not ordered with the assumption I’ll follow through,” I conceded, looking over to where Barney was in conversation with one of the other trainers. “I guess he’s kind of cute.”

“Exactly. You never know, it might help you realize what you actually want – orwhoyou want,” she added, pulling me back to where Barney was now unpeeling his wraps.

He glanced at me eagerly. “So, whaddaya say? Might I have the honor of taking you on a date?”

“He’s asked nicely,” Beulah whispered with a nudge.

It was like I was on top of the highest rollercoaster, right at the pause – the exact moment when you desperately wanted to get off but couldn’t because the car was going to plummet any second.

And I did what I would have done if I had been on the rollercoaster. I ignored the brewing of unease in my belly, and instead focused on Beulah’s words. I did need fun. I did need to get my head out of the Jupiter fog, “Sure, sounds good.”

The smile he gave me – genuine, warm, happy – alleviated a little of the guilt. I punched my number into his cell.

“It was a pleasure to meet you, Marnie coffee drinker.” He threw his water bottle into the trash to join the rest. “Count on me calling you soon. Bye, Marnie’s friend.”

Beulah rolled her lips, waving as he walked away.

“Nice work, Marn.” She pushed me gently with her shoulder. “He is seriously cute. Look at his butt.”

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