Page 9 of The Third Baseman

And I’d have answered, except for the second time in as many days, seeing Jupiter Reeves had left me speechless.

2

MARNIE

Present Day

I walked silently through the door to the coffee shop Lowe was holding open, and sat at the first empty table we found.

It was busy and loud; filled with a combination of moms and strollers, Columbia students with laptops, and tourists carrying New York Lions store bags. A table three down from ours was a family of four, and I watched as the two kids pulled new Lions jerseys out of their shopping bags.

REEVES was printed along the top of both, above the number five.

It’s gonna be my number, Star. Five. I’m the fifth planet.And then he’d kissed me, and I forgot anything after that.

Lowe looked around as she sat down, noticed the family and incorrectly read the vacant expression on my face.

“Sorry, it’s going to be hard to avoid him. I’ve got his face plastered over the city.” She winced as my eyes bulged. “Not just his,” she quickly added, “but he’s around a lot more than most.”

My head moved between the pair of them sitting opposite me, interrogation style, because that is the official seat placement if you’re about to become the subject of an intense questioning.

Beulah leaned forward, her fingers interlacing into fists; the glossy red polish of her short nails matched her lips.

“Marnie, you didn’t realize what?” she repeated Lowe’s question.

“That he looked like that, I guess.” My brows drew together slightly. “What did you mean about tattoos being his thing?”

“Jupiter’s whole persona is tattoos, being moody and unapproachable, you know… doesn’t give a shit about anything but the game.”

I don’t know why I was surprised. People change. He had – I had, too. But while the Jupiter I remembered was all about the game, he was also funny and sweet.

Popular.

He was not the guy I’d seen on the poster who looked like he could snap a bat with one hand.

I tugged at my top lip slightly in disbelief. “Really?”

The pair of them nodded in sync from across the table.

“And he’s a pretty big deal.”

It wasn’t a question. Something about the arrogant stare down the camera lens for that picture plastered over the billboard… not to mention those girls. And I tried to forget the way he’d marched into Penn’s office like he owned it.

That visual would be burned on my brain for an eternity.

He was a big deal, and he knew it.

Lowe leaned slightly forward across the table, her hands clasped in front of her. “Marnie, when was the last time you saw him? Did you really not know anything about him?”

I shook my head. “The last time I saw Jupiter was fourteen years ago – well, thirteen years, nine months, sixteen days.”

Now it was Lowe’s turn for her jaw to drop. Beulah also stayed silent, but I knew they wanted more. I could almost see the questions forming a line in their brains.

This wasn’t how I envisaged my very first day of work going, but you had to rip the Band-Aid off sometime. But first…

“What do you know?”

“Not much, just that you guys dated when you were younger.”

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