Page 35 of The Shake Off

“Go and see him today, and ice that shoulder.”

“On my way to, sir.”

I took one last look at the view; at The New York Lions diamond. That wasmydiamond,myhome. I belonged on that mound, and I’d do whatever it took to get back there.

Now I just had to figure out how to get Payton’s number.

SEVEN

PAYTON

Payton:How did you get this number?

Ace:I’d rather not say… I need to talk to you.

Payton:We have nothing to talk about.

Ace:When are you free?

Payton:I’m not.

Ace:Please, Payton, I need your help.

Payton:I’m really sorry your game is off right now, but I can’t help fix it. I don’t know anything about baseball.

Iwatched the little blue dots float on my screen, disappear, pop back, then disappear again. It was pointless replying; not only did we not have anything else to talk about, but I had more important things on my mind – like figuring out what to do with my job.

The phone landed at the end of my office couch and bounced onto the floor with a soft thud. At least the carpet stopped the screen from smashing, because that really would put the cherry on the top of my day. I was just resting my head back when the sound of footsteps marching down the hall had me jumping back up, because I knew exactly who those footsteps belonged to.

“Payton, you-hoo! Are you there?”

Let me introduce Susie Van Marin, my boss, and the only person left alive who still used the greeting ‘you-hoo’.

I groaned and plastered on the smile I’d had eight years of practice for.

“Hi, Susie, how are you?” I asked as her head appeared around the door.

“Oh good, you’re here.” She pushed the door wider, marched in and sat down on the couch I’d just got up from.

The entire time her dark brown bob never moved, like it wouldn’t dare step out of place. The woman didn’t own one wrinkle, either.

“How can I help you?”

“There’s a new author I’ve heard about and want you to get hold of. We simply must have her in the S&M family. I’d do it myself, but I am swamped right now. As you’re the very best of all my editors, Payton, I thought you could go out and get her. I want to present her in the divisional meeting next week and tell everyone we’ve signed her.”

I looked at Susie, wondering if she realized I wasn’t as dumb as she clearly thought I was; that laying the compliments on thicker than mustard on a hot dog no longer worked, because I was no longer a green, highly ambitious intern, desperate to climb their way up the ladder.

I grimaced. “I’d love to help you out, Susie, but I’m swamped too. There are book awards coming, not to mention the other submissions you gave me last week.”

I gestured to the coffee table which was filled with manuscripts and prototypes for books with all the added extras, like a fluffy bunny tail or a honking nose.

“I hear you, Payton, I do.” Her nose crinkled up in a way she obviously thought was cute and caring, but her tone said she couldn’t give a single shit about my workload. “But I just don’t trust anyone else. I need you to do this for me, and it’ll be great for your career come promotion time.”

Give me strength.

The problem was two-fold: my boss was fucking lazy, and I’d fallen into the trap of bringing in too much money to her division. Therefore, if I left for a new division, she’d have to do some work of her own, something Susie and I both knew, but she loved to hold the promotion over my head anyway.

Though maybe I was the dumbass for letting her.

---