“Because the only person I trust to micromanage this team as well as I do literally refused the job,” she says, giving me a pointed look.
“I’m not ready for that kind of target on my back,” I shoot back. “In operations, if I miss a deadline, I get a stern email. In Baseball Ops, if I mismanage a player’s makeup—their literal headspace—I’m the one the Firebirds blame when their star prospect doesn’t pan out. No thanks.”
“You could do so much more,” she says.
“You only think that because before your dad bought you this team, you didn’t know the difference between a ball and a strike.”
“Misdirection looks terrible on you,” she teases, but she’s not pushing me. I adore her for that.
I have a hard time letting people in, but last year, seeing Kayla get emotionally manipulated by her ex and watching her try to do everything by herself instilled a deep respect in me. I don’t open up easily, but the people who make it past my walls stay there indefinitely, and I guard them fiercely.
My family. Kayla. Even Jake, as much as I hate to admit it.
That’s the list.
I close up my laptop, thinking I’ll walk out with Kayla, but she sits in one of my office chairs, peering at me across my desk.
“The real reason I’m here so late is that Sean is on a Midwest swing. Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Columbus. The team’s in Detroit right now.”
“So you’re here when you could be watching your hockey-star husband play live tonight?”
“Did you miss the part where I said he’s in Detroit?”
I laugh. “Touché. So what were you and Doug talking about that you wanted to run by me?” Doug is the GM of the Mudflaps’ Major League affiliate, the Chicago Firebirds, and considering we’re their Triple-A team, Kayla and Doug talk a lot.
“We were talking about Team Fischer, as he calls them. But especially Lucas.”
I don’t gulp. I don’t let myself breathe in too deeply. I don’t even bat an eye. “What about him?”
“What you’d expect. Doug’s worried about their current setup man—wants to make sure he doesn’t do anything to put himself at risk before his call-up.”
“His contract dictates he can’t do anything risky off the field. That shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Not that kind of risk,” she says. “More like the Jake Rodgers kind.”
I flush, but Kayla and I have grown too close over the last year for either of us to mince words. “Are we talkingchoking a teammateorhitting on Doug’s wife at the Thanksgiving party?”
“Yes,” she says.
I sigh. “Is Doug at least happy with how Jake’s reputation is trending?”
“He’s happy Jake’s not in the tabloids for anything bad. But he still hasn’t actually apologized.”
Jake didn’t apologize??
My irritation explodes to full-on anger. I know more of this story than pretty much anyone. Jake got traded to the Firebirds last season and had never met Doug’s wife. She was wearing a silicone band in place of her wedding ring, and when she went out of her way to make a difficult new player feel welcome, he mistook her kindness for flirting. And hit on her. So she hit him back.
He deserved it. And he absolutely should have apologized.
“I’ll talk to him. But it really was a misunderstanding.”
“It’s a pattern,” Kayla says. “And I desperately hope your ruse can help him break it, in case Doug makes good on his threat to send him down to our team.”
Kayla’s the only person outside my family who knows Jake and I are fake dating—and unlike my family, she thinks it’s a horrible idea. I’ve been his “Bettyguard” for years, showing up on his arm so the tabloids get a boring story instead of a useful one. It was fine until someone figured out who I was and made it newsworthy.
Kayla has fallen silent. I tap my nails on the stainless steel mug she gave me—empty since yesterday, because as much as she wants me to drink water, my body and soul crave caffeine.
“Doug has a request,” she says. “He wants Lucas to maximize his exposure in a way that promotes the organization’s brand before he gets called up to the Majors. The more his star shines now, the better—for the Firebirds, for us, and especially for Lucas. Jersey sales and endorsements could set him up for life, no matter what happens with his career.”
