“He changed his walk-up,” he whispers back in disbelief.
Pausing to listen, I notice he’s right. Instead of Dre, he’s got…
“Is that Smash Mouth?” Annie asks.
“Sounds like it to me,” someone else offers from the back of the room.
I don’t weigh in, but it’s definitely Smash Mouth. A millennial would recognize them anywhere.
It’s their cover of “Why Can’t We Be Friends.”
That son of a bitch.
EIGHT
MAN OF MYSTERY
RYAN
“Fletcher!”Coach shouts across the dugout as I’m heading back to the clubhouse.
“Coach?”
“Sports24 wants you for the post-game interview again.” He shakes his head and walks out of the dugout.
Shit. This isn’texactlywhat I wanted when I devised my plan. I don’t want to have to explain it. I just wanted her to hear it. But I suppose that’s the consequences of my own actions here to bite me in the ass.
“Great to haveyou here with us, Fletcher!” Annie flashes her bright teeth at me in that perfectly concocted television smile.
“It’s great to be here, Annie.” I offer her a warm smile in return.
“Now, before we get into the details of the game, I want to start with the elephant in the room. Or the field as it were.” She chuckles softly at her joke. I force out a laugh in response. “You’ve had the same walk-up song since you started with the Suns. Today, you changed it for the first time in six years and went on to have a pretty stellar game, if I do say so myself. What inspired the change?”
“Always with the hard-hitting questions, Annie.” I chuckle as I try to brainstorm the best response that won’t give too much away. “There’s not really a good answer for you, unfortunately. Just felt like it was time for a change.” I shrug, hoping she’ll drop the topic.
She gives me a knowing smile. “Yeah, but thatreallyfelt like it was meant to be a message. So, tell me, Ryan”—she uses my first name in an attempt to make it seem like she’s asking this question in casual conversation with a friend instead of an interview on live television—“who do you want to be friends with?” she asks with a smirk. It takes every ounce of control to keep my attention fixed on Annie and not flicking toward where I know Isa is hovering behind the crew and cameras.
“Can’t a man have a little bit of mystery in his life, Annie?” I give her my signature smirk which seems to appease her before she starts rattling off my stats from the game. She wasn’t wrong earlier. I had my best game yet with the Suns tonight. I’m usually good, not to brag, but tonight, I wasgreat. I hit a homer on my first at bat and then a three-run homer later in the sixth. We crushed Arizona ten to three.
And I’m attributing it all to Isa. I switched my walk-up song as a way to talk to her, without actuallytalkingto her and putting her job at risk. And suddenly, I have my best game. I’m not usually so superstitious, but I have nothing else to attribute it to.
Before I know it, the interview with Annie is over and I’m shaking her hand with a smile and thanks before heading to Jamie to take the earpiece off me.
“Thanks, man.” I clap him on the shoulder.
“Anytime. Great game, bud. One day you’ll have to give us the real scoop on the song change, alright?” He gives me a sly smile, like he sees right through me.
I offer him a polite laugh. “I’ll think about it,” I say before I start to walk off toward the dugout which conveniently has me going right past Isa.
“Sup, firecracker?” I whisper from behind her.
She whips around to face me, and I get a whiff of coconut from what must be her shampoo. It’s my new favorite scent. She takes a quick look around to see if anyone’s paying attention to us standing together. They’re not—I checked before I approached.
Once she’s sure the coast is clear, she leans close. If a look alone could start a fire, her glare would do it. “What on earth did you do?” she whisper-shouts at me, but it doesn’t hold nearly enough ire to scare me off.
I simply offer her a shrug, which only further stokes the flames in her eyes. “Did you eat your protein bars?”
A muscle in her jaw tics like she’s grinding her teeth to avoid biting my head off. “Yes, I did. Thank you.” The words come out forced like it takes a lot of effort for her to say them.
