“Now where are you going?” asked a voice from the table; not sure whose.
“I’m going to find us a new coach.” I turned back to the room as my hand touched the doorhandle. “Make sure those lists are on my desk, all of you.”
I closed the door behind me, hovering for a second to see if there was a sudden uproar… but nothing.
“Rousing speech, J.F.K. You were only missing a fist pump in the air,” laughed Murray, when I reached the three of them at the end of the empty corridor.
I rolled my eyes. “It did the job. They know I was serious.”
“You need to get more women.”
I turned to Beulah. “Yes, I know. Marnie will be a start, then we’ll see about more.”
“Who’s Marnie?” asked my Grandfather.
“If I’m lucky, she’s going to be our new Director of Baseball Science. If I can get her to agree to leave N.A.S.A.”
My grandfather didn’t bat an eyelid, nor repeat the word N.A.S.A. like everyone else had.
“Excellent, Pennington, good to see you aiming high. Let me know if you need me to make a call. I know the Administrator.”
“I will, thanks Gramps.”
There was no one waiting for us by the elevators like Scott and Damon had been when we arrived. Murray pushed the button, and we all stepped in when the doors opened.
“Right, I think we all need a drink after that. Beulah, you want to call your boyfriend or shall I?” asked Murray.
“I will.” She looked at her watch before continuing, “He’ll be out of court shortly. You call Kit.”
“Deal,” Murray agreed and turned to my grandfather. “Sir, are you going to join us?”
“No, no. I need to swing by the office, then Summer and I are heading to Wyoming for the weekend.”
“So it’ll just be the five of us.”
I paused for a millisecond. It was once again on the tip of my tongue to tell someone about Lowe so she could join us, but there’d be plenty of time for that. Though I was wondering how long I legitimately needed to stay with the boys before I snuck off to see her. I might not have had any sleep in the last twenty-four hours, and I didn’t have immediate plans to catch up on it, especially given her mother’s insistence she found a boyfriend.
In case Lowe hadn’t realized, that job had already been filled.
Chapter 55
“Lowey, hurry up! What’s taking you so long? My stomach is practically melting from hunger!” Lauren hollered up the stairs in my apartment.
“I’m coming!” I hollered back, taking one final glance at my reflection then gave up. This would have to do.
I’d opted for a pair of high waisted skinny jeans that made my legs look long enough to qualify for an NBA player, and a navy blue t-shirt that brought out the pale blue of my eyes. I grabbed a pair of my favorite sneakers with little scuffed gold stars along the side, and ran down the stairs.
There was a reason I’d spent so long getting ready - and it was down to my new two-nights-in-a-row overnight guest. The one who’d been blowing my mind with his wicked tongue and dirty mouth. The one whose sister was likely riffling through my kitchen for food. The one we were about to go and meet forbrunch. And the one that had given me a case of the butterflies for the past week, so much so that I’d nearly downed a bottle of Pepto-Bismol earlier to quiet them.
The look I’d been hoping to nail was ‘dress-to-impress-the guy-you-had-the-serious-hots-for-while-also-looking-casual-enough-for-a-low-key-baseball-game-and-not-arouse-suspicion-from-anyone-around-because-you-were-keeping-your-new-found-relationship-a-secret’; a task much harder than it sounded.
I found Lauren just as I suspected, sitting at my kitchen counter with a full bowl of cereal in one hand, a spoon in the other, eating like she’d never tried Cinnamon Toast Crunch before, and it was her new favorite thing.
“Finally! What took so long?” she mumbled through a mouthful.
“Sorry, I was fiddling around,” I replied, not looking her directly in the eye so she couldn’t see the avoidance of my answer and ask for more details. “We’re not in a rush though, right?”
“Yes, we are! I want a decent breakfast before we head off, and Penn won’t have any patience if we’re late and they’re all eating. He’s going to be enough of a pain in the ass today as it is, we’ll barely get time to order before he’ll make us all leave for the flight. He might like to inhale his food, but I don’t.”
