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Drew finished hismorning workout with Tyler and hit the showers. His arm felt good. Really good. His focus was back, he wasn’t throwing wild anymore, and his velocity was improving. Add to that the fact each moment he had free he got to spend with Baylee and Casey and life was damn near perfect.
He exited the locker room and found Tyler sitting on a bench, scrolling through his phone. Drew sat beside him, dropped his gym bag at his feet.
“Thanks for staying with me extra time. You didn’t have to and I appreciate it.”
“Hey, man, as I said before, California weather in January and February versus New York? I’m good to hang with you as long as you want.”
Both men laughed.
Drew leaned back against the wall behind them and closed his eyes. A good workout always energized him, and as much as he loved the time with Baylee, the day he had to leave sat out in front of him dimming a bit of the sunshine more and more each day.
Yeah, life was damn near perfect. But would it be once he headed back to his life in New York? A life that felt a million miles away at the moment.
“Uh-oh.”
Drew opened his eyes and looked at his friend. “What? What is it?”
“I’m not sure you want to see this.” Tyler had his phone turned so Drew couldn’t see it.
“Dude. What is it?”
Tyler handed over his phone, the screen on Drew’s twitter feed. Someone had tagged his name with a picture of Baylee and the comment read, “MacIntire has himself a hot baking bombshell.” Another comment read, “MacIntire’s Baking Bombshell has a kid.”
Drew stared at the photo. It was Baylee in her work uniform of jeans and a t-shirt with her apron on from the bakery. It was taken through the front window of her store so it wasn’t crystal clear, but what was clear was her angelic smile and glimmering eyes as she talked with a customer at one of the tables. There was nothing at all about the photo that was bad, per se, but the other picture hadn’t shown her face. This one not only did that but had the name of her shop and the information that Casey existed. Thank God Casey wasn’t in the picture but, based on this, it wouldn’t be long before someone got one.
Drew’s gut dropped and his heartbeat picked up speed.
“How…?”
“Seriously, dude?” Tyler took the phone from Drew and dropped it in his gym bag on the floor in front of him. “You’ve been in this circus long enough to know that that was bound to happen at some point.
Sure, yeah. Of course. But it was one thing when it happened to him. To think that paparazzi had been sniffing around Baylee, taking pictures of her without her knowing made his blood boil and he only saw red.
“Hey. Down boy. I can see you’re ready to tear someone’s head off, but you know as well as I do that won’t help in this situation. It will only make it worse.”
Drew nodded, unable to find his voice. Tyler was right.
“Call that assistant of yours. She’s pretty good at handling this stuff.”
Drew nodded again, his mind spinning.
Tyler stood and patted him on the shoulder. “It will all be fine, man. It will.” With that he headed into the locker room.
Drew dug his phone out of his bag and dialed his assistant. She answered after one ring.
“I know, I know. I’m handling it, but we need to talk, Drew.”
Monica Cohen had been his assistant from the beginning when he’d first been called up to the majors. She was known in the business for being a pit bull at handling media, no easy feat with social media being the main source of information these days.
“Okay. Talk.”
“You told me you wanted to keep this relationship quiet, but you and I both know that can only last so long. If I were you I would have a long talk with this woman in your life. I can hold the piranhas back for a short time, but you know as well as I do that we need to switch to offense and stop playing defense.”
Drew took a deep breath through his nose and let it out his mouth. “You’re right. I know you’re right. Try and keep things on the down low just a bit longer. I’ll talk to Baylee and get back to you.”
“Got it. And not that this means anything but I’ve known you a long time. You sound… happy. I hope you can make this work. If she’s half as great as you say she is, you two will figure out how to handle it all.”
“Thanks, M. Talk soon.”
