Dropped Third Strike (Portland Pioneers #1) (14 page)

“Coach B, can I talk to you for a minute?” Derek asked, a bit out of breath once he caught up with Reid.

“Sure, Beaman, what’s up?” Reid replied.

“Do you have dinner plans?” Derek asked.

“I was just going to get a pizza and take it to my hotel room,” Reid said.

“Mind if I join you?” Derek asked.

“I suppose not,” Reid said. “But wouldn’t you rather hang out with the other players?”

“The guys I usually hang with are hitting the club tonight, and I don’t think that’s a good idea for me,” Derek said. “You know?”

Reid did know. Derek’s history of drug use meant he was tested frequently. He couldn’t afford a slip-up of any kind. Going to a club with the guys might seem harmless, but Reid knew it could easily open a door to a whole mess of mistakes for Derek. Costly mistakes.

He nodded at the younger man.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Let’s go find some food.”

The men abandoned the pizza plan and stopped at a chain steakhouse instead. Dusty, sweaty, and still in their baseball clothes, Reid and Derek looked a little out of place. But this town was used to baseball players and fans taking over in February and March, so there weren’t too many stares.

When they sat down, Reid looked at the beer menu, but then glanced at Derek. The kid had come out with him to avoid alcohol. Reid didn’t need a beer that bad, so he stuck with water. The waitress who took their order eyed both men with interest, but Reid decided she was a little young for him, and Derek barely seemed to notice her. Reid found that interesting – he would have behaved completely different at Derek’s age – but he didn’t comment on it.

Throughout the meal, the men discussed baseball. Reid was impressed by Derek’s optimism and high expectations for himself. He also had plenty of complimentary words about his peers, explaining what he thought he could learn from each of the other men – even the rookie. Derek asked Reid about some of his experiences playing, and the two ended up swapping minor league stories and laughing long after the waitress had brought the check, which Reid quickly picked up.

“I make good money too, I can get it,” Derek said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Reid said. “You can pay next time.”

A little while later, Reid dropped Derek off at the building where he shared a small temporary apartment with three other guys.

“Thanks for having dinner with me tonight,” Derek said. “I know you have a history too. Kind of like mine.”

“We’ve all got a history, Derek,” Reid said. “Maybe you and I should hang out now and then. You can help me stay out of trouble.”

Derek laughed. “I think Miss Marks meant for you to keep me out of trouble.”

“Miss Marks? What does she have to do with this?” Reid asked.

“She was at the fields this morning when the other guys were talking about going out. They were giving me kind of a hard time about not wanting to go. They mean well, but they don’t get how hard it is,” Derek said. “Anyway, Miss Marks came up to me later and said I should track you down and try and hang out with you. She said she thought we’d get along real well. Guess she knew what she was talking about.”

“Katie usually does,” Reid said, smiling a little.

Even when she made no sense to him, Reid had to admit Kate had always been smart about her words. She knew what to say and how to say it. That had been his downfall, so it was something he’d always admired in her.

“Katie? I’ve ever heard anyone call her that,” Derek said, bringing Reid out of his thoughts.

“And you probably won’t again,” Reid said. “In fact, you better not tell her I called her that. We’re old friends, and I used to call her Katie. She isn’t very fond of it now, I guess. I should probably follow your lead and stick with Miss Marks.”

Derek laughed. “Yeah, that’s probably a safe bet. No need to piss off your boss.”

“No doubt,” Reid said, chuckling.

I’ve done enough of that already
.

“See you tomorrow, Coach B,” Derek said as he closed the car door and headed inside the apartment building.

As he drove back to his hotel, Reid thought about Derek’s words. He was surprised Kate had told Derek to spend time with him, considering their last conversation when she said he was a terrible person. Okay, so she didn’t say those exact words, but she might as well have. She’d said he was a good athlete and that was all that mattered. If you added in the way she spoke to him, it was clear she didn’t hold him in high esteem. So then why was she encouraging a young player to hang out with him? Especially a young player with such a troubled past? If she thought so little of him, why would she entrust such a high-risk investment to his company? It didn’t make any sense.

His attempts to analyze the whole situation kept him up later than usual that night. As a result, he overslept the next morning and woke up too late to get in a workout. He felt a little out of sorts as he grabbed a quick breakfast and washed it down with a cup of coffee on his way to the ball fields.

Several players were already stretching when he walked up.

“You’re late, Coach B,” Carson said.

“I’m not late,” Reid said. “I’m just not early for once.”

“Yeah, that’s late for you,” Carson replied. “It’s all good. I’m sure she was worth it.”

Reid laughed and shook his head. Carson’s assumption was amusing because it wasn’t correct, but it wasn’t completely wrong either. Indeed, a woman had kept him up late. Unfortunately, the distraction was completely of a mental nature instead of what Carson was imagining.

“Don’t you worry about that right now,” Reid said. “Let’s get to work. Come on, I’ll run with you guys since I was ‘late’ this morning.”

Running with the team actually helped Reid clear his head a little. He also joined them for jumping jacks, push-ups, and sit-ups. By the time they started hitting drills, his mind was solely on baseball and the work he needed to do for the day.

He spent extra time with Carson until they broke for lunch. Then, he took his spot in the dugout at the main diamond for that afternoon’s first game of the spring. It was a perfect Arizona day – clear and sunny with a game time temperature in the mid-80s. There was no better weather for baseball, in his opinion.

It didn’t take him long to spot Kate in the stands. Once again, she was dressed casually – jeans and a polo shirt that was somehow perfectly cut for her figure without being inappropriate. Her hair was pulled back in a way that was simple and professional all at once. There was nothing about her look that should have made her stand out and yet Reid had found her in seconds. He was careful not to stare at her for too long this time. He didn’t need to be called out by his players again. Or worse, any of the other coaches. That didn’t keep him from glancing in her direction often during the game. His eyes were drawn to her. Fortunately, no one caught him – especially Kate. She didn’t seem to be the least bit aware of him, and that bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

After the game, his ego was soothed a bit when he found her waiting for him near the clubhouse.

“I wanted to thank you for spending time with Derek Beaman last night,” Kate said. “I’m sure you had different plans for your evening, but I appreciate you helping out one of our players.”

“No big deal. I had a good time with him. He’s a good kid,” Reid said. “But I was surprised you referred him to me.”

“Why?”

“I got the impression you don’t have a very high opinion of me.”

“I told you I think you’re a very gifted athlete.”

“But you didn’t say anything about me as a person.”

“I don’t think I know you well enough to have an opinion on that.

“Are you kidding me?! You know me better than anyone else here.”

“You’re wrong. I used to know you. But I don’t anymore.”

“Come on, Katie.”

“And every time you call me Katie, you just prove you don’t know me anymore either.”

Reid started to reply, but Kate put her hand up to stop him. She had a lot more to say.

“Look, maybe I’m not sure about the person you are anymore, Reid. But I knew you once, and I believe you can be a good resource and mentor for all of our players, including Derek,” she said. “When I heard the other players badgering him about going out to the club, I was impressed that he stood his ground and politely rejected their invitations. I also knew that their offer might be tempting if he left the field with no other plans. You are a little older than he is, but you’ve experienced some of the same things as he has, so I encouraged him to talk to you. I’m glad he did, and I’m glad you two had a good time.”

“We did,” Reid agreed. “I’m just curious about why you would send a young player with his kind of history to me when you’re obviously not too fond of some of the choices I’ve made in my past.”

“I think you should stop worrying about my opinion of you. I’m not sure why it matters so much to you.”

“It matters because you’re my boss. And you used to be my friend.”

“Well, now I’m just your boss, so just do the job I hired you to do.”

“You know I’ll do my job.”

“Show me.”

Kate could feel Reid’s stare on her back as she walked away from him. She was surprised she’d been able to keep her composure during the conversation. It was meant to be a short one – she just wanted to thank him for helping Derek, and he was supposed to nod and continue on with his day. She should have known better. There was no such thing as a short conversation between them. That just wasn’t their style. Instead, they always had to dig deeper, pull out their defenses, and go a few rounds before one of them walked away. It was emotionally exhausting, and Kate wondered how she would endure a whole season of this without exploding or melting down. It was going to be one or the other. She could sense that for sure. She only hoped that whichever route she chose, she went through it in private and was able to continue functioning in her job until and after it occurred.

She joined the other front office staff members in the meeting room for a quick post-game discussion. There wasn’t any urgent business, but it was good to touch base and share opinions about the team. In the coming days, they would begin to make the first rounds of cuts – deciding which players would stay in major league camp and which would be sent over to minor league camp. Each round of cuts got progressively harder, and she knew it was possible some players would be released by the end of spring training. Those decisions were always difficult. The business of baseball could be very emotionally trying. Kate hated being the one to destroy or delay someone’s childhood dream, and yet she knew she’d played that role many times. Even though she’d only been a GM for a few years, she’d already had dozens of exit conversations with players. The sadness on the faces of the young men was often enough to break hear heart. Some seemed to see it coming, while others were caught completely off-guard. Disappointment was universal, even when they tried to act tough and hide it from her. Those conversations routinely tested her resolve to avoid being described as heartless or overly emotional. It was a difficult balancing act, but she did her best to offer compassion and sympathy to the players while remaining professional with her words and the way she treated them upon exit. And she always held back her tears until after the player was gone and the door was closed. She wondered if any of the other GMs went through this. In a way, she hoped they did. She hoped she wasn’t alone in her emotional tests. She hoped there were other GMs who saw their players as actual people with real feelings rather than just commodities to be used up and tossed aside.

Maybe I should ask Reid about that
.

Once upon a time, Reid had enhanced her baseball knowledge by providing valuable insight from a player’s perspective. He had experienced a lot since then and his perspective was undoubtedly broader. She suspected she could benefit from a serious talk with him about what he’d seen and felt so far in his time as a player. But as she thought about talking baseball with him now, she smirked and shook her head. She and Reid couldn’t even exchange a simple “thank you” without it turning into a heated discussion. There was no way she could talk to him about more meaningful topics.

After the quick meeting, she headed back to her hotel, eager for a workout, a nice dinner, and some wine as she watched mindless TV. It was her favorite way to end these Arizona days because once the regular season started, evenings would no longer belong to her.

The Marks family swarmed the Pioneers’ spring training ballpark a week later. Families were a familiar sight at the spring training fields, but this family was a little larger than most.

Ron and Sharon, along with their four daughters, four sons-in-law, and six grandchildren took up a good portion of two rows in one section. But their presence seemed much larger. The kids were all under the age of five, and, even though they were well-behaved, they were a handful. When the adults weren’t tending to the little ones, they were catching up with each other. The family connection was easy to spot too. The elders had gray hair and the sons-in-law and grandchildren varied in their colorations, but each of the daughters had hair in the same shade of brown. It was quite the spectacle.

As Reid stepped out of the clubhouse, he heard his name being called. He looked in the direction of the vaguely familiar voice and saw an older man standing at the edge of the section waving a Mets jersey. It had been nearly 10 years since he’d seen Ron Marks, but he hadn’t changed a bit. Even though he’d barely glanced at the jersey, Reid knew it would bear his number and last name. Without hesitation, he jogged over to the stands.