Prologue

Prologue

Margot

“ W e’d love to hire your company to promote our league, especially our new Stingers Baseball team in Lombard, Illinois.”

I stayed calm outwardly on the Zoom call, but my feet were doing a silent happy dance under my desk. This would be the last account I’d need to take my business full-time. The minor league baseball league had teams from Canada through Kansas and was adding at least a new team and stadium a year.

Mandy, my friend from college, who owned a team in a neighboring Chicago suburb, told me about the opportunity. I owed her a nice dinner.

For the last five years, I have been going to work in an office a few days a week for a marketing firm for a publishing house. I kept adding private PR accounts for small businesses, setting up my business in my own time, doing marketing in other industries. When I’d started, I’d only wanted to pay bills for my condo after I’d been laid off during COVID. Now I wanted to make enough to be comfortable, and not have to go into an office.

And this job would do it.

I pulled out her list of questions about job duties and started negotiating.

“I knew you would get it! The League commissioner has been spending a lot of time at our stadium and has mentioned that he needs consistent staff to coordinate the promotions of all the teams, and the league. You know, to keep up positive and appropriate marketing.” Mandy raised her martini in a toast to me at the sports bar halfway between our two suburbs.

When I offered to take her out for a thank you dinner, I’d been surprised at her choice of venue, but she said she knew the owners and they were going to play the Cruisers’ away game that night.

“Always working?”

“During baseball,” she said. “You’ll learn.”

I would. I would start with the League in August, but I was already signing up for the social media accounts for the 15 teams. At least a couple clearly had rogue people running them, with kind of crazy posts.

“Liam!” Mandy turned and waved at a man walking in from the staff door. “I didn’t know you’d be here!”

“Mandy. How are your men?” He called over, moving to the register, and looking at numbers.

My friend was lucky enough to live with two terrific guys. She said everyone in their town, Hopeton, had relationships like that. I knew Hopeton was known for its poly wedding industry. And soon, for baseball and other minor league teams that were setting up there. Both of her guys were on the road with the team as they were coaches.

“They’re good! Thank you for letting me have the game on tonight. Eli is coming later.” Eli was her brother, another owner.

“Liam is a sponsor of our team,” she said, as he turned and started talking with another man who was sitting on a bar stool. They were laughing together .

“He’s cute,” it came out of my mouth before I even knew what I was saying. Liam had shoulder-brushing salt and pepper hair and scruff.

“He is cute.” She grinned at me. “Should I introduce you?”

“Not yet.” It was always my answer when people asked if I wanted to meet someone. “I’m still not ready.”

I’d ended things with my ex-boyfriend about three months ago. He kept putting me off about moving in together and getting engaged until after I’d purchased what I thought would be our condo. We’d been together for a year.

Mandy’s hand covered mine. “You did the right thing.” She said, as she’d done over the past months, as I wondered if I should have given Chad more time.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have given him an ultimatum.” But talking to her about this didn’t have the sting it did even a month ago. I realized that I didn’t even want to talk to him about my new account. It never occurred to me. Maybe I was finally moving on.

Suddenly, Mandy stiffened. “Listen,” she said. “We need to leave. Now.”