Chapter Three:
That morning I was up before everyone else. Since the sun hadn't risen yet it was still fairly dark outside and I crept downstairs into the kitchen. I started making everyone a little breakfast and a small snack to take with them on their day. I figured they would all stop for lunch on their own when the time came. For their breakfast I made them a goat cheese salad with chicken and different veggies and some fresh fruits that I chopped up in record time. Then I threw in some protein drinks and an energy bar from a company that I endorse. Boxes arrived the previous day and I didn't know what to do with them.
By the time everyone was up and rushing out, I was waiting by the door to hand over their food.
"What's this?" Samantha asked, looking up at me.
"A chicken salad with goat cheese, a protein shake and energy bar." I said brightly.
Samantha looked at me blankly. "Goat cheese?" She gave me a skeptical look, as if I told her to eat goat vomit instead.
"Trust me, it's delicious."
"All right. I'll give it a try." She said with a sincere smile.
I didn't buy it for a moment. "If you throw that lunch away at school you will be contributing to the death of numerous starving children in a third-world country." Samantha gave a laugh and I urged, "Give it a try."
"Alright, alright. Emily Michelle we're gonna be late." Samantha's last remark was aimed up the stairs.
There was quick thumping on the stairs as Emily Michelle rushed down, pulling her long black hair into a ponytail. As I handed her what I had made she held up a pair of my black sunglasses and looked at me pleadingly.
"Can I borrow these? They are too cool!"
I told her to feel free to borrow whatever I had and watched as the two got into the black convertible Emily Michelle had gotten when she received her driver's license. I waved goodbye as Emily placed the sunglasses atop her head, grinned at me, and then reversed out of the driveway.
Soon everyone was out of the house and it was suddenly very quiet. Nannie came down, already dressed and declared that she had to make a trip to town in order to buy some new gardening books and then she might check up on one of her girlfriends. I told her to have fun and she wished me luck on my task for the day.
I went upstairs to fix myself, throwing on a pair of black slacks, a t-shirt and a black blazer. I was about to grab for my sunglasses when I remember I'd let Emily borrow them. No matter. I pulled out one of my suitcases and opened it. Spread out through my clothes were countless other sunglasses that I had accumulated over my career. I'd needed them whenever I went out. I chose another black pair similar to the one I lent Emily Michelle, but this one had a sleeker, square-ish design and I placed them on top of my head just like my younger sister had done.
Heading downstairs, I grabbed my keys from the fireplace mantle and left. In the garage was a new Range Rover that my teammates had bought me for my retirement and I smiled. For a bunch of guys, they could be very sweet at times. I started up my car and headed down the road.
Stoneybrook mornings hadn't changed much. There was the occasional bus that past and a handful of kids who were heading to school with their lunch boxes and backpacks. I waited idly as a stream of elementary kids crossed the street. From inside my bag, I heard my cell phone ring. Digging inside I pulled it out and flipped it open.
"Thomas." I barked into the phone as I continued driving.
"Kristy!" a slightly familiar voice, though I couldn't quite place it.
"Uh, yes?" I paused, unsure.
"It's me, Kristy. Mallory!" Mallory Pike's identity was revealed. Mallory was one of the junior members of the BSC when we were in business—she was another of my best friends.
"Mallory? Mallory! Oh my Lord, I haven't—how are you? Where are you?"
Mallory let out a laugh. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for your welcoming party. But I had a difficult chapter to work out and my publisher kept moving the deadline closer and closer."
"I know how that can be." I told her. "How have you been?"
"Very well. I miss Stoneybrook. I've been in New York for the past five years. Jessi and I are flat mates."
"Flat mates?" I repeated.
"Roommates." Mal elucidated. "I hang out with J.K. Rowling whenever she has free time."
"Get OUT!" I exclaimed loudly. Mal is an extremely talented writer, but it was hard to imagine that someone I knew actually associated with the writer of the Harry Potter series.
"No, I'm serious." She replied, sounding very serious. "She's a very sweet woman."
I smiled. "That's great. How is Jessi?" Jessica Ramsey was also a junior member of the BSC, again, a great friend of mine.
"Jessi's great. She's one of the top dancers at the Dance N.Y. Company." Mal said.
"Tell her I think that's totally awesome. You both are doing exactly what I always knew you would do. I'm so proud."
"Yeah. Same goes for you." She replied.
We chatted for a while longer, in fact; all the way to the community centre before I told her I had to go but really wanted to see her and Jessi again soon.
"You will be. This summer Jessi has her ten-year high school reunion. We'll be visiting all of you then."
"What about yours?" Even though Jessi and Mal were best friends, they didn't graduate at the same school. Mal attended a private school called Riverdale, which was outside of Stoneybrook.
"Riverdale had their ceremony already." Mal said. "It was a surprising...event."
I laughed at that and told her that I had to go but for her to call again soon. I also let her know that I wanted to talk to Jessi ASAP to hear her story. I hung up the phone, tossed it back into my purse and headed up the stairs of the Stoneybrook Community Centre.
"Of course we would be happy to open a space in the community centre for you, Ms. Thomas!" A stout, pudgy man said from behind a desk. I smiled neutrally and gave a gracious nod. I had just given my pitch for a community softball team and the head of the centre—a Mr. Dufford—had eagerly agreed that the activity was something that could be used for the kids. However, from the way his eyes lit up when he looked at me—or rather my career image—that I could have told him my idea was to teach kids sky-diving while playing an accordion and he would have thought the idea was, as he put it, "just splendid!"
"Summer is fast approaching and we definitely want more participation with the youth of Stoneybrook. With your influence and ah, prestige, I'm sure there will be dozens of kids rushing to sign up."
"That'll certainly give me an idea of who would be a good base-runner." I joked.
Mr. Dufford gave me a blank stare before he realized I was joking and gave a forced laugh.
"When do you think it would be possible to start the program?" I asked eagerly, wanting to get over this meeting and back home so I could start planning.
"Whenever you're ready, Ms. Thomas." Mr. Dufford told me. "But it would be appreciated if you turned in a brief outline of your idea—exactly what you plan to accomplish and such—"
"Oh, that won't be a problem." I cut in without meaning to.
Mr. Dufford just smiled and sheepishly slid me a piece of paper and modestly asked for my autograph.
"Of course." I replied. I signed my name with an extra flourish and handed it back to him.
Mr. Dufford admired it for only a few moments more before he asked if I would mind signing a few softballs in the sport's closet. I didn't mind doing it, I was used to it by then but I was dying to get home and start on my outline so I could prepare before summer started.
Despite the fact that I was anxious to get my outline done, my stomach gave a loud grumble as I was heading out of the community centre and I stopped by a restaurant where I used to hang out when I was younger. The Argo was the first thing that I had seen with drastic changes since I arrived back in Stoneybrook. The varnished wood walls and waxed parquet floors were replaced with immaculate white walls, large windows that ran the length of the restaurant's walls, glass tables with contemporary chairs in red, blue, yellow and orange. It was all very modern and unsettling because the booth that I used to sit at was replaced with a salad bar that looked like a rocket ship.
I dug into a turkey sandwich with ranch dressing as I scribbled notes in a little notebook I carry around. At one point in my writing, I happened to glance up and noticed that a group of teenagers were furtively staring at me; when my eyes met theirs they quickly looked away and I smiled. The phone in my bag gave another ring and I poked around until I was able to pull it out.
"Hello?" I asked, though it sounded more like, "Muf-foe?" because of the turkey mashing around in my mouth.
"Hello?" came another voice. "I'm sorry, I must have the wrong numbe—"
"Mary Anne!" I exclaimed, nearly choking on the food in my mouth. After I had swallowed, I repeated myself. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing much. I'm in the car now; I just got off from work. I need to wind down, do you want to go shopping or something?"
"Sure." I said, wiping my mouth with a napkin. "I'm at the Argo right now. I'll meet you at the Washington Mall?"
"Sure." She replied.
We hung up and I grabbed the bill and headed to the front counter.
"Kristy, I heard you were back." A male voice said as I rummaged around in my wallet for a bill small enough for the restaurant to change.
"Yeah, I—" I looked up and stopped mid-sentence in complete shock of the person standing behind the register. "Logan? Logan Bruno?"
"Yup, that's me." Logan smiled bashfully. "How have you been, Kristy?"
"Well, I—uh, fine, I guess. Great. What are you doing here?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. "Why aren't you like, taking my place in the majors or something?"
Logan laughed at that. "I had a bad injury with my back junior year at college. I haven't been able to do much more than work here and teach driver's Ed. Over at Stony Brook High."
"Oh, Logan. I'm so sorry." My heart suddenly felt heavy. Logan used to be a very good friend of mine and even though I had heard next to nothing of him these past fifteen years, it still hurt that a fellow athlete had to give up their dream just because of an injury.
"It's no big deal." He said with a shrug. "There's a lot going for me... How's Mary Anne?"
That last part was filled with a surge of hope that he was desperately trying to hide.
"She's doing alright. She's a teacher over at SES—don't you know?"
Logan smiled. "Yes. I do. My daughter had her for a teacher two years ago."
"D-daughter?" I repeated. "You have children now?"
"Yeah. But Cokie didn't want any more after our first child."
"COKIE MASON?!" I exploded. "Oh, Logan, please tell me you're joking." The bigmouth from my youth emerged. I couldn't help it. I always knew Logan was a boy, but I didn't think even he could be that stupid. "You actually married Cokie Mason? Why?"
Logan's smile left his face and he shook his head. "Seemed like a good idea at the time." He said sarcastically but not with any anger. "I know, I know. I know you and the BSC didn't liker her," I snorted without meaning to, "but, I don't know. I was stupid. We went out together in high school and all through college. She stuck by me when I got injured, I thought we would stick together through other things. I was wrong though. We're divorced now."
I gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry about that, too."
"Don't be. It's taught me a lot." He told me.
I paid the bill and left with a strange feeling inside. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. It was too weird. Everyone in the BSC knew Cokie liked Logan since forever but we never thought there would ever be any promise to their relationship. I had just grown so used to the idea that Logan was Mary Anne's boyfriend. Forever and ever and all that jazz.
I brought up the meeting with Logan to Mary Anne, who took it in stride. She said it was a little weird seeing the two together and married with a kid but what else could she do? She held her head high during parent-teacher conferences even though Cokie still had that smirk she had all through middle school. Mary Anne got a little teary when she finished her story but she held it together while we bustled through the Washington mall and wondered whether we should start Christmas shopping now, even before summer started so it would all be over and done with.
When I got home that day, it was almost five o' clock and I sat around with Karen and Emily and Samantha to discuss our day. It was nice. Just the four of us girls and mom and Nannie when they came home. It made me feel safer and more secure than I had ever felt with even five bodyguards leading me back to my hotel room when the crowds were particularly forceful or demanding. I just couldn't wait until I started to really feel that way on my own. When I became just the regular Kristy Thomas of Stoneybrook, instead of Kristin Thomas, the major-leaguer.