Kelsey Martin

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I glared at Jenny, who had her arms wrapped around my neck.

She leaned back and put her hands on my shoulders. “I couldn’t, legally. And I honestly thought he’d told you by now.” Jenny sighed. “I’m sorry. I’ve been caught up in this wedding and—it’s no excuse. I should’ve dropped some hints. I honestly figured you knew. Looking back on it now, I should’ve picked up on it.”

“Why could those guys on the radio talk about it, then? If it was some big secret?”

Jenny wrapped me back up in a hug. “Those shows are speculation, even though they’re often right. They have sources everywhere. But they don’t represent Matt, so they play by different rules.”

“So is he going to New York?” My stomach did a backflip thinking about Matt being gone.

Jenny shook her head. “I really don’t know. Nobody can answer that but Matt. Ethan doesn’t even know for sure and he’s not sure Matt even knows.”

“Why would he leave? Everyone is here. His family. Why is he even considering it?”

Jenny exhaled a sigh. “There are lots of reasons. Baseball reasons. Money reasons.”

“So he’d choose money over the people he loves?” I didn’t believe that for a minute.

“Kelsey, it’s not that simple. You know Matt.”

“I thought I did.” I scoffed.

Jenny stood up from the couch and held up a finger at me. Great, I was about to receive a lecture from my best friend when I was the one who’d just been blindsided.

“You know I love you, so don’t take any of this the wrong way.”

I shook my head. “Great, here comes the part where it’s my fault somehow.”

“Hey!” Jenny’s voice morphed into bitch mode, but she stopped and composed herself. “Sorry. It’s just—you know I’m on your side. But Matt is a great guy and he’s been through a lot the past few months, Kel. So you need to know all the facts before you start making judgmental statements like that.”

My mind tried to go into defense mode.

Jenny had to have noticed because she held a finger up at me again. “Just let me finish.”

“Fine.” I folded my arms across my chest.

“Try to see some of this from his perspective. I know it’s hard and like I said, I’m not taking his side. He should’ve told you.”

I nodded. “Yeah, he should’ve.”

“But we both know—”

I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself.

Jenny’s eyes narrowed. “We both know you wouldn’t have given him the time of day.”

My jaw clenched tight and I looked away. She was right on that, but this still wasn’t something you hid from somebody. “Why did he even try to date me?” My eyes started to leak and the fact that Matt could make me cry was like swallowing battery acid. I turned back and stared at Jenny. Tears streamed down my cheeks. “Why’d he have to come in the store and make me this way?” My voice cracked at the end.

Jenny rushed over and wrapped her arms back around me. I trembled in her embrace. I’d never felt this way over a guy before. I wanted to tear down the walls of the house and at the same time curl up in the corner and just cry for days.

“I don’t know. Maybe he was looking for a reason to stay.”

I shook under Jenny’s embrace. “So-so y-you think he’s going to go?”

“I think he’s hurting just as much as you are right now. And I think he’s about to make the biggest decision of his life.” Jenny squeezed me tight. “What do you want? Really want, Kelsey? You love him, right?”

I knew she could see the answer in my eyes. I nodded at her and burst into tears. Jenny’s hand stroked my hair while I sobbed into her shoulder. “If you love him, you need to be there for him. It won’t be the last time he screws up, either. You can’t lock him out. You have to be able to forgive him.”

I nodded against her. “I know.” I sat up and wiped a tear from the corner of my eye. “I know. I just need time to think some of this through, when I’m not like”— I pointed to my puffy eyes—“this.”

Jenny glanced to the ceiling and then back to me. “I hate to bring more bad news, but he only has a few days to make a decision. They’ve already set up the press conference.”

“Great.” I shook my head.

“So what are you going to do?”

“I just—I don’t know. I need to think. And I still don’t get why he’d consider going there.”

“This really is a conversation he should have with you. But it’s the Yankees. They’re like, umm, the Led Zeppelin of baseball teams. And Matt has a lot of charities that could do amazing things with the extra money they’re offering him.”

“You’re right. I hadn’t thought about any of that.” I wiped a tear from my eye.

Jenny nodded. “Okay.” She took a step toward the kitchen.

“Hey?”

Jenny froze and turned back around. “Yeah?”

“Can umm, can anyone go to the press conference? Where he signs his new contract or whatever?”

Jenny failed at hiding her smile. “If you want to be there, I’ll make sure you can get in.”

“Okay. I’ll think about it.”

“I think that would be good. And he would want you there, so if you made it I think he’d appreciate that.” She turned her back to me once more.

“Hey, Jenn?”

She sighed playfully. “Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Jenny walked over and pulled me into a hug. “You’re welcome.”