“Everyone likes Maribel,” Mack said.
Tonya stepped onto the deck. “So we’ll see her, then?” she asked. “We’d like to take you kids out to dinner.”
“I know you’re busy,” How-Baby said. “But there’s something I want to ask you. Something big.”
Tonya swatted How-Baby on the arm. “Now you’re teasing,” she said. “Just tell him what it is, How-Baby. Tell him right now.”
“You don’t have to tell me right now,” Mack said. “Because, you see, with Maribel…”
“Okay, I will tell him right now,” How-Baby said. He finished his beer in a second swallow, then let out a strong, healthy belch. “I have a job for you.”
“A job?”
“A job, working for me, working for the Rangers. When this job opened up, I thought to myself, ‘I know exactly who I want this job to go to. Mack Petersen, that’s who.’”
Mack laughed. “As you know, Howard, I already have a job.”
How-Baby turned to Tonya and chuckled. “Didn’t I tell you that’s exactly what Mack was going to say?”
“You sure did, How-Baby. Now tell him the rest.”
How-Baby leaned forward. “Son, I know you like your job here at the hotel. And the job I’m offering you is hotel-related. This job is you setting up travel plans for the team-flights, hotel rooms, restaurants. It means a lot of interaction with the players, it means seeing the rest of the country.” He paused dramatically. “It means I will triple your salary. But you’ll still have your winters off, just like you do here. You’re free in the winter and in the summer you’re traveling, fraternizing with the biggest names in the sport, and you’re making money.” How-Baby settled back in his chair. “How can you pass that up?”
The first word that popped into Mack’s mind was ridiculous. The second word was why? Why was it ridiculous?
“It sounds tempting,” Mack admitted.
“But you have doubts,” How-Baby said. “You have doubts because I’m asking you to make a major league switcheroo here. I understand that. And so I want you to think it over. I want you to discuss it with your pretty Maribel and see what she has to say.”
“We know she’s going to love the idea,” Tonya said.
“We know she’s going to love the idea because that young lady has a good head on her shoulders. She knows a winner when she sees one. After all,” How-Baby said, clapping Mack on the back, “she picked you, didn’t she?”
“Sort of,” Mack said. He felt stupid admitting the truth to How-Baby. How-Baby wasn’t interested in what Mack had lost; he was interested in winning. “Maribel kicked me out of the apartment. I made a mistake.”
Tonya tugged on her earlobe. “Another woman?” she whispered.
Mack’s neck grew warm. “Something like that.”
How-Baby slapped his leg. “I knew it,” he said. He nudged Tonya. “Didn’t I tell you Mack was in the doghouse and that’s why he was living out back? I knew it.”
“It’s worse than just the doghouse,” Mack said. “It’s complicated.”
How-Baby put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. “Of course it’s complicated,” he said. “It’s love. Love is the greatest thing in the world. And you’re talking to a man who’s been married twenty-seven years.”
“That’s right,” Tonya said. She kissed How-Baby’s forehead, leaving two red lips behind. “But love is hard work too.”
“Harder than pitching a no-hitter with four fingers,” How-Baby said. “Harder than playing centerfield in a hundred-degree heat. It’s damn hard.”
“Yeah,” Mack said.
“Let me ask you something,” How-Baby said. “Do you love Maribel? Do you really love her?”
Mack nodded. “Yes.”
“Well, then, let’s hear you tell the world. Go on and say it.”
“I love her,” Mack said.
“Say it louder,” How-Baby said.
“I love her,” Mack said.
How-Baby scooted to the edge of his chair. “Say it louder.”
Mack hesitated; this must be the way How-Baby motivated his players, by getting them to release their testosterone. “I love her!” Mack said.
“Say it louder,” How-Baby said.
Tonya whispered. “Louder, Mack baby, louder.”
“I love her!” Mack said.
How-Baby stood up. “Say it louder!” How-Baby screamed. “Say it as loud as you can. Stand up and say it from your guts.”
Mack faced the water. There were still a few stragglers on the beach, but so what?
“I love her!!!” he shouted. “I…love…her!”
How-Baby applauded. “That’s right,” he said. “You love her. I believe you. I believe you love her.”
Roy Silverstein came out onto the deck of room 2.
“I see How-Baby’s doing his Baptist preacher routine again,” he said.
Mack collapsed in his chair. For the first time in weeks, he really laughed. Was it crazy to even consider taking this job? He was so locked into his choice between Nantucket and Iowa, he had never even thought there might be a third option. He’d been sitting around waiting for Nantucket to speak to him-and maybe that’s what had just happened. Maybe How-Baby was the voice he was waiting for. Mack wondered what the water looked like down in Texas. If he could get Maribel back, he would find out.
Soon thereafter, Mack left the deck, shaking hands with How-Baby, kissing Tonya on the cheek, and telling them he would consider their offer.
“Worry about the girl, first,” How-Baby said. “That’s what’s important.”
Mack rounded the corner to the side deck rooms. He knocked at room 18. Andrea opened the door. Behind her, Mack saw her half-packed suitcase, but he didn’t feel as sad as he’d expected.
“I’m here to help James shave,” he said. “I promised him.”
She looked him over. “I am going to miss you, you know.”
“Is James here?” Mack asked. He called into the room. “James, buddy, it’s Mack. I’m here to help you shave.”
“Hey,” Andrea said. “I said I was going to miss you.”
“You don’t have to miss me,” Mack said. “You’re choosing to. Is James here?”
“Of course he’s here. Where else would he be?” Andrea turned. “James, come here, please.”
A few seconds later James skulked into the room.
“I’m here to help you shave,” Mack said.
James spun on his heels and headed for the bathroom without a word. Mack followed him. James stood in front of the mirror, and Mack sat on the toilet.
“This is a graduation of sorts,” Mack said. “Because you’re leaving tomorrow.” He wondered if Andrea had gone over all this with James already. He wondered if it would matter, if James had any concept, really, of what was going on around him.
“Time for shaving,” James said.
“I’m going to watch you,” Mack said. “You go ahead. Tell me what’s first.”
“I don’t know,” James said.
“Lather your face with shaving cream,” Mack said. “Like Santa Claus, remember?”
James sprayed the foam onto his fingers and dabbed it onto his cheeks.
“And now what?” Mack said. “What comes next?”
James said nothing. How did How-Baby do it? How did he make people respond with exactly what he wanted to hear? “Pick up the razor,” Mack said. “We’ve done this three times already. Now I want you to shave yourself, James.”
“I don’t know,” James said.
“You don’t know what?”
James stared into the mirror. Mack’s heart deflated as he looked at the fifteen-year-old kid with a foamy white beard. He felt for Andrea, who would have to watch tomorrow, and next week, and maybe even next year, until James could get comfortable with the routine, until he could divide the task into steps. She was right, of course: nobody else would love James enough to have that kind of patience and that kind of stamina without losing their temper, without becoming frustrated enough to leave, as her husband had. Not even Mack.