Page 124 of More Than Pen Pals

“All right. I’ll be fine. What time are we meeting your friend?”

“We don’t need to leave for a half hour or so.”

He nods. “Anything exciting happening at work?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“I have a famous client. I had to sign an NDA, so I can’t give you details, but I can tell you who it is.”

“So it’s somebody I’ve heard of?”

“It’s Diego Sanchez.”

He sits up. “Excuse me, what? How am I only now hearing of this? And why can’t he get us tickets to the game tomorrow?”

“Like I said, I can’t talk about it, and I can’t ask him for tickets. It’s in the contract.”

“Let me get this straight. You work with Diego Sanchez. You’ve met one of my all-time baseball favorites. You failed to tell me this while you claim to love me ‘so much.’ We shared a womb, and you betray me like this?”

“I’m sorry, Shan. I should’ve told you. I meant to, but with all this stuff with Ash, it’s taken a back burner in my mind.”

“Aw, Les, I’m sorry. You’ve been through a lot. But can you tell me what Sanchez is like? Is he a jerk? Does he have a gigantic ego?”

“I can honestly say he’s a good man. Yes, he has an ego, but what famous athlete doesn’t? He’s friendly, and he’s an extremely generous person.”

“Then he should be fine giving us tickets to tomorrow’s game.”

“Shan—”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll leave it alone.” He flops back down onto the bed. “Diego Sanchez. Wow.”

* * *

We’ve been with Wendy for fifteen minutes, and my brother is one hundred percent smitten. The two of them are getting on like long-lost best friends. I don’t think I’ve said more than ten words since I introduced them, and they haven’t noticed.

Wendy giggles at something Shannon says, and my attention goes to her face. She’s looking at him with more than casual interest, so she must not be as attached to Randall as I thought. But who knows with her? I hope she doesn’t end up breaking my brother’s heart.

“Have you met Diego Sanchez?” Shannon asks Wendy and then points his thumb at me. “This one didn’t tell me about him until today. Can you believe that?”

“Shush,” I say. “Keep your voice down.”

“Yes, I’ve met him,” Wendy says. “We had a big meeting with him on Wednesday.”

“Wendy,” I warn. She’s already halfway through her second glass of wine, and her tongue is loosening.

“Whoops. Sorry. Not supposed to talk about it.”

“Talk about what? What was this big meeting about?” Shannon asks her, purposely avoiding my stare.

Wendy zips her lips. “Can’t tell you.” Her gaze shifts to me. “Did you tell him to hire Ash?”

My brother turns wide eyes to me. “Hire Ash to do what?”

I jab my finger at her. “Wendy O’Halloran, stop talking about Diego Sanchez this second.” I turn my focus to my brother. “Shannon Beckett, forget you heard any of that.”

He raises an eyebrow at me and then pours more wine into Wendy’s glass. “Drink up, Wendy. And then tell your new best friend Shannon everything.”

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