“Jack! Don’t throw food!” Gran scolded and I shrugged.

“Nothing says good morning like a muffin to your gut,” I teased and Cassie swatted me in the arm.

Dean’s eyes narrowed. “Hit him harder next time, Sis. Like this.” He walked over to me and socked me square in the right shoulder.

The chair screeched as I scooted out of it and chased after my little brother. He ducked and weaved throughout the kitchen, Gran yelling in the background and Gramps laughing at our antics, before I finally caught him and started whaling on his shoulders.

“Stop hitting me, you dick!” Dean yelled as he attempted to pull his shirt from my grasp.

“Don’t hit me in front of my wife.” I released the death grip I had on his clothes and watched as he stood up straight, brushing off his bicep where I’d just hit him.

“You just wanted an excuse to say that.”

“Say what?” I mocked with fake confusion.

“Wife.” Dean looked over at Cassie for support, who watched us with a grin on her face and shook her head, refusing to get involved.

“Stop acting like you’re twelve again and eat some breakfast,” Gran insisted.

“Yeah, Jack. Stop acting like you’re twelve.” Dean shoved me before running to his seat and slamming his ass down.

“You two are ridiculous,” Cassie remarked. “This smells amazing, Gran. Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. I’m just so happy to have you all here,” Gran said with a smile before placing full plates of food at the center of the table.

Dean lifted a waffle with his fork and I swatted at it with mine, causing it to fall on the table. “You’re such a jackass,” my brother whined.

“Dean! Language.” The scolding from Gran had become all too familiar whenever we were together.

“He was being a jackass, hon,” Gramps noted and I stifled a laugh.

A voice called out from the front door, and I noticed Dean stop midbite when he realized it was Melissa. “Knock-knock! Anyone home?”

“Yay! Melis!” Cassie jumped up from her seat and ran out of the kitchen as Dean glared across the table at me.

“You could have warned me she was coming over.”

I shrugged and shoved a bite of waffle in my mouth, mumbling around it, “Didn’t know.”

“Liar.”

“It’s not my fault you two can’t get your shit together, so don’t get all PMS’y on me like a little bitch.”

“Jack!” Gran said sharply. “Apologize to your brother right now.”

Gramps pinned me with a disapproving look over his glasses. “That was uncalled for.”

I chewed my food extra slowly, my gaze never leaving Dean’s. “Sorry,” I mumbled before narrowing my eyes and adding, “that you can’t make the girl fall in love with you.”

Dean shook his head and looked away as he finished the bite in his mouth with a scowl.

My beautiful wife walked back into the kitchen with her fun-sized best friend, Melissa, following close behind.

“Hi, everyone,” Melissa said cheerfully.

Gran gave her a big smile. “Good morning, dear. Are you hungry? Let me grab you a plate.” She started to stand but Cassie stopped her.

“I’ll do that. You eat.”

Melissa pushed Cassie toward her chair and shook her head. “I already ate, but thank you.”

“So, Fun-Size, did you have a good time yesterday?” I asked suggestively, trying to get her to admit she actually liked my brother as more than a friend. Dean froze and tipped his head to the side, obviously waiting to hear her answer.

She stared straight at him as she spoke without blinking, “It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. How about you?”

I laughed. “Considering I married the girl of my dreams, I’ll say I had more than just fun yesterday.”

Melissa slid into an open chair at the table and asked, “So, when are you guys leaving?”

“Our flight leaves tonight at nine,” Cassie answered, her voice deflated.

“Why can’t y’all just stay forever? Screw New York!” Melissa shouted in an overly animated voice, and I noticed Dean rubbing his temples.

“What’s the matter, Dean?” she asked with a laugh. “Head hurt?” She tilted her head as she goaded him playfully.

He glared at her and gave her a sharp nod before turning to me. “You can’t stay any longer, can you?”

I swallowed the food in my mouth, half-wishing my answer could be yes. “We have to get back so I can get ready for the pre-season. I feel like I haven’t thrown in forever, and I need to work out. You know how I get in January.”

Being a major league baseball player probably didn’t appear like it would be that difficult from the outside. But I worked my ass off for the majority of the year. During the off-season, I still had to work out, stay in shape, and keep myself healthy. Not to mention the fact that I had to start mentally preparing myself for the season months before it actually started, which basically meant I sort of checked out from everything else. Cassie has had to learn to deal with an absentee boyfriend, whether mentally or physically, most of the time. And now I’ll be an absentee husband.

“Sucks you’re so far away,” Dean added before reaching for his glass of orange juice.

“You can come visit us anytime, Dean. Just let us know. We’d love to have you,” Cassie said with a smile.

“Thanks, Sis.”

“What about me? Can I come visit anytime?” Melissa cocked her head to the side and Cassie rolled her eyes.

“No,” she said before laughing. “Of course, dummy. Actually, you and Dean should visit together sometime.”

She winked and I seconded the suggestion. “You two should definitely come out together.” Dean’s shoulders tensed noticeably as a grunt escaped his lips.

Despite how much I razzed him, I wanted to help my brother get the girl. Yesterday I had caught them hooking up before our wedding, and if I could do anything to get them together once and for all, I’d do it. The boy deserved to be happy.

Gran changed the subject before I could ask any more questions. “Speaking of Dean and traveling,” she said, “when do you start at the agency?”

“Yeah, bro,” I asked as I kicked Dean under the table. “What’s up with you and my agents?” My agents, Ryan and Marc, had offered Dean a job at their sports management company as soon as he graduated.

“It’s part-time now, but I start full-time at the end of May,” he said with a smile.

“What will you be doing exactly?”

“I’ll be a junior agent. They’re going to teach me the ropes when it comes to dealing with guys like you.” He gave a slight head nod in my general direction.

“Good luck with that,” Cassie said with a snicker.

“But I’ll mostly be researching at first. I’ll be looking at new talent for the guys to check out. It’s going to be a lot of computer work and apparently I’ll be the local contact for any of the players or their families.”

“For everything, or just certain things?” Cassie asked.

Dean shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I’m sure there will be questions I can’t answer, so maybe just helping facilitate their moves if they get traded, or talk about the trade deadlines and stuff.”

Warming up to the subject, Cassie asked, “Do the families call a lot?”

“You have no idea,” he said, shaking his head. “Not everyone understands the business side of things, so sometimes they get really frustrated. I have to literally explain every single thing to them that they don’t quite grasp.”

Cassie’s eyes grew wide as she inhaled audibly. “I bet those are some fun and long calls.”

Dean nodded. “I was on the phone for over two hours the other day with the wife of one of your ex-teammates.”

“Who?” I asked.

“One of the outfielders for the D-backs. She was concerned about him not getting a long-term extension after last season and wanted to know how that would affect his playing time and reaching the full pension package. I had to explain the entire business side of things to her and I think she was still confused. She’s obsessed with the pension.”

Gramps dropped his fork and it clanged against the table. “Sorry,” he said as he picked it up with a funny look on his face. “How many seasons do you have to play before you get the pension?”

“To get full pension benefits, you have to play for ten full seasons.”

“What happens if you get hurt before then, or if you can’t play all ten?”

Dean sucked in a breath. “Then you only get a partial pension, but it’s way more complicated than that. Your contract terms, the number of years you signed for, it all comes into play.”

“Oh, enough of this talk. Let’s let the kids have some time together before they leave.” Gran pushed back from her chair and started collecting her dishes and the plates closest to her.

“Let me help, please?” Cassie asked and Gran swatted at her hand.

“No, dear. You’re a newlywed. Go spend your honeymoon with your friends,” she said with a wry laugh as we filed out into the living room.

The rest of the afternoon flew by as we hung out with Dean and Melissa. Before I knew it, Cassie was reminding me we needed to pack our things and say our good-byes. I hated leaving, but at least I wouldn’t be alone. I’d never be alone again.

Breaking Bones

Three Months Later …

Engrossed in my work, I fiddled with the key that hung from a chain around my neck, my fingers running across the letters that spelled out STRENGTH across the top. Melissa had given it to me after all the drama with the tabloids and mean fans during Jack’s first season. The rule of the necklace, she told me, was that I should keep it until I saw someone else who needed the message on the key more than I did. I hated the thought of ever giving that special gift away, but had to admit it was a really clever idea.

Sitting in my cubicle, I pored over photos I had recently shot during my last assignment. Nora, my boss, wanted to submit one picture for a highly respected photography award. But as I looked at them, I realized that I couldn’t pick the one.

As usual, I’d become emotionally involved on my assignment, and could no longer see the photo for just what it portrayed. I saw the emotions behind it, the meanings that weren’t necessarily captured through my lens.

When I looked at the photograph of the elderly man desperately clutching a child covered in dirt and blood, I saw the hundreds of other people in the background just as desperate and dirty who didn’t make it into my picture. Just out of view sat houses demolished into piles of debris, and their owners, faces filled with disbelief, digging through the rubble in vain. Several square miles of land that had once held schools, businesses, and homes, were now completely leveled into what could only be described as a war zone. It sounded so cliché, but that description was the most accurate. Mother Nature sometimes brought hell to Earth. And I captured it with my camera.