Free Beneath the Palisade by Joel Skelton Page B

doubt.” Andy had lost interest in his “my new boyfriend” story.
    “Jasper Flynn, the guy in the news lately for swindling all the money from his investors? Harper is defending him.”
    “The guy’s been found guilty,” Andy fired back.
    “I don’t know the specifics, but I think that’s what he was expecting.” He surprised himself at how defensive he sounded.
    “Wow, I’d sure hate to be in that dude’s shoes.” Andy reached for his phone to scan for messages.
    “Well, when Harper told me about the trial, he didn’t seem very bummed out. It was no big deal, all in a day’s work kinda thing. He was more concerned about Flynn’s wife, who I guess is a real piece of work.” Ian embarrassed himself, realizing he was putting some serious wear on Harper’s welcome mat. Shut up already.
    “Now and then there are pictures of her in the newspaper. I’ve always thought she looked mean, even when she was smiling.” Andy shuffled a stack of product catalogues on his desk.
    “Like Mrs. Babbett, our third-grade teacher?” Ian was happy to change the focus of their conversation. “Remember how wicked her smile was? It scared the crap out of me. I think she wanted to beat us but couldn’t.” He slid a catalogue he’d been looking at across the desk to Andy.
    “I wanted to beat her, I know that. Well, I have to get out on the lot and start filling an order. Somebody is supposed to be here at three to pick it up.”
    “Andy,” Ian said, getting up from his chair, “thanks for being the bad cop.”
    “No problem, Spanky.” Andy strolled over and took him into his arms. “We’ve looked after each other for so long it comes naturally. I’m on board. You deserve someone special, and it sounds like you might’ve found him.”
     
     
    “ T HAT was a good practice, don’t ya think?” Spencer asked. He and Andy gave Spencer a hand lugging the equipment back to his car.
    “Yeah, we’re starting to gel, I can feel it.” Andy waited for Spencer to open his trunk.
    “Why does Mitch want to move into the outfield? He’s too responsive to waste out there.” Ian was disappointed he wouldn’t have his trustworthy second baseman to throw to. Trapping runners between first and second had been a specialty they’d developed over the last couple of seasons.
    “I think he’s concerned about the baby. Donna is due in a few weeks, and he wants to make sure he has all the free time he can to enjoy playing daddy. Anyway, that’s the gist of what I got from our telephone call last week,” Spencer explained.
    With Ian’s encouragement, Spencer had assigned Larry Pelter to replace Mitch. It would take some time, but they’d click soon enough. Larry was wasted in the outfield. He was smart and quick. A necessity for playing second base.
    “Thanks for the help, knob-gobblers. See you at Merl’s.”
    “Not me.” Ian looked away.
    “It’s starting.” Andy glanced over to Spencer to see if he caught on.
    “What’s starting? Is there a bodybuilding competition on tonight? Wait, are you broke?” Spencer looked up from the trunk of his car.
    “No, I’m not broke. I’m busy. I have plans.” He needed to hold his ground here. Although he couldn’t rely on Andy to help him out, he hoped his buddy would refrain from adding another log to the fire.
    “Oh, I get it.” Spencer shook his head sadly. “It’s new boyfriend disease, isn’t it? ‘Forget all about your other friends’ disease. I’ve seen it a million times.”
    “Call it whatever the hell you want, but yeah, I guess it is.”
    “You’re going to let him get away with this?” Spencer wasn’t giving up without a fight.
    “I’ll cut Spanky some slack for now. He’ll be begging us to hang around for another beer before we know it.”
    “So, which one of you is the girl?” Spencer grinned, knowing he’d stepped across the imaginary line of acceptable insults with such aplomb.
    “Interesting you should ask me that, Straight Cat. Andy and