“I gotta be honest, Kitten. I feel like we’re betraying Sal.”
“No!” she whined. “We’re not, I promise. This place isn’t even Italian. It’s French.”
I stepped ahead of her to open the restaurant door when a woman’s voice said, “Oh my God, are you Jack Carter?”
I turned to face the woman as Cassie stopped midstep.
“Oh my God, you ARE Jack Carter! I’m a big fan. You’re an amazing pitcher. Can I get a picture with you, please?”
I glanced at Cassie and saw her lips form a tight-lipped smile. So I pulled her close to me and put a polite but firm smile on my face as I told the woman, “I’m sorry, but I’m about to go eat with my girl. Some other time.”
“Please! Just one picture? Or an autograph? Can you sign something for me then?” I watched as she buried her hands into her oversized purse, searching for God knows what.
“Please understand, I’m just trying to have some personal time right now. I’m sorry.” I turned my back to the overzealous fan and held the door open for Cassie.
“Sorry, babe,” I said, stroking her hair.
“It’s OK. Why didn’t you just give her what she wanted?”
The hostess smiled but didn’t interrupt us. Instead she grabbed two menus and waved us toward the back of the small café as we followed her lead. “I didn’t want to.”
I pulled Cassie’s chair out for her before sitting down across the table and removing my cap.
“Your waitress will be with you shortly,” the petite brunette said before she bounced away.
“What do you mean, you didn’t want to?” Cassie leaned forward, her hair flopping in front of her eyes as I swept it away with my fingers.
I sucked in a breath. I hadn’t told her any of this yet, this part of my master plan, but I guessed now was as good a time as ever. “I’m trying to limit my contact with them.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re trying to limit your contact with whom? Your fans?”
I leaned across the table. “Just the female ones.”
There. I admit it.
I wanted to limit my contact with my female fans whether I was on or off the field. I never wanted to give them or the press anything to talk about, write about, or post about.
“Jack.” She closed her eyes for a moment before meeting my stare. “You can’t ignore your fans. It’s mean and they’ll end up hating you.”
I leaned back against the hard chair and shrugged. “If I’m mean to them, they’ll leave me alone. And if they leave me alone, they won’t have anything to say. And if they don’t have anything to say, then you’ll never have anything to worry about.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want people to hate you.”
“So what are you saying? You’re OK with me talking to them?”
“Of course I’m OK with you talking to them. I just don’t want you to sleep with them.” A slight laugh escaped her lips. “Or make out with them or do anything with them.”
I reached over, taking her hand in mine. “I won’t ever make that mistake again. I’ll prove it to you every day for the rest of our lives. I wanted to ignore them for you, so you could see I’m trustworthy and not be worried.”
“I don’t want you to go to those extremes for me. It’s not right. And the trust part will just come in time. OK?”
“OK.” I agreed, bringing her hand to my lips.
When we were done eating, I settled our bill with the waitress and waited for her to bring me back the change. She approached our table, a weird look on her face.
“Is everything alright?” I asked.
“Here’s your change,” she said, handing me the soft leather bill holder. “And I’m really sorry, but there’s a crowd outside waiting for you to leave.”
I glanced at Cassie as the surprise flashed in her eyes.
“We wouldn’t let them come in, obviously. But they know you’re here. We’re really sorry.” The waitress stared at her feet.
“It’s fine. It’s not your fault,” I tried to reassure her before looking back at Cass. “You OK?”
Cassie nodded and looked at our waitress. “How’d they know we were here?”
“Someone posted it on that Spotted website.”
I frowned. “I don’t know what that is.”
“It’s this website where people can put where they spotted a celebrity or an athlete. Someone posted that you two were eating lunch here.”
I leaned my head back slowly. “Gotcha. Thanks.” I pushed my chair back before stretching. Running my fingers through my hair, I grabbed my cap and placed it firmly on my head.