And he met Liana at a casino. They tell everyone they met poolside at a resort—told everyone, now that the getting-to-know-you narrative is moot. Yes, the casino’s hotel did have a pool, and yes, had they both been poolside, they’d likely have noticed each other. She’d been a collegiate athlete (volleyball, and she might have made the Olympic team if she’d been born two years earlier or two years later), and Jason’s toned body was notorious among a certain segment of baseball fans. But their relationship didn’t begin at the pool—it started with her hollering, her voice husky after two days at the craps table. He looked over to see her tossing the dice down the felt, kicking her leg out and throwing her arm so far ahead she looked like some sort of six-foot-tall hood ornament. That’s what got Jason to fold his pair of nines, to stand up, walk over, and say hello. She had him blowing on dice for a hot run that lasted an hour, worked the whole table and a dozen observers into a frenzy. By the time the streak had faded, when she was back where she started, chips-wise, and deflated like a rag doll, Jason was smitten. By her big smile, her teeth like bright chicklets; by her shoulders, which she knew still looked good five years out of competitive play, and so she kept them bare even in the frigid casino AC. By the way she shouted, halfway to a laugh; there was something infectious about it. Jason wasn’t attracted to showboats or the types of drama queens his teammates brought home, whom they bragged on and then rolled their eyes over. But when he sidled up next to her and she put a hand on his arm, when she looked at him, something clicked. That’s how it felt, or the best he ever was able to explain it—outside, with everyone else, she could present this ruckus and delight, but between the two of them was a quietude, a calm. It felt telepathic, almost, like Jimmy must feel with his pitchers. They didn’t need to talk, didn’t even need to signal: they just understood each other, and understood they’re better off playing together.