Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
* * *
Catie shifted until she was almost in Danny’s lap. One hand on the back of his neck, she massaged his tense tendons.
“They think it’s stress related?” she asked, not quite able to compute that. Danny was the least stressed-out person she knew—he took the world in stride.
Rolling his lower lip inward, he bit down on it in thought before saying, “Not so much stress as… mental wear and tear, I guess.” He angled his head so she could get at another spot. “They pointed out that of all the people in the squad, I made the team at the youngest age—and I’ve been selected nonstop since then.”
Catie had never really thought about it in those terms, but the psychologist was right: Danny had been playing professional rugby since he was only nineteen. On the flip side… “High-performance sports is a young person’s game.” A simple fact of life. Catie would always run, but she knew that her body would—at some point—stop being able to keep up with younger athletes.
That was when she’d retire from competitive running and flow into the next stage of her life. A next stage that she had all planned out thanks to the Esera family’s example and her own mother’s type A genes, which Catie had inherited in a certain measure.
“That’s what I said,” Danny muttered, arms folded. “I told them there was no point in me taking a few months off. I’d just worry about losing conditioning, and that would stress me out.”
Shifting her legs off him, she rearranged herself. “Put your head in my lap and I’ll give you a proper scalp massage.”
He didn’t argue, just did as she’d ordered. Eyes closing, he let her play with his hair, massage his scalp, and she could see the lines fading from his face. “What did they say to that?”
Eyes still closed, he said, “See, that’s the thing.” Tiny frown lines that she rubbed away. “They have an idea that I’m actually considering.”
“What? Are you into cliffhangers now?” Catie pretended to strangle him.
Laughing, he flicked his eyes open, the warm brown of them as familiar to her as her own eyes. “They pointed out that I’ve never done the usual young-Kiwi thing and gone off backpacking somewhere or found a job in a bar in another country while I see the world.” He reached up to tug on a lock of her hair. “You did that.”
“Kind of, sure.” She’d trained in different parts of the world and had always tacked on at least a couple of weeks to explore.
While in high-altitude training in Kenya, she’d added an extra two months; Laveni had flown over to meet her, and the two of them had traveled through several countries on the continent in a battered old Jeep Cherokee that they’d bought off a departing backpacker for the grand total of five hundred dollars. The thing had been losing parts by the time they ended their trip, but they’d still been sorry to say goodbye to it.
“I remember seeing your posts when you were in Africa,” Danny said, “and being kind of jealous but not really. Like I wanted to do that, but I wanted to play rugby more, if you get what I mean?”
She nodded. Because people didn’t all have the same dreams. “Back when my friends were taking off to parts unknown, a lot of them didn’t understand how I could stay put. But I always knew I was never going to take an entire year off to travel and explore. I can do that when I retire.” Which, for an athlete, came at a far younger age than it did for people in most other professions.
“Yeah.” Danny nudged at her hand with his head.
“Greedy,” she said with a laugh but started the massage again. “So what’s their idea?”
“That I go play a season somewhere else—maybe Japan or over in Europe.” Danny’s words were stones dropping into a still pond, the ripples immediate and cascading.
“Harriers talked to the national selectors too, worked it out so I’d remain in the running for national selection after that season. By joining an overseas club team, I could stay in form but still have time out, do a bit of travel in the region that I choose.”
Two things happened simultaneously inside Catie.
Happiness for Danny. She could see exactly how this could be the best of both worlds for him.
And panic because this would speed up the inevitable end of their relationship.
Heart squeezing tight, she said, “I’d jump at the idea, Danny.” It came out rough, but at least her voice didn’t shake. “You know how tough they are about that kind of switch up.” No major team liked to lose players—for management to suggest Danny play for a club team in another country was a big deal. It was also a sign of just how worried they were about their young star.