Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 90682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
He’ll be gone soon.
Too soon.
We’ve had a lot of fun together. We’ve…fooled around, too, which was completely unexpected but not the worst thing in the world I’ve ever done. Duke has also proven to be a solid wingman, coming to my aid when I needed backup. Watching out for me despite denying he was watching out for me.
“The house will be so quiet once you’re gone,” I say at last, satisfied I’ve had all the sips I needed to sip. I take the breakfast sandwich out of its brown paper bag and nibble on the side.
“Real life calls,” he intones dryly.
“When is your thing?” I’m not sure what the particulars actually are. He hasn’t told me really anything at all, though Molly has dropped hints. There’s a press conference coming up, but it won’t be in Chicago. That’s all I know.
I have no idea what the press conference is even for.
All I know is he needed a place to lay low.
“My next thing is a press conference,” he explains. “It’s for…” He glances over at me. “Spose I can tell you now—I feel like I can trust you, eh? Besides, the whole world will know next week anyhow.”
I nod. “Of course you can trust me.”
“I left the New York Condors, and I’ll be playin’ for the Dallas Steers.”
Playing for Texas?
“I thought…” I clear my throat, not trusting myself to speak. I assumed because he was in Illinois that maybe he would be playing for Chicago? His agent is here, HE is here… I assumed he was only saying he was hiding out—I didn’t think he actually meant it.
“Why come all this way to hide? Why not just hide in your apartment?”
“You know what it’s like being cooped up. I wasn’t about to put myself through all that again. I needed to be somewhere no one would think to look for me, and New York ain’t the place.”
Cooped up.
Ah. He’s talking about the pandemic when we all had to stay home.
“No, New York certainly isn’t the place.” But being near Chicago really isn’t either, although the suburbs are small and far enough away. If someone saw him and wasn’t expecting to see him, they would probably just assume they were imagining things.
If that makes sense.
“Probably need to get on with the announcement. The media is pickin’ up on the fact that no one has seen me out. Rumors are startin’ to swirl.”
“What kind of rumors?”
“That I’m retirin’ and such.”
“Retiring? How could they think you were retiring? Haven’t you only been playing for like a few years?”
“Yeah, two. But it’s rough on the body. I have buddies who didn’t last that long. Everyone has these major expectations during the draft and then”—he waves his hand through the air—“the pressure gets to them, and that’s the end of the line.”
That would be horrible.
“Anyway.” He sighs. “Gonna fly back to Texas and do the whole song and dance. Get it over with.”
“Are you happy you’re transferring or whatever you call it in football when you switch teams?”
“We call that getting picked up. Or trading, but that’s not what I did. I wasn’t traded. Texas picked me up. I was a restricted free agent, and ’cause my current team couldn’t match the offer Texas made me, I was able to switch teams. They never wanted to let me out of my contract, though, not in a million years.”
“Sounds like you had them by the balls.”
His head whips around to look at me. “Eli had them by the balls, but yeah—pretty much.”
“What team wouldn’t want you?” I muse out loud. “I hear you’re pretty decent.”
“Pretty decent?” He’s amused. “Why, Josephine, are you payin’ me a compliment?”
I laugh too. “I don’t know much about football, but word gets around.”
“They’re paying me a shit ton of money to play decent for Texas.”
“You must be excited to get back to your roots.”
“Yup, my pops played for Texas, and my mama is still there, so it’ll be nice to keep an eye on her.”
“Do you feel responsible for her?”
He shrugs his shoulders up and down a few times as an answer, eyes on the highway. “Sure, don’t we all?”
Eh.
I wouldn’t say I feel a sense of responsibility for my parents; then again, they’re both still around for each other, so that hasn’t fallen on me. I’m sure it will, someday, though that time hasn’t come.
“What about your brothers?”
He shrugs again.
It’s all the answer I need, considering we’re on a long stretch of interstate, northbound for an entirely different state, just so he can check on his little brothers.
My phone vibrates.
I smile when I see that it’s Molly.
Molly: What are you up to today? Wanna grab brunch? Iron Lady is having bottomless mimosas until 1. Then you can tell me more about that asshole from last night.
Darn. I love bottomless mimosas on a Sunday…