“I’ll do that. Thank you so much. Goodnight.” I show her into her room. When she’s settled walk down the hallway to take a quick shower and call Kellen.
Chapter thirty-one
“Thank you for picking me up,” I tell Kayla when I spot her at airport lobby in New York.
“Kellen insisted,” she laughs. “But it’s nice to have a friend here.”
“Where is he?” I ask at the mention of his name.
“We don’t see them until after the game.” She grabs my second suitcase from me and helps me to the cab. The weather in New York is perfect in April. We’re greeted by a cool breeze and sunshine when we walk out of the building.
“They’re busy all day?”
She nods her head after she sits next to me in the back of the cab. “It’s just like home games. We see them for a few minutes in the morning and when they leave the park.”
“Wow,” I look out the window at the busy streets of my homeland.
“Your room is by mine!”
“My room?” The pieces begin to fall together in my mind. Kellen didn’t tell me everything to expect at away games. “We don’t stay in their rooms?”
“No, but they can stay in ours,” she assures me. “Kellen didn’t tell you anything, did he?”
“What do you think?” She laughs.
“The wives fly in separately and have different rooms. They can stay in our rooms but we aren’t supposed to go to theirs. They’re at the park most of the day but we have seats and passes. We can go at anytime but we don’t do that. Who wants to sit at the park all day?”
“What time is the game?”
“Seven, we’re going straight there today. In this traffic we’ll be there an hour early.”
The traffic is worse than she predicted, of course. We arrive within thirty minutes of the game starting and rush in to get to our seats. I follow her to the seating behind home plate and sit in the first row. “These are my favorite seats,” she tells me.
“I haven’t been to a lot of his games,” I admit to her.
“You’re about to make up for that. This is your first full season together and you’re thinking about going to games with him after graduation?”
“Yeah,” my sentence trails off when I see Kellen on the field. He’s walking to the mound but his head turns my direction. I see him grin and I wave at him. He always checks to see that I came.
“Oh, and they’ll go back as a team to the hotel. We can meet them there,” she adds.
After the game is over Kayla and I share a cab to the hotel. I send Kellen a text with my room number and wait for him to show up. I know it could be two hours before he arrives so I take a shower and change into comfortable clothes. And there’s a knock at the door, I open it to reveal Kellen standing in front of me.
“Hey you,” I throw myself into his arms when he steps through the door. Ten days is torturous to be away from each other.
“Hey baby.” He mutters into my ear. “How was the game?”
“Are you fishing for compliments? You were amazing.”
“I’m so glad you made it. You looked beautiful tonight. It was hard to concentrate seeing you sitting there and cheering me on.”
“Hmm maybe I shouldn’t come to games…” I grin at him and he presses his lips to mine.
“Not a chance.”
He tosses his bag down and walks into the bathroom. When I hear the shower turn on I lay down in the bed to wait for him to finish. I turn on the TV and flip through the channels until I find Friends. Ross is posing as a British man to his students, when Kellen walks out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist I know I’m done watching this.
“My aunt texted me today,” he crawls into bed next to me. He’s still wearing his towel. The sight is making me wish that we were discussing anything other than his aunt. “She asked if we discussed a date.”
“Of course she did,” I laugh.
“She said she tried to talk to you about it last time she visited, but you wanted to talk to me about it…”
“Yeah,” he gives me a strange look.
“I don’t care. You make all of the decisions.”
“I just want us to get through this season and then we can plan the most elaborate wedding to make everyone happy.”
“It’s not about them. She’s going crazy,” he laughs. “She wants to help you.”
“I promise I will let her. I just want to get through this season.”
“You say that like you don’t think we’ll make it,” he turns to look at me.
“Of course I think we’ll make it,” I roll my eyes at my paranoid fiancé. “With graduation in a few weeks, you being gone all the time, and now I’m going to travel with you I can’t imagine planning a wedding.”
“Okay, you’re right. Let’s give her the month that we’re having the wedding.”
“Tell her… November.”
“November it is. We can always change it but this will get her to stop asking.”
“Good idea.” His hands slide over to tug at the hem of my shirt. I sit up and allow him to pull it over my head. “What time do you have to be at the park tomorrow?”
“Eleven,” he says as he tugs down my yoga pants.
“It’s past one…”
“Stop over thinking it. I can be tired for one game.”
I watch him toss my pants on the floor beside my shirt. When I don’t respond he stops at them hem of my panties. He tosses the towel to the side and nuzzles in front of me. His warm breath hits exactly where I need it.
“Are you still thinking about how many hours of sleep I need?”
“No,” I breathe out.
“Good.”
I lift my hips to allow him access to slide my panties down my legs. He grins at me before his mouth finds my sensitive skin. As promised, I forget about sleep.
I awake the next morning alone and tangled in the sheets. When I hear the shower start I smile to myself, he hasn’t left yet. I pull my phone from the bedside table and see that he will have to leave in thirty minutes. I have three texts one from my mother and Kellen’s aunt both congratulating me for almost setting a date. And Kayla told me to meet her in the lobby when Kellen leaves.
Kellen’s game is at one today and then he’s home for four days. I couldn’t wait two more days to see him so I got on a plane after my class ended. I have two weeks left until finals and with my last semester so crazy I hope that I can keep my perfect GPA.
“What are you thinking about?” Kellen pulls a shirt over his head and begins packing things.
“School,” I make a face when the word leaves me mouth.
“You’re almost done.”
“Why did I go to college?” I laugh. I had planned to take over our company but that’s not happening now. And with the hefty trust fund my father left me I could have taken time off to figure out what I really wanted to do.
“You met me…” he reminds me.
“That’s right. I met you, a guy that graduated two years before at a college frat party trying to pick up girls.”
“I scored that night,” I raise my eyebrows at him, “With you!”
“That’s not how I remember things happening.”
“Technicalities,” he waves me off. “You’re here now. When I tell our kids the story it will change.”
“You have a lot of time to come up with a story for them,” I assure him.
He gives me a strange look but his phone chimes with a text and he stands up, “That’s Jared, I’ll see you at game.” He walks over and kisses my forehead, “I love you.”
“I love you, too” I tell him.
I walk down to the lobby to meet Kayla and see what she has planned to keep us occupied for two hours. I notice her sitting in a chair is a yellow sun dress. I look down at my jeans and feel under dressed. She spots me and waves me over.
“Let’s have lunch before the game,” I nod and we walk out of the hotel. “What are you in the mood for?”
<
br /> “Surprise me.”
We walk a couple of blocks before we come up on a deli and we walk in. The hostess seats us in a table beside the front window allowing us to look out on this sunny day.
“Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Sure,” she tells me hesitantly.
“Have you and Jared talked about when you’re having kids?”
“Ah,” she nods her heard knowingly. “We can’t decide. We argue over it sometimes. I think we should wait until things slow down, but he’s ready yesterday.”
“I think that will be our problem.”
“Has he said anything?”
“He’s mentioned it a few times but he hasn’t pressed the issue. I think that will happen after we get married,” I laugh. “Like the day after we get married.”
“It’s something that you will have to decide together. You’ll know when the time is right.”
“I can’t imagine having a child and dragging them to every game or worse, having a child without Kellen around.”
“You’re twenty three and he’s twenty six. There’s no rush to start a family right now,” she assures me. I release a breath that I didn’t know I was holding in. I’m happy to know that she has the same concerns as I do. We order salads and avoid the talk of all things children until we leave for the game.
Chapter thirty-two
“Good afternoon, Liv, I’m so glad that you could join me today.” She collapses down on the couch beside me. “Long night?” I ask when I notice her pale face and lips.
“No, I need to tell you something,” I look over at her and take in her appearance. It’s only been one week since I have seen her but she looks thinner.
“Tell me. You’re worrying me.”
“I’m pregnant.”
“What?” I yell. “Does William know? Do your parents know?”
“William knows. I just found out yesterday.”
“How far along are you?”
“Ten weeks.” I pull her into me when I see that she is about to start crying. “I’ve suspected for a couple of weeks but I just found out for sure.”
“What are you going to do?”
“William wants me to move back to New York after graduation.”
“But that’s this weekend! In four days!”
“I know, he’s flying in tomorrow and helping me and we are leaving the day after graduation.”
“If this is what you want to do then I think you should do it.”
“It’s what I want to do,” she pulls out of my arms and smiles at me.
“How are you feeling?”
“Miserable, I’ve never been this sick in my life,” she groans.
“Who’s going to help me plan my wedding?”
“You’ve been engaged for over two months and haven’t set a date,” she reminds me.
“Who’s going to set my date for me and then plan my wedding?” She laughs at me. “Are you happy?”
“I am. I’m terrified, but I’m happy.”
Olivia walks back to her room and sleeps for the rest of the evening. Kellen texts me after eleven and lets me know he’s back at his hotel and he’s going to call after his shower. The selfish part of me wants to cry because when Olivia leaves I will only have Kayla around. Kellen is gone more than he’s home during the season. Unfortunately the season can run eight months of the year.
My phone buzzes, Kellen is requesting Facetime. This is becoming our nightly routine when he’s gone. “Hi,” he grins when his face appears on the screen.
“Hi,” I offer a smile back but he notices it doesn’t reach my eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
“Olivia just told me she’s pregnant and she’s moving in William in New York. I’m happy for her but I don’t want to lose my best friend.”
“Shit, she’s pregnant?”
“Yeah, I can’t imagine it either. I think she’s freaking out.”
“Damn. I’m sure they’re both freaking out.”
“I didn’t watch all of your game tonight, but I had it turned on. Does that count?” He laughs.
“Did you see the ending?”
“No, but I checked the score, and your ass looked fantastic in those pants,” I laugh but he shakes his head at me.
“Am I just a piece of meat to you? I have feelings too, ya know.”
“I’m going to bed,” I say through laughter. “You’ll be home tomorrow?”
“Yeah babe, about seven tomorrow night,” he tells me, its torture to watch him climb in bed alone.
“Goodnight, I love you.”
“I love you. See you tomorrow.” I end the call and lay in bed.
I awake earlier than my usual time but I waste no time getting ready and running to Olivia’s room. I knock when I don’t hear my answer I open the door and walk in. She’s lying on her back with her hands covering her face and a waste basket beside her bed.
“Do me a favor,” she says.
“Anything for you, baby momma,” she flips me off and I laugh.
“The doctor gave me a prescription for nausea. It’s in my bathroom.”
“I’m on it,” I walk in and find it on her counter and take it back to her.
“Thank you.”
“How long have you been stranded?”
“An hour, I was about to text you.” She sits up and takes the pill.
“Text me any time it’s what I’m here for. When is William getting here?”
“At ten,” she lies back down and closes her eyes.
“We have an hour,” I glance down at my phone. “Do you feel like eating anything?”
“Give the pill thirty minutes.”
“Done,” I stand up to start breakfast but I stop. “Olivia, I know you want to be with William and make your situation work, but are you sure that you’re moving to New York because you want to?”
“I don’t know if I want to move,” she chokes out through tears. I pull her into my arms again and silently hope that I don’t become this emotional when I’m pregnant.
“Have you talked to him about this?”
“No, what would I say? He has a job, he runs a company, and I have nothing. It’s easier for me to move there.”
“Liv, he can relocate. He wouldn’t want you to move there if he saw you like this. Talk to him as soon as he gets here.” She nods her head and falls back to sleep soon after. I walk back downstairs to make us breakfast and wait for seven o’clock to get here.
My phone buzzes when I walk into the kitchen and I look down to see that Kellen is calling. “Hello,” I answer.
“Hey, I need a huge favor.”
“I’m listening,” I take a seat on a stool in front of the kitchen island.
“I forgot that my family is coming in and staying a few days. Chloe is getting last minute details worked out. She’s starting summer one and they want to be at your graduation.”
“That’s so sweet!” My face stretches into a grin.
“Their planes lands in at twelve and I won’t be back until at least seven tonight…”
“Taken care of,” I assure him. As if I would get mad at him, I’ve missed his family.
“Thanks so much, babe. You have the key, right?”
“Kellen, I stay over there all the time. Stop worrying! What time does your game start?”
“One, I’m getting ready to start warming up. I’m ready to be in our bed tonight, this one sucks.” The way he says our bed makes me smile and panic at the same time, if that’s possible.
“How long are you in this time?”
“I leave Thursday,” he sighs.
I get one full day with him and then he’s gone. He won’t be here for my graduation Saturday, he’s apologized many times but it’s not his fault that baseball sucks the life out of him. This is how our life will be, I remind myself.
“You can come with me to every away game after graduation,” he reminds me again. I always put off giving him an answer but what will I have here? Olivia w
ill be gone, Kellen will be gone, and I still don’t know what I want to do after graduation. If I go with him maybe it will take the pressure off of me that I have here.
“I may take you up on that,” it rushes out of my mouth before I can stop it.
“Really?” He asks. The disbelief is thick in his voice.
“Yeah, I can do that for the remainder of the season,” I’m not sure if I’m trying to convince him or myself.
Before he can respond I hear banging on the door followed by his groan, “That’s my wake up call. I’m going to the field. I won’t have my phone on me but text me when you get them. Love you.”
“I will,” I know the drill. I won’t have my phone on me but I’ll call when I can. I’ll only be home five days out of the month, but I’ll see you when I can. I glance down at my ring and remind myself that this is temporary, Kellen will only have ten years left at the most and then our lives will be normal. But I can’t help that my mind wonders if I can wait that long for things to be normal. I can’t imagine having children with Kellen’s schedule the way it is. Can we wait ten more years to start our life?
∞
“Kellen texted,” I tell his eager family. “He just left the park. He should be here in a few minutes.”
Lori grins widely at me, “We’ll give you space when he gets here.”
“No, you three are spending as much time with him as I am.”
“I don’t know how you do it. I would be kicking everyone out of the house if I were you.”
I laugh at her, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“It’ll get easier,” she tells me. I have to look away and fight the tears that are threatening to spill over my eyes. If she only knew that I’ve been panicking about this.
“I’m going to go with him to away games after graduation.”
“Honey, that’s great. You two will be happier,” she stops when she hears the door open and the voice that we’ve been waiting for. I hear him greet his uncle and Chloe before he walks into the kitchen where his aunt and I have been making dinner.
He tosses down his bag and pulls me in his arms. My arms stretch around his middle and I stay like this until I hear his family walking from the room and I realize his aunt hasn’t had her turn yet.
Forever Careless Page 19