AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You definitely have,” Tommy agreed. I chewed on my thoughts for a minute longer before I finally spoke the truth of my desires.
“But I think eventually I want May’s job,” I told him.
“Okay, so what’re you going to do about it?” Tommy asked me.
It was refreshing having someone who challenged me like that. He wasn’t jumping in to give me his advice; he was simply asking me to think outside my own box, come up with my own answers. But I knew that if I needed someone to brainstorm or strategize with, he would make a step-by-step guide for me to achieve my goals.
“I definitely need to speak with May.”
“Probably,” Tommy agreed. “But I’d like to say that your season has been phenomenal. You’ve taken some killer shots that have been featured, and you’ve done all of that while dealing with me.”
“You’re not that bad to deal with.”
“Even if that were the truth, the paparazzi that like to follow me definitely are not easy to deal with.”
I couldn’t find it in me to tell him that wasn’t the truth, because this season had been emotionally exhausting for me. The side effects of the contract had weighed heavily on me. I was on edge when I went out in public, waiting for someone with a camera to jump in my face. But I knew that if I told him that, he would never forgive himself for allowing the contract to happen in the first place. If I had learned anything about Tommy in the past few months, it was that he would have rather given up his contract with the Cougars than force me to be in that situation with him if I didn’t want to do it at any point.
I couldn’t tell him any of that because everything that had happened between him and me would have never happened. I never would have figured out that I was falling fast for him.
After breakfast, Tommy dropped me off at my apartment. It was a much-needed day off for the team and for the staff after the big win. The long stretches of multiple games without a break were starting to take a toll on everyone. People were dragging, trying to get to the All-Star break, and hoping that we’d all have enough energy to get us through to the end.
It was time off that I desperately needed to get my life together. I had laundry to do, an apartment to clean, and groceries to buy. But none of those things seemed to occupy my interest as I sat on my couch in my tiny apartment. The only thing I could think about was what Linda had said the day before.
Did Tommy really love me?
If that were the case, could I handle a relationship with him in the spotlight?
Every fiber in me was screaming that it didn’t matter because I was irrevocably, madly in love with him. I had known it for some time. Hell, I had probably been in love with him longer than I had realized.
I was pacing my apartment, trying to burn off the feeling that was building inside me. But it seemed like with every step I took, the urge inside me was growing. A thought had occurred to me that I needed to tell Tommy how I felt or I’d surely do something stupid if I didn’t. I could practically imagine myself chickening out of ever telling him and figuring out some way to self-sabotage the one good thing that had happened to me in years simply out of fear.
Without letting myself think too much on what I had decided to do, I started to pick up my purse and bus card. But when I got to the door, I hesitated. I remembered Tommy telling me that he would probably be heading to the clubhouse this evening to work out and take some extra swings. If I took the bus, I would miss him at his house. The only problem was, I still didn’t have a car.
I cursed myself as I debated what to do. It seemed that there was only one thing I could do. Mrs. Adams’s soap operas were blaring through her door, and I was worried she wouldn’t hear my knocks over the sound of Fabio breaking up with his current fling. Didn’t she know that I had my own love story to secure?
My knocks grew a little more persistent before I was full on banging my open hand on her door. I heard the television turn down and then slow footsteps making their way toward me. Mrs. Adams pulled the door open. She was an older woman with gray hair that she liked to keep in curlers. Her glasses sat on the bridge of her nose or hung from her neck on her glasses holder. She always had a matching sweater set on, even at the height of summer, and rarely smiled.
“Hi, Mrs. Adams. I have a favor to ask of you,” I told her.
“I don’t have any sugar.” Her voice was crackly, like sandpaper.
“Oh, no. It’s not that,” I tried to tell her.
“I don’t have any eggs.”
“I’m not here for food, Mrs. Adams.” I glanced down at the watch on my wrist. “I was wondering if I could borrow your car.”
Mrs. Adams stared at me for a few minutes, her eyes narrowing as she looked me up and down. I was beginning to grow uncomfortable when she finally spoke again. “But you don’t drive.”
I was surprised that she had noticed. “I’ve been getting comfortable with driving again. I just don’t have my own car yet.”
“What do you need it for?”
Part of me didn’t want to tell her the truth. I wondered if I should make up a lie about something more important than telling a guy that I was falling in love with him. But something inside me told me to tell her the truth.
“I need to tell a guy that I’m in love with him.” It was weird speaking the words out loud. I hadn’t even told Olivia yet how I felt.
She pursed her lips as she watched me. Without saying a word, she shut the door in my face. I jumped, startled at the loud sound the door made. Of all the ways I had expected Mrs. Adams to react, I had not expected her to slam her door in my face. I stayed there a moment longer before I turned to head down the stairs, deciding that I could at least give the bus a shot and wait on his steps until he got home. Then the door opened again and Mrs. Adams reappeared, holding her car keys in her hand.
