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“That’s what they say.”
“And you guys go back on the road in six days.”
“The contractors are friends of Zandor Steel, so I trust they can handle it without me being there to oversee the project.”
“I was more thinking about your tenants and the fact that they’re already staying at my place, and there isn’t any reason they can’t continue while the work’s being done.”
“Just them, or are you cool with me sleeping in your bed when you get back?”
“Just them.”
“Ouch, Red, that hurts.”
“You can stay on one condition.”
“Give me two, and I’ll give you more.”
I totally ignore the innuendo. Although if he was here, he would definitely notice my nipples hardening, and he would definitely ease that ache.
“Was the fire set?”
“Jury’s out on that.”
“That’s all you’re going to say? Jury’s out on that?”
“Trust me?”
“That’s not the point, Roman.”
“You trust your friends, who have their own friends. I love my job and trust my team and its management and connections. You catching on?”
“No,” I grumble. Then I consider all that my friends’ families made happen today, and I’m sure it’s something similar. “Maybe?”
“Go with the latter. I’ll tell you everything soon, yeah?”
“Uh-huh.”
23
Last Night
Saturday
After talking with her on the phone briefly and her telling me that me and the guys could stay for the couple of weeks it should take to fix up the townhouses, I’m lying in her bed, smelling that scent I now crave—that fresh laundry dried by the summer sun with a hint of a floral sweetness, which I found out while showering here this afternoon was lilac.
I can’t fall asleep fast enough. I want this done, and I want her back, and fuck if I don’t want the contractors to take their sweet-ass time fixing the place up so I can wake up with her like I did this morning, minus the whole alarm and fire part.
* * *
“Forty-six thousand people are packed in the stadium today to watch us play.” Locke sits down beside me and puts on his cleats. “The owners have to give forty-eight percent to the MLB, to be divided up by all the teams in the league. They get back three-point-three percent of that.”
“That’s why you make the big bucks, Locke,” I say as I begin the process of putting new laces in my shoes, which I do after every loss.
“Twenty-three mil a game in ticket sales alone stay in house. We should all be making that kind of money,” he notes.
“Are you ever gonna retire?” I ask.
He gives me the side-eye. “I’ve still got a lot of game in me. What’s your plan?”
