AllFreeNovel
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Always. My breath hitches. Always. He watches, always.
“Well, I kind of stopped listening when you put my jersey on. That was, uh, distracting.” He smirks. “And very cool. You even got the right one?”
“There would have been a wrong one?”
“No, of course not. I just mean you had the special one from our game. I’m shocked they had any.”
“Well, I had help.” I waggle my brows. “The woman at the store informed me she had more at one of the other shops in the arena and went and got it for me.”
He laughs. “Well, it looks damn good on you.”
Stop it. My heart thumps again. “Tell me about the game. It was outside. Do you like that?” I shove a bite of perfectly poached egg into my mouth.
“I do. I think we all do. It’s a throwback to the roots of the game, playing on frozen ponds and lakes in the bitter winter cold, but not feeling any of it because you’re playing and it’s fun and it feels so good.”
“Did you start out playing like that?” Should I already know the answer to this question?
“No. I don’t know if many kids really do anymore.”
TJ looks out the window at the city. His city. I wonder if he has a similar view. He got here so quickly. “Is this the same view you have?”
He shakes his head.
“No, mine is the other way,” he points. “The mountains and our arena and the football stadium.”
I nod. The baseball stadium is included in our current view. And blinding sunshine. I look over at TJ. He looks relaxed and so gorgeous. His hair is a mess, and he has on jeans and a heavy black sweater over a t-shirt. I can just see the edge of gray around his thick neck.
“It’s really good to see you,” I say and swallow. “Oh, and Happy New Year.”
“Yes, Happy New Year to you.”
“Do you make resolutions?”
TJ snorts. “No. Hell, I hardly even acknowledge the day. You?”
“Not always, not for a very long time. I kind of feel like I don’t get to acknowledge the day anymore, either. But this year…” I look at him as he takes a banana into his mouth. I bite my lip and he doesn’t miss it. His eyes twinkle and he holds the banana in his lips way longer than he should. He finally bites down and winks at me. Fuck me. I exhale and shift in my chair.
“The concert last night got me thinking, though.”
“About?”
Will he think I’m nuts? Even though that was a big arena crowd. I felt connected to them. Because of the location. Because of TJ. Because of the jersey. For the first time in a long time, I felt like myself out there. I wasn’t just playing to colors and dots, remembering to say the correct city name and having them applaud me for that.
This crowd…TJ’s crowd…his arena…it just felt like home.
“I want to play smaller venues. Ironically, it was that large crowd yesterday that got me thinking and feeling like I have more to give. I felt connected to that crowd in a way I haven’t in far too long.”
TJ furrows his brow, not really sure what I mean. “5280 is not exactly a small venue.”
I smile. “I know and I’m not sure how to make how I felt make sense.” Without admitting it has everything to do with you and these feelings I’m having.
“I’m thinking small theaters, even at the University. With a nominal ticket price and maybe even students playing in my orchestra instead of my regulars or alongside them…you think I’m crazy?”
“You most certainly are not, because whatever has you this excited cannot be a bad thing.”
I exhale. “Thank you…I am excited. For the first time in ages, it feels like. My manager will never go for it, though.”
“You need a different manager.”
