I shake my head. “Not at all,” I laugh out. When she joins me I feel a bit of the tension drain from my shoulders. “Last year, one of the best teams traded away a pick and ended up picking someone who had already been in conversations with another team. It caused quite an storm.”
“So even though your chances are technically 5%, it could be higher just because someone decides to do something weird?” she asks.
I laugh again. “Yeah, something like that.”
“Seems shitty to have to leave your future up to someone else,” she says. It seems like an off-handed remark, but the way her eyes look out at the beach, slightly lost and searching, when she’d been previously so focused on me… it’s about more than me.
“Hey,” I say, and she turns to look back at me. “I know what I’m getting myself into, and it’s just par for the course. Every player goes through this. The worry and fear about what’s next. Wondering when they’ll get drafted.” I shrug. “I mean really, no matter how much I plan and prepare, and I’ve done a lot of it, we are all slaves to the big machine, right? Isn’t this how nursing is going to be, too? At some point you’ll have to apply for jobs and hope you get the one you want. But maybe you won’t and you’ll have to get excited about a different opportunity.”
“Oh lord, please don’t remind me,” she says, that smile returning to her face.
I smile back at her. “My point is, things happen in life, good and bad, easy and hard. To all of us. And what’s important is learning how to adapt to it.”
I love the nod she gives me, like she really gets what I’m talking about.
Hell, I’m surprised I make sense right now. I’ve never really shared any of this with anyone before, but that beautiful smile of hers is so disarming. I feel like I could tell her anything.
“So, long story longer, I’m nervous about moving away from RJ. I just know it’s gonna happen, and I don’t know how either of us are gonna cope.”
“Well, you seem to have a great relationship, so I’m sure no matter what happens, you’ll both figure it out.”
I smile at her positivity. It’s really refreshing.
“Well, I think it’s time for dinner, don’t you? I made a reservation.”
Her face falls, and a part of me wants to laugh, because I know she’s concerned about how she looks.
“Don’t worry about it,” I add. “We’ll be totally fine.”
I grab her hand and start walking us down the boardwalk. Time for a sunset view.
