Megan took note of the time before closing the laptop—it was 12:30 a.m. The view over Central Park at night was utterly mesmerising. The New York skyline was always a photo to be captured, but the park being so vast had a more mysterious effect. Many New Yorkers would deem it unsafe at night, which was the main reason she would not walk through it after dark, only admire it from afar.
The evening had been a wholesome one, eating and drinking with Julie. When the time came to leave, she would miss their routine. The adrenaline still burned in her veins; it was nights like this when Stanford proved its worth. If ever she couldn’t sleep, she would head to the gym and play until she was so physically drained that the only option was to sleep—basketball had always been her release. The two hours that afternoon on the local court had done nothing to ease her excitement or the anxiety she felt about leaving—it was a mix of emotions. Her phone was conveniently balanced on the arm of the chair. She glanced towards it impatiently, as she had done for the past hour. There was one last person to share the news with before she could retreat to bed. The lack of experience in such a situation left her feeling nervous.
How do you go from having a game-changing first date to potentially never seeing that person again? All in the space of twenty-four hours? Life has a funny way of throwing curveballs like that, and Megan felt the full force of this one. There was absolutely no way she could put any emphasis on being more than friends—they would be 4000 miles apart. It was impossible, that realisation had already hit. The hard part would be trying to let go of thewhat ifsthat clouded her mind. Just as she pondered her life choices for the tenth time that day, the phone screen lit up. Her stomach dropped immediately—itwas Ashley.
“Hey.” Ashley’s voice made Megan smile instantly.
“Hey, you’redone early?”
“Well, I didn’t want to keep you waiting all night, did I?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, I waswide awake.”
Ashley gasped, “I’m so hurt.” Followed by a laugh that warmed Megan’s heart. “There was me thinking you’d waited up especially for me.”
“Maybe a little partof me did.”
“I’lltake that.”
There was a loud crash of bottles on the other end of the phone that startled Megan.
“What the hell was that?”
“Just one of the bars filling their dumpster. I’m just walking home. You get some strange noises in Chelsea at this time of night.”
“Is Madison with you?”
“No, she drew the short straw. It was quieter than expected so we flipped for who would stay until the end.”
“And of course, you won.”
“Technically no, but she knew I was ready to leave tonight.”
“How come?”
“It’s been eventful, but I can tell you about it another time.” Megan sensed the reluctance on Ashley’s part, so shedidn’t pry.
“What news did you want to tellme, anyway?”
Megan stalled with the words on the tip ofher tongue.
“You remember I told you I had a call with my agent this morning?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, I finally have an offer.”
“That’s amazing, Megan. Congratulations. Will you be playing on theeast coast?”
The plan had never been to stay in America, as much as Megan would have loved that tobe the case.
“Not quite.”
“Oh really? Don’t keep me in suspense.”
“I’ll be going backto England.”
Ashley inhaled. “Wow.”
