Goddamn, she’s perfect for me.
My hand covers hers, but only for a second so Mom doesn’t see. Baby photos are one thing. Meddling mothers are another. And from what I know, Lark had enough of that with Baron’s mom to last a lifetime.
I listen to the two of them chatter on for a while longer, content to just be here next to her. It’s familiar and yet so different all at the same time. Because now, when her leg presses against mine, I don’t have to pull away. And when she smiles at me, I can let myself believe it means something. And when she and my mom laugh over some crazy photo of me as a kid, I can imagine the future when she’s really mine.
Eventually, they take a break from looking at photos, and my mom shows Lark her quilting room, aka, my old bedroom. They’re gone for a while but given my mom’s a fucking genius at making quilts, I’m not worried. I wander downstairs to the store to check on my dad instead.
He’s just finished ringing up a customer, and I glance at the clock to see it’s closing time. “Want some help shutting up shop?” I ask, already moving to the front to get the signs from outside.
“Sure, son, thanks.”
We work in an easy silence for a while, going through thesteps of locking up. It’s only when we’re done, and heading back upstairs for dinner, that I see him wince.
“You okay, old man?” I ask.
“Fine, fine. Just the sciatica,” he answers dismissively, and I know he’s minimizing things, like always.
I keep my mouth shut. Now’s not the time to push. But someday soon, I’m gonna sit my parents down and tell them they have to let me help.
Maybe once I secure my next contract, they’ll see I can take care of themandbe secure in my own future. And who knows. Maybe by then, Lark will be by my side to help convince them.
A guy can always dream.
Chapter seventeen
Lark
The thing about working with professional athletes, in particular,maleprofessional athletes, is that you very quickly have to be okay with seeing the nude or nearly nude male form.
I’m talking day one on the job, I walked into the locker room when my supervisor was taking me on a tour of the stadium to find four of the players in various stages of undress, walking out of the showers, laughing and joking with each other.
They don’t care, and why should they? Their bodies are finely honed machines. And to them, the training staff are just the medical professionals whose job it is to keep those machines running in peak condition.
Once I got over the initial surprise that yes, I would be seeing bare butts — and more — at my job, I didn’t let it bother me. Heck, I’ve had to treat those bare butts on more than one occasion when glute muscles get cramped or injured.
Besides, I was in a relationship, so ogling another man’s body felt wrong. I maintained a strictly professional approach to my work.
But even so, there are moments when it stings a little, neverbeing seen as a woman, only ever as staff, or worse, as one of the guys.
“Mornin’ Lark,” Rhett Darlington says, strutting out of the showers with a towel wrapped around his waist and another draped around his neck. “How’s it goin’? You here for me?”
There’s a reason the team nicknamed him Darling. He says he can’t help but be polite, because his mama raised him right. That, and his habit of calling every single female he comes across, darlin. But somehow, when he talks to me, there’s none of the flirtatious southern boy charm he’s famous for. Just friendly, polite manners.
I nod, averting my eyes when he turns to his locker and pulls on a pair of underwear. At least he does it before dropping the towel. “Yes. Time for your yearly assessment.”
Every offseason we work our way through the active player roster and run them through a full assessment. Not just for fitness, but overall physical and mental health. It’s something the team owner, Mike Cartwright, instituted years ago, making it clear he cared about his players, not just during the season, but all the time. And not only as players, but as human beings.
My job is to put them through part of the fitness evaluation. It’s simple enough, an hour in the gym with some sensors strapped to their body to measure heart rate, oxygenation, and a couple of other things. We spread out the assessments, working around the guys’ schedules and offseason plans. Another way Mr. Cartwright makes sure players know he values them.
It’s things like this that inspired me to apply for the internship. If I can contribute to the research, and maybe learn a few things to bring back to the team, all the better.
Rhett pulls a shirt on, and I see he’s now wearing some athletic shorts. He grabs a pair of shoes out of his locker and holds them up to sniff before scrunching up his nose. “Damn, time for a new pair. Give these a whiff.” He shoves the shoes in my face, and I recoil in horror.
“Why the hell would I want to smell your shoes, Rhett? That’s disgusting.”
He just shrugs. “Eh, I dunno. Guess ya wouldn’t now, would ya?”
Kai and Ronan walk in just then, all sweaty from the gym. Ronan gives me a nod and a smile, heading toward the showers. Kai, on the other hand, starts to strip down right in front of me.
