Take you out and show how good we can be together.
Delilah:
…
Cruz:
God damn it. I scared you away, didn’t I?
I should have taken Hendrix up on his offer.
Delilah:
…
Cruz:
Delilah?
Delilah:
Sorry, I went into a temporary sugar coma from all the sweetness.
Cruz:
Oh, you got jokes.
Delilah:
I blame Poppy. She’s rubbing off on me.
Delilah:
Just so you know, I miss you too.
Kissing you is my new favorite hobby.
My mouth is very bored without you.
The flight is long and boring after I say good night to Delilah. The documentary I watch on the Inca Trail is just background noise. When I realize I’ve zoned out for half of it, I flip through some pictures of the two of us before falling asleep for the rest of the flight.
The next day, we win an afternoon game against the Boston Marauders. The game goes long, and we get into extra innings before our closer finally shuts them down. Coach pulls me from the field for media after the game.
Luckily, they stick to asking about the game, and no one asks about Jarrett. It’s been almost three years and I still get questions from the media about him around the anniversary. Maybe this is the year that they stop poking at that wound, leaving me flayed open on the dais after each game.
Delilah’s missed call is waiting for me when I get to my locker. After the world’s fastest shower, I hurry out of the locker room without a word to my teammates for the quick walk back to our hotel to call her back.
“Come on, Delilah, pick up,” I chant under my breath, buzzing with the need to hear her voice.
“I’m here,” she says as I push through the door and drop my gear bag on the bed. I turn the phone to speaker as I change out of my jeans and slide on a pair of basketball shorts. Once I’m changed, I flop on the bed, soaking in the sound of her voice and letting it wash over me.
“There’s my girl. Tell me about your day. Willa started today, right?” I jump right in, not wasting a minute of the time I get with her before life pulls us in opposite directions again.
“She did! I’m so happy I found her, she’ll make it so much easier for me to give up some of my control over the day-to-day stuff. She picked up on everything I showed her and had some suggestions about how to move things around, so the flow behind the counter is better when it gets hectic.”
“You built this dream from scratch. If you want to step back and enjoy your life a little more, that’s okay. But if you need more time, that’s okay too. You’ve worked hard to get to this point, and I’m proud of you either way.”
“I’ll never completely step away. I want to be there baking and talking to customers. Having her will free up some time to focus on other parts of the business, and it would be nice to travel once in a while,” she says with a laugh. “The last time I traveled was right after Brad and I broke up and crashed your family trip to Telluride.”
