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Send me the address. I’ll let you know how long it says it will take to get there,I typed.
“How long will it take to get to your apartment?” I asked.
“Whose?” Tamara asked.
“Whichever one of you is closest,” I said. “Preferably yours, Tamara, since I don’t think I’d look cute in Hawaiian shirts or khaki pants.”
“You want to change clothes?” Dale asked. “Why? You look amazing.”
“I’m wearing jeans. I am going to a fancy hotel with a superstar baseball player. I need to be wearing a dress,” I said. “Non-negotiable.”
“Fifteen minutes,” Tamara said. “But we have to move, babe.”
We took off, leaving Dale and Steven behind to pay the tab and finish our drinks, which they were happy to do. Tamara and I made it back to her place in record time, and she immediately went into her closet and started tossing everything she could find onto the bed. We wore roughly the same size, which helped, and when I saw a little black dress and black heels that I knew for a fact she had borrowed from me years before, I seized them.
“See, they were waiting for you for right now,” Tamara said. “It’s a good thing they never made it back to you.”
I laughed and started getting dressed while Tamara started working on my hair. It had been in a ponytail most of the game, and while I had it down when he saw me in the clubhouse, it needed some spray and a brush before I allowed myself to be seen again. She helped me get dressed and get spiffy, then I headed out of the door and straight to a waiting Uber. No sense in trying to walk in heels, and the subway in a dress was a mistake I hadn’t made since my first week in the city.
As the car pulled up to the hotel, I tipped the driver on the app and took one last look in my compact mirror. A quick reapplication of lipstick and I was ready. I figured if I was only going to see him once every five or so years, I might as well make the best of it.
10
GRAHAM
Iwas glad she said it would be an hour or so before she could get to the hotel. It meant I had enough time to get back to my room and freshen up myself. My regular shampoo and body wash that I used in my away game bag was fine and all, but I wanted to go into the evening looking and feeling my best. That meant getting back to the hotel, getting spruced up with some cologne and clothes that looked more presentable than the T-shirt and shorts motif I currently rocked and heading down feeling like I was a functional adult.
I got back and got ready rather quickly, then answered some reporter calls and watched a little bit of the video clips my pitching coach had sent. I had pitched eight scoreless innings, but there were a few things I still wished I had done better. Loading up the bases twice was one of them.
I checked the clock a few minutes later just as my phone vibrated.
I’m here.
Turning off the laptop, I stood and checked myself in the mirror, then grabbed my room key and headed out. The elevator took me all the way down from the top floor where most of the boys were staying. We had our own bar up there, something more private, but you had to already have access to get up there. I thought I might bring her up if she wanted to later, but for now, I was content to be downstairs. Let the paparazzi see me. I didn’t care.
She was already at the bar when I got to the floor. I could see her, her trademark red hair cascading down her back. She had changed clothes, wearing what looked like a sleek black dress and heels, but that hair was unmistakable. I could have picked her out from across the stadium if she’d had it down like that earlier.
As I made my way to her, I noticed she was staring down at her phone, like she was thinking hard about something. I stopped, staring at her from across the bar, in awe of her. She was so gorgeous, so nonchalantly cool, and I just wanted to look at her for a moment.
It was almost like she could feel me looking at her, and her eyes lifted and went right to mine. I was leaning against a pillar, and I pushed off of it and finished the steps between us as casually as my body would allow me.
When I was just a few steps away, she stood, and I held open my arms. It was a gamble, but one I was pretty sure I would win. Indeed, she stepped forward and wrapped herself around me. She felt good in my arms. Familiar. Her hair still smelled like flowers. I wanted to breathe it in so it would stay a part of me forever.
“Glad I can hug you now that I smell better,” I joked.
“You could have hugged me then, I wouldn’t have minded,” she said, smiling. “But you do smell wonderful.”
“So do you,” I said. “Same perfume as when we were in high school?”
She had a shocked look on her face and cocked her head to the side, cutting her eyes at me slightly.
“You remember?” she asked.
“I do,” I said as casually as possible, looking up at the bartender. “I’ll have a Jack and Coke.” I turned to her, grinning. “What about you?”
“Same,” she said.
It was my turn to raise my eyebrows in surprise.
