“I will.” How many times can she thank them? Which, it probably only slightly annoys me because I remember how she raved about them after watching a game once.
We finish breakfast and then go our separate ways. She to work and me to my room to pack for my trip. Spending so much time with her lately makes me reluctant to leave. Which shows how deeply Deanna affects me. In the past, it didn’t bother me at all. How could it when my job easily came first, second, and third?
This life with her is so much better, and I haven’t experienced living with her yet. That, I’m very excited about. To have a woman and a dog waiting for me late at night when I get home from games or after returning from trips? Best kind of life. It’s even better when it’s a woman like Deanna. I doubt life will ever be boring.
“Hey.”
I glance over as Collin takes the seat next to me on the plane. “Hey. What’s up? You doing okay?”
He nods. “You don’t have to ask me that, you know. I feel like I should call you Dad or something for as much as you seem concerned.”
I laugh. “Sorry.”
He shrugs as if it’s no big deal. “I have a weird question for you. For Deanna, really.”
That gets my attention. “What is it?”
His leg bounces, which further puts me on alert. “I, ah, enjoyed keeping Otis.” What? “I ran with Otis in the mornings like she wanted.”
When he doesn’t seem to add anything else, I say, “That’s good. What’s the question?”
“Oh, right.” His voice lowers. “I felt better after running with him. I don’t want the responsibility of a dog right now, though. Would she mind if I, like, borrowed him sometimes?”
“I’m sure she’ll be okay with that. She’s about to move in with me, so text me whenever you want to take him for a run.”
“Thanks.”
I’m all for whatever will help the kid. Apparently, he’s done with conversation now because he pulls out his phone and a pair of earbuds. I lean my head back and look out the window. My thoughts stray to Deanna and some of my teammates. Some of them were pretty quick in getting married. I don’t think Deanna and I will be. It’s an ultimate goal, but that is something I don’t want to rush at all.
Moving in relatively quickly, I’m okay with. I’m confident with that happening right now. I plan to get married only once in my life. I’ve seen and heard too many horror stories about marriages going sour and divorces turned worse than ugly. No, thanks. I want no part of that. Deanna and I will take our sweet time going down that road. Because once we start on it, I don’t want us turning back or dividing to go our separate ways.
Aside from that, I think it’ll be a while before Deanna is ready for something like that. She was caught completely off guard by my wanting her to live with me. She’d likely faint if, within the next year or two, I asked her to marry me. Hell, she might run away. Okay, so I don’t think she’d actually run, but I think she’d say not yet at the very least.
Once she moves in, it’ll be slow going for us. It’ll be the best kind of slow going, too. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be in a relationship as much as I do now. I’ve never wanted a woman as much as I want Deanna. And I want her as much as I’ve wanted my career all these years. It actually feels nice to have both.
We soon land and get settled into the hotel. We don’t technically have anything on the agenda today, but a volleyball game is on the unofficial schedule. There’s a gym next door to the hotel, which includes a volleyball court. Scotty and I are captains of teams and we alternate choosing players for our teams.
Despite my personal judgment, I pick Marco and Zane to be on my team. Better to have Marco on my team to chirp the opponent than to be the one he’s annoying. I pick Zane because I figure with everything that’s happened, it’ll be good to keep working together. Things haven’t been smooth, and they need to be. The utter look of shock on his face confirms that he never thought I’d pick him, which just adds on to the fact that it was a decision I needed to make.
The game starts with a serve by EJ, who is obviously on my team. As a friend and since I know he’s great at volleyball, the latter of which was most important, he was my first pick. The ball sails through the air, back and forth over the net, while guys from each side talk trash. God save us all when Marco spikes the ball, earns us a point, and celebrates for five minutes afterward. It probably wouldn’t have lasted so long had Noah not been the one to have the ball hit the ground in front of him.
“Keep on, Marco,” Rams says, “and you’ll pull a muscle celebrating. You won’t be laughing then.”
Marc rolls his eyes and tosses the ball to Zane, who is up to serve. We have a good game. We win, of course, but no one brags as much as Marc. It doesn’t matter. The point was to get the guys together for some fun, and we did that. We’ll be in a good mood for the game tomorrow.
Once I make it back to my hotel room, I call Deanna.
“Tell me,” she demands when she answers. If it wasn’t for how often that command has been used between us since the first time I said it, I wouldn’t know what she’s talking about. But I do.
“I love you.”
“I love you too. Today has been hectic. The shop has been insanely busy for some reason and on top of that, someone clogged our toilet so bad, it flooded the bathroom. The plumber is here working on things now. I’m ready to go home. See what happens when you leave me, Brayden?”
I laugh. “I’m sorry. If I was there, I’d take you into your office and finally make your fantasy come true.”
She snorts. “Yeah, right. Mr. Tightwad, who doesn’t want to do anything unless we’re safe and sound at home, would not voluntarily have sex with me in my office.”
“You could convince me; you always do.”