"QB."
"So this is your first season?" he asked, laughing a little, "Buckle up."
"That bad?"
"No. Worse," said the other guy. He wasn't tall, but he was built like a house. Stocky and muscular. "After this month, you'll see why they make us sign before camp begins. I'm Jackson, by the way. That's Andre," he said. He reached his hand out for me to shake.
"It's too late to back out now," Andre said next to me. "Hey, if you came through the combine, what was your best test?"
"Leave him alone, Dre," Jackson said.
"No, he wants to know?" I said. "42 reps on bench press."
"No shit," he said, actually sounding a little impressed. "What school did you go to?" I told him as the locker room filled up. A good number of the guys it turned out had gotten drafted right out of college, especially the ones who had gone to the bigger schools. Not many – none, in fact – had gone through a year of active service right in the middle of their career.
Practice was about two hours, the first of the day, there was another practice session in the afternoon. A month of this and I'd probably end up having everyone's name down. Hanging out literally the whole day, day after day, I wouldn't have a choice. I was ready to leave when the sun started dropping in the sky, but then they said we still had more meetings to go to. It was two more hours before I was back in the car heading home, almost ten at night.
I called out to Ron when I walked in, locking the door. I heard her voice, distant, telling me she was in the bedroom. At least I got back before she was asleep. I walked through the apartment, dropping my bag on the ground when I got to the bedroom. The bed was rumpled like she had been sitting on it. The sliding glass door of the balcony was all the way open and Ron was standing there, arms on the railing looking out at the beach. The light from the moon was reflecting off the water and all the homes along the water were lit up bright. I came up behind, wrapping my arms around her.
"Hey," I said. She spun around, leaning up to kiss me.
"Hi. How was training?"
"Good. Got to meet the team today. What did you do all day?"
"Nothing," she said smiling, "and it was perfect."
"Did you go?" I asked, pointing out to the water.
"Not today. I want us to go together."
"When we have a day off I'll take you," I said. "Did you finish unpacking?"
"Mmhmm," she said, sighing. "I'm gonna need more bikinis."
"That's why I left my card behind, babe. Get whatever you want," I said.
"Don't tempt me, Roman. I could get used to this."
"That's what I want. This is home now."
"Give me a few more months. It'll grow on me," she said, smiling. She was taking this well, better than I could have hoped. We had landed last night and I hadn't been with her most of the day, but she seemed fine. I hoped it would continue like that. I didn't want her to regret coming here or feel homesick. I had to train, but it was my job to make sure that she was as comfortable and happy as possible.
"Maybe it'll be better once you start school?"
"Hm. Maybe. I'm going to visit the campus tomorrow. It looks like a cool place, but only one way to find out for sure."
"I wish I could come with you."
"I know you would if you could," she said, rubbing her hands over my biceps. "You're busy. I have to get used to that."
"It's not going to be like this all the time," I told her.
"I know what I signed up for. I get it," she said. I didn't want her to think that I had asked her to come here just so I could ignore her. I wanted her to be able to start school so she had something, too. So she wasn't just here for me and my job.
"Have you heard anything from them?"
"Just confirmation for the campus visit," she said. "I hope it works out."