Page 91 of XOXO, Summer
“It is. Speaking of, are you ready for your meeting tomorrow?”
“I know what I want, and I know what I’m worth. I’m bringing my attorney to make sure they’re ready to meet the demands.”
Shaking his head, he looks down. “I’ll put in a good word. You’ve done a good job helping me build the next championship team. Good luck, man.” When he glances at me again, I can see the approval in his eyes. He can make jokes about me being a shit human only because we share a level of respect between us.
Waving two fingers, I say, “Thanks.”
He slips out when I’m talking to Crosby about not letting Landers cut him out of his position. I glance at the tunnel, then up at the seats where he was watching, and scoff with a grin on my face.
“I got the money,”Summer says.
“That’s good.” I’m left in an awkward state of trying to sound happy for her benefit while hoping not to fall apart for mine.
She didn’t want to video, claiming she looked terrible and that’s not how she wants me to see her. But I hear the sadness in her tone even when she should be excited about tomorrow.
If I ask about it, she just says she misses me is all.
Same.
How did meeting her and one month flip my world inside out and upside down? I miss her so fucking much that I swear I can still feel her in my bed next to me, only to reach over and find it empty. Her laughter follows me down the hallway. When I turn back, ready to pull her into my arms, she’s not there. And sometimes I sit out on the patio just because I know we’re sharing the same fresh air.
I drop my head and wrap my arms over it.
“Daniel?” she says, a wisp of a voice calling my name. “Thank you.”
I fall back on the couch and stare at the TV with playbacks of the week on the large screen. “Tomorrow at this time, you’ll have everything you ever wanted, Sunshine.”
“Everything I ever wanted.” The giggle I expect doesn’t come, not talking a million miles an hour about nothing and everything that crosses her mind. No smile is heard in her words.
Melancholy is choking this relationship to death, and the distance is harder to manage than I thought. There’s no draw to other women. There’s no draw to anything. Evenhockey isn’t as entertaining when we’re apart, and it’s not something we did together.
“Are you ready to take on big money corporations tomorrow?”
That earned me the lightest of laughs. “As ready as I can be. These past few weeks, I’ve done a ton of research. I’m hoping the extra mile of protecting our town, and that land, stewarding it for growth in the right way, will win her over. Did I tell you it’s a blind bid?”
“What does that mean? You have to submit without knowing what the other guy’s offer is?”
“Yep. She claims it makes you put in your best offer. So maybe preserving the history of the area will tip the bid in my direction if I’m under.”
“She’s a fool if she doesn’t sell it to you.Fuck.” I sit up, too anxious watching these players to kick back.
“What?”
“Playbacks for the training.”
“Oh . . .I should let you go so you can watch without interruption.”
“Hey Summer, you’re not interrupting. I don’t have much going on or to say when we talk at night lately because I’m not doing anything you’d find interesting.”
“I find everything you do interesting, but you don’t seem to want to share anymore.”
She knows how to make a guy feel good. “Hearing your voice gets me through the night and another day knowing I get to hear you again the next.”
“I feel the same way. I’m a ghost in my life haunting where I kiss you or we made love, when you smacked my ass, or fed me hot dogs on the big deck. Everything is a memory instead of living life like we used to. I hate it.”
Her pout at the end leaves me smiling. “I hate it too.”Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I try to ease into the next conversation, knowing it won’t be getting better anytime soon. “We need to figure this out. Once I’m on the road . . .”
“I know we need to talk about it, but can we do that when we’re together instead of however many hours we’re apart?”
