Page 77 of Make My Heart Malt

She laughs. “What’s up?”

Shit. I had a reason for this phone call, then I got sidetracked with nipples and sheer fabric. “What are you doing in two weeks?”

“Let me check my calendar. Oh, look at that, I’ll be washing my hair.”

I laugh. “Well, how about this? You come to Arizona, and you can wash your hair here.”

“Arizona?”

“Yeah. In two weeks, we have a day off betweengames. That’s the perfect time for you to visit for a long weekend.” I cross my fingers she doesn’t fight me on this. I need to see her. Touch her. Feel her.

“I’ll have to check my work schedule.”

I smile. “It’s already taken care of.”

“What do you mean?”

“I already talked to Jake and convinced him to give you Thursday through Monday off so you can come visit me.”

“Wait, I didn’t agree with this yet.”

“Are you telling me no?”

“No. I mean, I’m not telling you no, but I need to book a plane ticket and a hotel.”

“Already taken care of. Check your email. I’ll wait.” There’s rustling, followed by the clacking on the keyboard.

“You bought me a plane ticket. You can’t keep buying me plane tickets.”

“This is more for selfish reasons than anything. In fact, this is really for me. And you don’t need a hotel. I have an apartment.”

“Okay. With the airfare and sleeping arrangements taken care of, what am I supposed to do while you’re busy?”

“I’ll have two days off so I can show you around the city, or I can show you my bed. Either or.” She laughs, and it’s the most beautiful sound in the world. “Then you can come watch a game.”

“So, I get to watch you play with your balls all day?”

Now it’s my turn to laugh. “And you can play with them later that night.”

“Am I supposed to watch the game by myself? I’m not going to know anyone.”

“I’ll introduce you to some of the other players’ wives and girlfriends.”

There’s a moment of silence and I pinch my eyes shutat the word “girlfriend.” While we’ve never had the talk, I consider her my girlfriend. There is no way in hell I want to be with anyone else. If I had to guess, she feels the same way.

“Since you have everything mapped out, I can’t wait!”

I’m standing in baggage claim waiting for Dessa to come into view on the escalator. Her plane landed eight minutes ago, so I should see her soon. Her sleek black hair glistens as the sun streams in through the atrium. When she glances up, our eyes connect, and I do everything in my power to not shove people out of the way to race up the escalator so I can wrap my arms around her a few seconds early. Instead, I reach down and hold up the sign I made for her. Her gaze wanders from me to my sign before a laugh bubbles out of her. She shakes her head and buries her face in her hand. When she’s a few steps off the escalator, I drop my sign to my side. With a hand around her waist, I haul her to me, turn my baseball cap backwards, and press my lips to hers. Since we’re in public, I keep it PG.

“I’m so happy you’re here. I’ve missed you so fucking much,” I whisper against her lips.

“I missed you too. But you could have done without the sign.” She glances down.

“What? You didn’t like it? I worked so hard on it.” We both stare at the neon green poster board with thick, black lettering that reads “Have you seen my Taters?”

“Oh yeah, I could have definitely done without the sign.”She giggles.

“How about you hold this,” I pass her the sign, “and I’ll take your luggage?”

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