Page 127 of Unrivaled Love
"Okay."
"Have a good morning Jo, and enjoy your day. I love you."
"I love you, too."
We hang up and I release the rest of my tears as I stare at my ceiling. I feel almost dizzy from the rollercoaster of emotions I just rode.
Bryson is right though, we just need more time to work it out. To practice and get better at this.
And I hadn't really thought about how he's going to continue traveling even if I head to D.C. in the off season. So we'll still be physically separated half the time.
How do the WAGs do it?
Chapter 40
Bryson
It’s all about believing.
Irolluptopractice shirtless because I busted a nut all over myself on the drive in. I might get fined for being late but it will be worth every penny.
Fuck, I miss her.
And when she crumbled afterwards it physically hurt not to be able to pull her into my arms. For all her toughness she shows the world, I think deep down she’s a gooey cinnamon roll and I want to get into the warm center of her.
I step into the locker room and Duncan lets out a wolf whistle.
"Boba Tea rolling in hot!" He calls out and I just hang my head and laugh.
"Shut up."
"It's nice out but it's still October. Or is this some new naked-as-the-day-I-was-born thing ahead of your birthday?" Duncan taunts.
"Speaking of, we're gonna be on the road for your bday this year." Felix says as I sit at my locker and start to gear up for practice. "Do you want to do a hotel party or should I start looking for venues?"
"I dunno, we'll be in Seattle so maybe somewhere by the water?" It's going to be a struggle not to feel mopey all night since Jo won't be there. She's got her second to last regular season game that night and right now her team is on the brink of winning the conference. She needs two wins to snag it outright and some of the toughest teams are ahead of her in the next three weeks.
"On it." Felix says as he slaps a hand on my shoulder. “You need to talk about anything else buddy?”
“Ah, no I’m good. See ya out there.” I deflect and get dressed as quickly as I can. Sweating it out at practice, even if it’s supposed to be an easy one, might be the only thing that helps settle my mind.
***
Traveling immediately after a game is rough. I’m always stiff from sitting in an airplane seat instead of relaxing on my luxury mattress.
Jo and I were able to send a few more texts to each other but my game was a good three hour block of time when we couldn’t chat. I felt distracted all night. I only secured a secondary assist tonight too. We lost 2-1 and I could tell the team was frustrated with my lackluster performance.
It’s normal to have an off night. It’s expected from time to time.
But without a solution to my problem of missing Josie, I’m not sure how I’ll kick the funk.
I cross my arms and lean into the seat to get as comfortable as possible.
Normally, I’d already have my ereader fired up and I’d be getting as many pages in before the boys start shooting the shit.
Instead the device burns a hole in my backpack. Reading about couples falling in love and overcoming pitfalls like falling for their roommate or deciding there’s nothing fake about their pretend relationship will only make me feel worse about mine.
And if I can’t enjoy fictional characters, I really don’t want to play cards or make stupid bets with Crosby and Duncan.
