Page 58 of The Battery
A face-splitting yawn roared out of him suddenly, as if he had been holding it in. I seized the opportunity and extracted myself from his hold, then stood. “Come on.” I held out a hand for him to grab and leverage himself up. He lumbered up. We faced each other, still holding hands. “You’ve been through hell the past couple of hours. Go upstairs, take a shower, sleep for a bit.”
He shook his head. “I need to call—”
“I’ll deal with talking to management. Don’t worry about any of that. Go sleep.”
Then, his hands were on the sides of my face in a gentle hold. He pulled me toward him and planted a slow kiss on my lips. Gone was the fervent kiss that fueled our impassioned tryst a few weeks ago. He transferred something to me at that moment. It was like I could feel a piece of his soul reach out and touch mine, all from a simple kiss. For the span of three heartbeats, our lives connected, as if two pairs of lips were able to transfer a wordless communication of thankfulness, appreciation, adoration. The propensity for love.
It was the single most romantic and intimate moment of my life. I surrendered to him completely. Eyes closed. Our lips sealed.
When he pulled away, I opened my eyes and thought…
He’s the most beautiful person I have ever met.
That smile. I had never seen the likes of it before. I felt sure I never would again. A sadness existed in his eyes still, vestiges of the past six hours. But his lips conveyed contentedness and satisfaction. Not a wide smile. Not a smirk. He held onto sorrow, yes, but it was like he knew he had overcome an obstacle.
I had to look away before I lost myself to emotion. “Okay. Get upstairs before you make me all blubbery.”
We walked out of the living room together. Leo went up that gorgeous half-spiral staircase at the foyer. I watched him go up and wondered if I would ever see the second floor. Then I was in the kitchen grabbing my phone where I had left it. Freddie woke up and asked me if everything was okay. I told him what had happened. I wasn’t slated to play at tonight’s game, but Leo was, so I said I needed to let people know. He told me to give Leo his best.
Freddie knew, of course. We didn’t talk about it, but he knew about my preferences from our days in the minors together. Naturally, he just assumed I was having fun with Leo when I left the house more often to see the man. Like a good friend, Freddie never pried, and he never told. I was lucky to have him as a roommate.
I spent twenty minutes figuring out the espresso machine, a chunk of stainless steel the size of an oven bolted to the countertop and hooked into the water line. I did not enjoy espresso and preferred regular coffee. There was a section on the machine for regular drip that I had to watch a video online about to learn how to operate. Then it was perusing through almost every cabinet and then the butler’s pantry to find whole coffee beans. A half hour later, the greatest aroma in the world perfumed the kitchen while I nosed through the fridge to find some protein for breakfast.
I had Romo on speakerphone while I did a second round through the cabinets looking for coffee mugs.
“Hill—what’s up?” Romo said. “Early call. You’re… ah, I think I know why you’re calling.”
What was he, a soothsayer? “You do?”
“Leo’s uncle.” He tutted and I could hear the genuine sorrow in his voice. “Oh gosh. Awful. Just awful. I’ll say a prayer for him at Mass.”
“Oh. Um. Thanks. I’ll let him know.”
“I can take it from here. You’re not playing tonight, right? I think you’re up in two days. Will you be okay by then?”
How sweet—he took my feelings into consideration, too. Mr. Perfect. “I will, yeah.”
“Tell Leo he doesn’t have to come in for the next three games but can if he wants. I’ll start to get the paperwork filled out and let management know. This is my burden now, so just take care of him, okay?”
Jeez. This guy was something else. “Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Romo.”
“Please, call me Rome. Talk soon.”
Wow. What a guy.His fiancé was a very lucky man.
The first sip of coffee returned my soul to my body. I closed my eyes for a moment to savor the feeling. Like a nasty fastball paired with a swing and a miss. Perfection. Brought back to life half a cup later, I set to cleaning the scuff marks on the floor that the black soled shoes of the funeral home employees had left. Maribel said someone from her company would be by in the following days to pick up the hospital bed, and to leave the linens there. I tidied up the room and removed the photos with care, setting them in a neat stack on the kitchen island.
I spent about a half hour wiping every surface with a cleaning solution I found under the sink in the powder room. The mop I found in a hallway closet, and I set to scrubbing the floors. Lastly, I opened the window and closed the door to air the room out. Everything took me about an hour total and when I finished, the coffee’s energy had completely abated.
I crashed hard in the living room without a blanket. The couch there was so damn comfortable that sleep had overtaken me in seconds.
I woke sometime later, though I wasn’t sure how long.
Leo. Squatting down in front of the couch. Forearms folded atop one another on the edge of the cushion with his chin resting on them. My eyes parted to see him. Then widened.
“Your beard,” I said and sat up.
It was gone. Well, most of it. The Spartan style shaved down to stubble. All that remained on his face was a five o’clock shadow. Rugged. Handsome.
