Page 72 of Best Year Ever
She hums in response, like she’s considering my words, and then there’s more mumbling on her side of the phone.
“Landon, they’re making me put away my phone.”
Damn it, I’m not sure I’ve helped much yet. “Okay, babe, text me when you land. Or call if you want.”
Honestly, I'll talk to her as long as she wants about this when she’s off the plane. For someone as competitive as Rori, simply telling her, “you did great,” will not feel genuine or helpful. Acknowledging that she can work on a weakness for next time—that will resonate better as she digests the loss.
If I can help by being her sounding board, I’ll take on that role readily.
This is so much more than a casual “no labels” arrangement.I can’t avoid the thought from entering my head. This isn’t a temporary “let’s see how it goes” thing to me.
Real feelings are involved. At least for me. And I’m starting to think for her, too. The fact that I’m the voice she wanted to hear after the loss—major.
With Rori returning to Florida, we are going to have to talk about it soon. Though it’s not clear how our schedules are going to mesh at this point. My days are settling into a familiar routine with the Waves training camp coming up. Lifting, cardio, team practice, player meetings—rinse, wash, repeat. The demands of this part of the pre-season are consistent and constant. I can’t drive to Tampa at the pace I was in the early summer.
And training camp will mean three weeks stuck in our dedicated facilities, staying in a hotel together as a team. Only going home on Sundays.
Camp serves a lot of purposes. For rookies or players who aren’t amongst the top, it’s a time to earn your spot. Maybe ninety players total get invited to training camp. By the time our first game rolls around, we’ll be down to a roster of fifty-three. So, camp is cut-throat, even as much as it’s a time to bond as players.
One of my roles as I step into leadership will be to help manage the guys through the cuts. Sometimes, people you really like personally are on the chopping block, and it sucks. Just another challenging aspect of pro sports.
And one more reason I will need to be fully present for my guys in the coming weeks. So Rori and I really do need to sort out how this is all going to work before I get any deeper into the pre-season activities.
Grace pops over for dinner the night of the Wimbledon final, which had ended around noon Florida time. Her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and makeup free, Grace looks so much like her younger self that it throws me off a bit. She tends to be primped at all moments nowadays. Not that she needs to be with me, but my big brother antennae gooff.
“How was your day, Gracie?” I ask, using her childhood nickname that sometimes still slips in. With business school on top of acting as my personal assistant, her schedule is quite full right now, and I want to make sure she’s not overwhelmed.
“It was alright,” she says in a tone that makes it seem exactly the opposite. “I got feedback on a project, and it was bad. Kind of sulking about it, actually.”
“Oh man, that blows. I’m sorry. Is there anything you can do?” I ask as I open the fridge to start dinner.
“Yeah…I’m going to drop this class, I think. All the others are going well. Maybe try again another semester,” Grace says anxiously. Of all of us competitive Battle kids, Grace is the one who hates to fail the most. I can hear how stressed she is about the decision to drop the class.
So I try to make her feel better, coming towards her and resting my hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay to bail on this course. If it isn’t the right class, there’s no reason to force it. You’re brilliant and amazing, regardless.”
Grace gives me a small smile in return, but it doesn’t meet her eyes. I hate to see her struggling.
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” she says, clearly not feeling reassured.
I nod. Sometimes it's best with Grace to let her solve things herself.
She changes the topic, putting the focus back on me.
“How’re things going with Rori?”
I shift my hands to the counter, where I’ve set the food we need to prepare for dinner.
“Well, her Wimbledon obviously didn’t end the way she wanted today. But between me and her—yeah, things are good. Really good, actually.”
Grace’s face brightens at my words. “Oh Landon, yay! That makes me so happy, you don’t even know.”
“Our whole situation, the constant distance, the traveling, you’d think it would trigger some of the fears I’ve had about beingwith someone. But I don’t even think about it. We talk all the time. We just…we just work. I don’t have any doubts about her, ever.”
Grace comes up to me and gives me a quick hug. “I love that for you. And it’s important we break the cycle, you know? We’re not our parents.”
“No, we’re not.”
As Grace steps out of the hug, I decide to get into my earlier thoughts. “Rori and I are still doing the ‘no label’ thing though. But I don’t know, I can’t lie. It feels like more.”
