Page 122 of Bountiful
He took the card, his face brightening. “Thanks, man! Can’t wait to see you make it to the finals again this year! And it’s, uh,yourturn.”
I whirled to find that it was indeed my turn to buy a new Metrocard, and that the growing line of people behind us was starting to gettwitchy.
Right.
I tapped the screen and speedily bought a new card. Then I wished the teen luck and headed for theplatform.
When I gothome to Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood, the doorman greeted me with a shout of happiness. “Dude! Where you been? Good summer?” He grabbed my big duffel bag and put it on the luggage trolley, and I was happy to handitover.
“Great summer,” I said, high-fiving him. “What’s happening here,Miguel?”
He made a face. “Same old nothing. You go anywhereinteresting?”
“Vermont,” I said. “Love it upthere.”
“Never been,” he said. “No golf thissummer?”
“No,thankGod.”
He laughed. “Got moreluggage?”
I shook my head. “That’sit.”
“For seven weeks?” my doorman lookedsurprised.
“I travellight.”
Miguel grinned. “A single guy like you? I guess you can get away with it. I’ll send this uprightaway.”
“Thanks,man.”
Another elevator ride brought me to the carpeted hallway of my floor. I lived in a converted warehouse, with high ceilings and pre-war fixtures everywhere. When I turned my key and opened the door, I had to squint against all the sunlight. There were floor-to-ceiling windows, wooden floors, and exposed brickwalls.
I loved this place. But it was awfully quiet and empty. I toed off my shoes and took a tour. The cleaning service had been here to dust and air things out earlier in the week. So my apartment was clean and fresh-smelling. When I peeked in the refrigerator, I found that it had been restocked. Eggs, fruit, and yogurt. The freezer held chicken and fish. The cabinet was full of protein bars andcrackers.
Everything an athlete needed to feed his body. If nothissoul.
My footsteps were audible in the silence as I paced into my bedroom. The bed was perfectly made. I pulled out my phone and sat on the edge of the bed.Made it home, I texted to Zara.Doctor cleared metoplay.
There was no activity on her end. No message in progress. She was probably working. There was nowhere I needed to be until the day aftertomorrow.
I texted Doulie next.Bar burgers later, andbaseball?
No can do, he wrote back.Taking Ari out to dinner before the madnessbegins.
Right.
Cleared to play, BTW, Itoldhim.
Awesome! See you ontheice.
I stood up and turned around, trying to picture Zara in my bed as I stripped off my shorts. Now there was a pleasant fantasy. I grabbed a pair of athletic shorts and pulled them on. It was time for a workout. I needed to beat some of the stupid out of me and focus on the seasonahead.
My apartment had two bedrooms, but the second one was full of exercise equipment, also dust free thanks to my cleaning service. I opened a window blind to let in the August sunshine and then set up the leg press for awarmup.
I sat on the bench and began to press the iron in slow, rhythmic bursts. After the first set, I glanced around the room, taking in the amount of space. There was plenty of it. I could sell my gym equipment and give the room to Nicole. These weights weren’t very useful to me in season, when I spent much of my day at the practice facility,anyway.
Christ. This building had a weight room, and I’d never set foot inside it. I didn’t need this space all tomyself.
