“Thanks, bud. I’m happy for you too.”
Chance had been invited to play in the most exclusive summer ball league program in the country. He was going to show everyone there what real baseball players were made of.
“It’s a big deal, you know.”
“I know,” he said, but it wasn’t cocky. Chance was never cocky. “Hey, my dad said to tell you congratulations and that it couldn’t have happened to a better guy.”
“Wow.” I cocked my head back in disbelief. “Tell him thanks so much. Ah hell, I’ll text him myself later. Thanks for coming over, you guys. It means a lot.”
“Of course. We’re Team Cole all the way,” Mac said, and I rolled my eyes.
“You literally sound like my teenage sister. You realize that, don’t you?” Chance said, pretending to be annoyed.
“Then, your sister must be awesome,” Mac sniped back.
“Okay, we’re leaving,” Chance announced before grabbing Mac and giving him a shove.
“Guess we’re leaving. Bye, everyone,” Mac shouted into the house before Chance could get him outside.
I watched them walk down the driveway and toward their car before I wandered back in search of my girl. I found her sitting with her parents and Lauren, eating chips and salsa at the kitchen table, and it reminded me of the first time we had eaten Mexican food together in the commissary at school. I remembered asking her if the word salsa did anything for her, like an idiot.
“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Travers. May I borrow your daughter?” I asked, making sure I sounded polite and respectful. I’d never had to impress parents before, and it was important to me that I did—impress hers, that was.
“Just make sure you bring her back in one piece,” her dad said, and I gave him a nod.
“Don’t try to sell her online!” Lauren shouted before putting two fingers near her eyes and then pointing them at me. “I’m watching you, Anders.”
“Where are we going?” Christina asked. Always with the questions, my girl was.
“I want to show you something.” I reached for her hand and pulled her down the hall toward my childhood bedroom.
“I’ve already seen it.” She laughed, and I smacked her ass as she walked through the doorway.
“Not that. This.” I walked over to my bed and reached for a folder that was sitting on top of it. I handed it to her with a smile I couldn’t hold back.
“What is this?” she said as she opened it and started flipping through the pages, her eyes scanning them before she went back to page one and started actually reading.
I’d created a business proposal for her that included all of the pros and cons as to why she should start her own company versus going to work for someone else.
“You made this for me?”
“I did.” I watched as her expression morphed from shocked to excited as she continued to read.
“You really think I could go out on my own already?” She looked up from the papers, her eyes misting over.
I pulled her close and kissed her before reminding her, “You’ve already been doing it for years.”
“I know, but it’s not the same,” she started to argue, and I knew it was only because she was scared.
“It’s exactly the same. Only now, you’d be getting paid for your work. You’re amazing at this. Because of you, The Long Ones are actually making money. You did that.” I knew she was about to say I was wrong, so I continued with my rebuttal, “You made people take notice of them. You’re the reason they started getting views and sponsored ads and publicity. You don’t need anyone else telling you how to do this job, Christina.”
“Why are you saying all this now? We can talk about me later.” She tossed the folder back onto the bed. “Not that I don’t appreciate it. But we should be out there, celebrating you right now!”
I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her nose. “I’m telling you all this because I want you to come with me.”
She tried to lean back and break my hold on her, but I only held on tighter. “You want me to go with you?”
“Yep,” I said like it was the most logical and reasonable thing ever. But in my mind, it was. There was no reason for me to go to Iowa, where the team was located, and have her stay here. Not when she could technically work from anywhere.
“But,” she said before closing her mouth and exhaling through her nose. She was trying to fight back but knew she had no real argument, and it was adorable.
“But nothing. I plan on being with you for the rest of my God-given life, Miss Travers. I don’t see why that can’t start now.”
“Don’t you think it’s too soon to move to God knows where and live together?”
My girl was scared.
“Nope.”
“What do you mean, nope?”
“I want to be with you. I don’t want to live apart if we don’t have to, and we don’t. Have to, that is. You can work from home, or I’ll rent you an office space for you to work out of. Whatever you want, but you can do your job from anywhere, right? I just want that anywhere to be wherever I am.”
I hadn’t even mentioned the fact that I’d get a pretty hefty signing bonus offer. While the majority of Minor League Baseball players lived on shitty monthly salaries, I wouldn’t be one of them. Yes, I’d still get paid that basically unlivable wage to play baseball, but we would also have more than enough money to live comfortably for years to come.
“How can I say no to that?” She smiled before rising up on her toes to give me a kiss.
Thank God she’d said yes; otherwise, I was going to have to pull out the big guns and promise her a puppy—or twenty. This girl made my world complete. She and baseball were the two things on earth I never wanted to live without.
But if I ever had to choose between them, it would always be her. Every time.
Epilogue
One Year Later
Christina
We’d moved to Iowa less than a week later. I’d skipped walking through graduation with my class, and even though my parents were originally disappointed, they understood. The fact that they adored Cole made their acceptance of me not walking and moving away with him easier. They’d also said they were grateful they didn’t have to sit outside and endure a five-hour-long graduation ceremony for a bunch of strangers and two people they actually knew and cared about—myself and Lauren.
Speaking of Lauren, she was back in school, going for her master’s in order to open her own practice one day. She and Jason, the drummer, still talked, but between her classes and his tour schedule, it was hard for them to maintain anything other than friendship. I told her that she never knew what the future held.
Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that The Long Ones were touring? <Insert a million screaming fans here.> No, literally. Millions of fans.
Once their social media had started to take off, it never stopped. They hired me to continue handling it all, and the band was making six figures between their online streams and video views before they were ever approached by a record label.
The executive had offered them a four-million-dollar deal, which they’d gladly accepted, and they were currently in the middle of their first nationwide small venue tour. So far, I’d gone to see them play at five different locations, getting plenty of footage to post for months to come, but it would eventually get to be too old. The truth was that they would outgrow me and need to hire someone to travel with them full-time. That wasn’t something I wanted to do even though they kept offering me the position each time I brought it up.