“I would scream, too, if you shoved me in boiling water!”
“Valid,” he says with a laugh. “What else?”
“If I associate an animal with any kind of children’s movie, cartoon, or television show, I can’t eat it.”
“Give me an example.”
“Ever seen the movieBabe?”
His mouth drops open in horror. “You don’t eatbacon? What kind of sick and twisted person are you?”
“There’s an entire religion that doesn’t eat bacon, Jamie. Or any pig for that matter. I assure you, I’m surviving just fine without it,” I say with a giggle. “I had a much harder time giving up marshmallows than bacon.”
“Why marshmallows?”
“Gelatin.”
He looks confused. “So?”
“Gelatin is made from pork collagen. There are Vegan marshmallows, but they aren’t the same. I really only miss them in Rice Krispie Treats.”
Jamie grips the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know which thing horrifies me more: you not eating bacon, or the fact that gelatin is actually pig collagen. This is a lot to process on a Monday morning.”
I gasp. “Shit! It’s almost noon! I have to get to work. Didn’t you have a practice or workout this morning?”
I roll over and jump up from the bed. Jamie stretches, his long legs over the edge of my mattress, as his hands touch the headboard. “No, as soon as you fell asleep, I texted my teammates and told them I wouldn’t be there. I needed the sleep too. Besides, you’re much prettier than they are.”
I giggle as I frantically get myself organized and ready for work. Jamie leaves the bedroom as I get changed, and when I walk into my living room, I find him carefully setting Flash into her wheelchair. He’s mumbling to himself about the contraption as Flash faithfully licks his face. “There! Got it!”
“You should know that Flash hates just about everyone,” I comment. “She wasn’t even that fond of Chelsea when they first met, but Chelsea just smothered her and wore her down.”
He chuckles as Flash licks him again. “I don’t know Chelsea well, but that sounds about right.”
Jamie looks up at me triumphantly as he attaches the last strap, and Flash gives him an excited bark. Grabbing my bag, I motion for him to walk to the front door. “I have an attached garage, so I go out through the kitchen. I need to lock up after you leave.”
Jamie turns and gives me a shy smile. “Are you busy tomorrow night? I thought maybe I could bring over some dinner, and we could watch a movie or something.”
I nod eagerly. “I’d like that.”
He bends down to apply a soft kiss to my lips. “Good. I’ll call you later, Doc. Bye, Flash.”
After he leaves, I look down at my dog, and I swear she nods at me. “I know. I like him too.”
I didn’t expectthe morning to go as it did, but I’m not complaining. Not only for the amazing kiss, but for the much needed nap afterward. I’m usually someone who likes his own space. I’ll have my arm around a girl for a moment as we get settled, but then I’m doing the ‘hug and roll’ a la Ross Gellar inFriends. But with Audrey, I couldn’t get close enough. I wanted to wrap myself around her, where every inch of me touched her skin.
I’ve never needed a pre-game nap, always chalking it up to adrenaline and anxiety. Many of my teammates swear by them for late games, but I’ve always thought it was dumb. On the rare times I nap, I wake groggy, disoriented, and sluggish. How could that help me be at the top of my game?
But this morning changed my view on naps. Because if this is what my teammates experience, I’m all for naps now. I feel like I’m more alert than I’ve ever been. Walking on clouds. Happy as a clam. All the stupid sayings.
“Your happiness is weirding me out,” Troy says over his salad. “You’ve never been this happy.”
“That’s not true,” I reply with a chuckle. “Dramatic much?”
Max Callahan is having lunch with us, since we share Troy as our agent, and he raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know you very well yet, QB, but you are more cheerful than I’ve experienced. Especially after that shitshow on Saturday night.”
I shrug, failing to wipe the grin off my face. “It all worked out.”
“For you, maybe. Not for the Coyotes,” Troy responds. “I got a pretty nastily-worded email from the owner bright and early yesterday morning. And a phone call from your coach this morning before I’d even had my coffee.”
