"Ma, you're fifty."
"Exactly. If you kids wait much longer, I'll be old and decrepit."
A bark of laughter erupts from my lips as I toss the suit onto my bed. "Now I know you're full of shit," I say, shaking my head. "You could run laps around all three of us." Hell, she'll be running laps around all three of us when she's eighty. The woman is a force of nature and always has been. I love the fuck out of her.
"It could happen," she says, a smile in her voice. "You never know."
"It's not allowed to happen. You have to live forever."
"You're my favorite again."
I grin, stripping my towel off to get dressed. She's full of shit, but it's fine. We're all her favorites. "I gotta go."
"What? Why? I'm not done bullying you into giving me what I want."
I chuckle, not surprised. Ma is nothing if not honest. "Team party tonight."
"And you're going?"
"You don't have to sound so shocked," I mutter.
"You never party. You have a stick up your butt just like your father."
"I'm telling him you said that."
"I say it to him all the time," she says with a soft laugh. "But it's true. You never go to team parties. You spend all your time on the field, in the gym, at the soup kitchen, or doing boring things. It's why I still don't have grandbabies."
That's definitely not why she doesn't have grandbabies, but I'm not stupid enough to correct the record now.
"They're forcing me to go."
"Of course they are." She laughs at my pain. "I would tell you to have fun, but I know you. You'll hate every minute of it."
"That's the plan."
"Well, at least try to act like you're having fun, dear. You really should live a little, you know. It won't kill you."
"I have plenty of fun."
"Uh-huh," she says, making it clear she doesn't believe me.
It's true, though. I may not party or fuck around like a lot of my teammates, but my life is fucking great. I get paid millions to play the sport I love. I live in a mansion full of shit I love. I get to make a difference for the people who need it the most. My family is great. My friends are great. I'm golden. Except…
No. Absolutely not.
I shut that thought down before it fully forms, refusing to go there. I'm great. Everything is great. No need to rehash all the reasons why falling in love right now would be a terrible idea.
"Well, I guess I'll call and harass your brother for a while. Love you," Ma says.
"I love you too. Tell Sidney hey for me."
"Will do. I can't wait until you two play each other in a few weeks. It's so nice to have my boys in the same place, even if they are on opposite teams."
"Just so long as you root for me, Ma."
"Depends on who agrees to give me grandbabies first," she says.
"Ma!"
