She thinks for a brief moment before giving me a smile full of attitude and saying, “My husband will be home in five minutes. You’d better crawl out the window to be safe.”
I let out a laugh. “Oh shit, that was funny. See, we can have fun.”
“Why is your laugh so damn loud?” she asks with a tone of embarrassment as she looks around to see if anyone heard me.
“Pft, you should hear my father. Your father-in-law,” I jokingly remind her.
Her face immediately falls. “Stop.”
Even though her hair is in a perfect ponytail and she’s wearing makeup, I notice bags under her eyes. “You look tired, wife. Is something keeping you awake at night?” I ask.
She gives me a bit of an incredulous look as she exaggeratedly scratches her chin. “Hmm, what could it be?” she asks sarcastically. “Well, nothing big and stressful is going on in my life right now, so it must be something smaller. Oh, I know. I was up all night wondering how a blind person knows when to stop wiping.”
If she thought my laugh earlier was loud, it’s nothing compared to what comes out of my mouth at that comment.
She shivers. “Fuck, you’re so loud. Do you realize every person in this park stopped what they were doing and looked this way when you laughed?”
“Can’t help it. My wife is legit funny.”
“I swear to god, Daylen. I will kill you in your sleep if you keep calling me that.”
And just like that, I’m committed to calling herwifeas much as possible. It’s good to know marriage hasn’t changed our dynamic.
“Got it, wife.”
She exhales an annoyed breath of frustration. “Why are we here?”
“We’re being forced to date,” I answer. “Remember?”
“I know that. Why are we in the park where people can see us? And why are you holding a basketball?”
I shrug. “I figured joint meals at restaurants would make it lookmorelike dates. Two athletes shooting hoops in the park isn’t that big a deal.”
“You do know I’m a professional basketball player, right? I just came from basketball practice. I don’t needmorebasketball from a non-expert in the field.”
I throw my shoulders back. “I’ll have you know I was an all-conference basketball player in high school.”
She lets out a laugh.
“What’s so funny, wife? I was. I have the height for it.”
“It’s funny because that’s a red flag of mine. Men who brag about their high school athletic awards.”
I sigh. “Is everything I say and do a red flag of yours?”
“Pretty much,” she answers without any hesitation.
“Mean bitches are a red flag for me,” I spit in response but immediately regret my words. I don’t want to fight with her. She just makes it so easy.
I run my fingers through my hair. “Listen, I’m not thrilled about this situation either, Kennedy. I’m just trying to make the best of it.”
“You’re making light of it. This is horrible. Gut-wrenching. Catastrophic. A?—”
“I get it,” I interrupt. “I’m not making light of it. I’m just trying to make the best of the cards we were dealt. We’re in this for nine months, whether we like it or not. There’s no sense in being miserable. It’s a beautiful spring day. I thought it would be nice to be outside. I know a lot of female athletes use male athletes to work against. Is there anything in particular you want to work on? Maybe I can help.”
She runs her bottom lip through her teeth before it pops out. “Can you dunk?”
“Of course.”
