“Hi,” I smile.
She’s so damn pretty.
“I wanted to see your face. Is this okay?” I move my computer off my lap and set it on the bedside table next to me.
“Yeah, of course. I wanted to see your face too.” She snuggles under the covers in my bed. Or I guess, our bed.
Neither of us says anything for a beat; we’re just smiling at each other like fools.
“So, where do you want to go?”
“Oh, right. Your beauty distracted me.” I wink at her.
“Stop! You’ll make me blush.” She covers her face up to her eyes.
“Uh-uh. I want to see your smile.” I motion for her to drop the covers.
She does and rolls her eyes. “Fine. Happy?”
“Yes, I am. Thank you.” I lie back on my pillow and turn on my side, propping my phone on the extra pillow. “Where do I want to go? Hmm. I honestly don’t really have a preference. I just want to go somewhere, you know?”
She purses her lips and nods. “So, if the Browns called you up, you would be okay with that?”
“Well, actually, yes. Their defense is one of the best in the league. To get to play with and learn from some of those guys would be incredible.”
“I guess you’re right. Bad example. Okay, but you have to have some thoughts about it.” She raises her brows.
“It would be nice to be close enough that it’s easy for you andmy parents to come see my games as often as possible.” I shrug my shoulder.
“Me?” She points to her chest.
“Well, yeah, we are married.” I chuckle.
She shakes her head slightly. “Right. I just didn’t realize that I would be a factor?” She says it almost like a question.
“Why wouldn’t you be? I know it won’t be easy to make schedules work sometimes, but we’ll figure it out.” I watch her face, and she looks a little unsure. “That’s what we’re going for anyway, right?”
“Sorry, yes. I guess it just still feels a little surreal sometimes. I mean, we got married on a whim for fun, and now we’re talking about big decisions for your future.” She looks away from me.
I swallow the lump forming in my throat. “I get that. And you’re right, but I guess for me, it’s turning into something more. At least I hope it is. I like the idea of planning my future and seeing your face in that picture.” I pause and wait for her to look at me again. “I don’t want you to feel any pressure though. So, if you ever feel like you are getting overwhelmed, I want you to be honest with me, okay?”
She nods and smiles softly. “Yeah, I promise. And I like seeing your face in my future too.”
“Good.” I smile in return. “So, I’ll be breaking all kinds of NFL records, and you’ll be chasing storms. But we’ll do it together somehow.”
“Chasing storms?” She laughs. “I mean, I guess, in a way, you’re right. I just won’t be on the front lines with the storm chasers. It’ll be more behind a desk or at my home office that I plan to have.”
“That’s a possibility? You working at home?”
“Yeah, for sure. Especially if I go into the private sector or consulting. I’ve actually been thinking about your parents and what we talked about with the shifts in their crop productiondue to weather.” She turns to her side, mirroring me. “It’s something I would like to explore more as a long-term focus. And now it has more of a personal connection too.”
“That would be amazing, and I support all of that. So, it’s a lot of research then?”
“Mostly, yes. Some field work would need to be done, depending on what I’m doing, I suppose.”
“Well, it sounds like something we can work with.” I search her face, looking for agreement.
“I guess we’ll see.” She smiles and nods.
