He turns to me in question.
“Music, I mean. I loved that concert each artist did from their homes the other day on TV. When it went from Billie Joe to Tim McGraw, I was in heaven.”
“Were you screaming like a little girl when the Backstreet Boys came on?” he teases.
I laugh—well, as much as I can while barely being able to breathe. “Um, no. Thankfully, my sister was never into them, and they were before my time, so I never had the boy-band crushes.”
“Who are your crushes then?”
“What?” I dramatically pull back my head while facing him. “Besides the Major League Baseball player I just met? Hmm.” I pretend I’m thinking.
His laugh tickles my ears, and I almost trip over myself.
He jogs a little faster and then turns around, so he’s running backward, and we’re facing each other. “Did you really not know who I was?”
“And there it is. I knew you had to have a big head tucked under that sexy ball cap.”
He chuckles, and I have to stop, needing the rest. He does, too, and instantly drops to the ground, doing push-ups.
I giggle under my breath. “You were serious about that?”
He continues his ups and downs without looking up. “Dead serious. It will be a good workout for me in the end, kind of a cross-training thing. I do have to be fit for my job, you know,” he says through a laugh.
I cross my arms in front of my body and take in the way his muscles bulge as he moves with ease. “Then, you’ll do those until I’m ready to run again?”
“Yep,” he says, but I can hear in his voice that he’s starting to strain.
“Hmm,” I tease. “So … what do you think about the weather? Do you think it will stay nice like this or start to rain again?”
He pops up to his feet so fast that I’m caught off guard. “Nice try. Let’s go.”
He runs again, and I follow, pretending to hate it but, deep down, this is the best time I’ve ever had exercising. Who knows? This might become my favorite pastime.
Okay, not really. I haven’t lost my marbles that much yet.
“Hey, I think I was supposed to get the view of you shirtless too,” I call after him.
He takes his shirt off and throws it my way.
Okay, yeah, I was wrong. This isdefinitelybecoming my favorite pastime.
7
Day 7
April 2
After I hop out of the shower, I dry myself off and hear my phone ring. The sound of “Centerfield” by John Fogerty plays with the familiar clapping and then a guitar riff that I dance to for a beat before I answer by singing, “‘Put me in, Coach. I’m ready to play today.’”
Drew laughs out loud. “You did not.”
“Oh, I sure did. So, if it takes me a while to answer your call, just know that I’m over here, dancing to your ringtone.”
“You crack me up,” he says.
“Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all day because, well, you know, nowhere else to go and all.”
“That’s why I’m calling. I had an idea.”
