He’s flipping through a magazine, so he doesn’t see me approach until I say, “I’m ready.”
He stands with ease, and towers over me as he gives me a small grin. “Let’s go.”
He motions for me to go first, so I do, and we exit the salon.
“This is me.” He points to his truck that’s parked out front and stops to open the passenger door for me.
“Thank you.” I give him a smile, which he returns with the sweetest expression as I step into the vehicle.
As he walks around to his side of the truck, I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves inside of me. Every time I see him smile, my body reacts in ways I haven’t felt in way too long, but I need to remind myself that I have a little boy and it’s not just me I have to think about anymore.
He hops in and cranks the engine before reaching around for his seat belt, then turns to me to ask, “Country music okay with you?”
I let out a chuckle. “We are in Nashville, remember? Anything else would be sacrilege.”
He turns up the Zach Bryan song playing through his speakers as he pulls away from the curb. “Then it looks like I’ve truly found my home after all these years.”
Hearing him sayhomefeels like so much more than the word normally means.
“Have you moved around that much?” I ask.
He lets out a hard laugh. “That would be the understatement of the decade.” He pauses as he lets out a breath, like he’s deep in thought, before he continues, “Moving is both a blessing and a curse. Most of the time, if you’re moving, that means you’re going up in the ranks, switching from, say, Double-A to Triple-A.”
“How many A’s are there?”
“More than you realize.”
I look at him, waiting for him to continue, so he does. “People think there’s just Single-A, Double-A, and Triple-A, but that’s not the case. When you are in Single-A, there is Low-A and High-A divisions. Then, if you’re drafted right out of high school, theyeven have one lower than those, called Rookie or Class-A Short Season.”
“That’s where you started?”
“Nah. I was drafted out of college, so I started in High Single-A. Been grinding ever since.”
“And here you are now.”
He nods, then glances my way. “And here I am now.” The way he says it with so much peace makes me smile.
He already had the directions to Lainey’s Furniture in his GPS, which is only a few blocks away, so before we know it, he’s pulling into the parking lot, and we’re heading in to do some shopping.
“Okay, where should we start?” I ask, holding my hands out wide to the store like it’s our oyster and we’re going to explore every inch of it.
He pulls his phone from his back pocket and swipes it open, then stands close to me to show me some pictures he took. “I thought these would help since you’ve never been to my place.”
He swipes through a very empty home, and I look at him with a sad expression.
“You literally have nothing.”
“No. I have a couch, a bed, a TV, and a few dishes.”
I take the phone from him and swipe back through the photos. “Your TV is on the floor. You don’t have a dresser, and I can see you are still living out of a suitcase.” I swipe back a few photos to the kitchen ones, zoom in, and laugh. “And I don’t see one damn dish in that kitchen of yours.”
He nudges me playfully. “That’s why I need your help.”
I shake my head, trying to hide my grin. “Okay then, here we go. What kind of budget are we looking at?”
He pauses to think. “I have no clue what to expect or what to spend. Obviously, I don’t want to blow my entire salary, but I know I need a lot of stuff.”
I place my hand on his arm, feeling nothing but muscle underneath it. “I’m the world’s best bargain shopper, so don’t worry; we’ll be frugal.”
