I love my daughter but goddamn, the girl can talk shit. She can take it too, which is what I get for raising her around a baseball team her entire life.
“I did an early lift and just got back from my morning run. So, while yes, I’m definitely healthy enough forthose kinds of activities, that’s not what’s happening right now. Get your mind out of the gutter, you freak.”
She chuckles on the line.
I go into the connected bathroom, turning my hat backward and grabbing a clean hand towel to run over my face, trying to clean up the dripping sweat.
“What are you up to?” I ask.
“Me and Maxie boy just got on the plane and it’s making me miss the season we got to fly with the team through the private airport. TSA was a nightmare today.”
“Yeah, I bet Max is missing it too. Do you remember how hard he used to sleep on the team plane in that bed that was set up for him in the back?”
“Well, I can promise you, he’s having no issues with that. We’ve been in our seats for all of five minutes and he’s already passed out in my lap.”
“When he wakes up, tell my boy I say hi and that I can’t wait to see him.”
“I will.”
“I can’t wait to see you too, Millie. I’m glad you two are joining us for a couple of road games.”
I saw my daughter just yesterday morning, but now that I’m spoiled enough to have her living in my same city, I’ll take every chance I can get to spend time with her.
It’s been just the two of us for the past twenty or so years, and while Miller is building her own family now, she’s the entirety of mine. Maybe it’s why I’m so close to my players and staff I work with. When Miller left home at eighteen and I moved into coaching in the majors, I was all of a sudden alone, and the team became my new extended family.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you too. Kai is having so much fun, Dad. He’s loving coaching the guys.”
“Well, he’s damn good at it too.” As I sling the hand towel over my shoulder, a knock sounds on my hotel room door. “One second, Millie. I think housekeeping is here already. They must not know we have a late checkout.”
Crossing the room, I keep the phone pressed to my ear and open the door.
But it’s not housekeeping I find on the other side.
It’s Reese.
“Morning,” she says with a smile, but her mouth quickly drops into parted lips when her eyes drift down my sweat-soaked face, over my bare chest that’s still pounding as I continue to catch my breath.
“Hi.” I sound just as surprised as she looks right now.
As she stands on the other side of the door, I let my eyes roam. If she weren’t right in front of me, I’m not sure I’d recognize her. She’s in a pair of well-fitted blue jeans, and I’ve never seen her wear denim before butgoddamnit looks good stretched over her thick thighs. Her high heels have been swapped for a pair of sneakers, and her typically sleek blonde hair is covered in a Warriors’ team hat, the ends curled in a loose, casual wave.
It’s a stark contrast from the business Barbie I usually see around the office. Today Reese looks more like the baseball-loving girl next door and it fucking works for her.
It works for me too.
“Dad?” My daughter’s voice in my ear acts as the coldest kind of shower. “That’s your hot boss at your door right now, isn’t it?”
I close my eyes for a moment. “I gotta go, Miller.”
“I’m sure you do. Tell my new stepmom I said hi!”
“Something is seriously wrong with you, you know that? Who the hell raised you?”
Both Reese and my daughter laugh, but thankfully, my boss can’t hear Miller through the phone.
“Love you, Dad.”
“Love you too. Fly safe and I’ll see you tonight.”
