“I think what I should have said is,That’s amazing, and I agree that you’ll be a good fit. This is really great news, and I’m proud of you, Clover.” I pause. “Is that better?”
“Yes.” This time, I can hear the smile in her voice. “But the first answer was okay, too. Truly. You don’t owe me anything, Callum. Not after…”
I want to say she doesn’t need to keep blaming herself like that, tell her perhaps her leaving had something to do with me, too, even if she says it doesn’t, but she speaks before I’m able to.
“Wait, aren’t you supposed to be napping right now?”
I check the time on the bedside clock. Normally, this would be my nap time, but I gave that up a while ago.
“My, uh, pre-game routine has…changed a little.”
Truthfully, it didn’t feel the same after she left, especially not when the routine typically included her, and since I wanted to get as far away from all reminders of her as possible, I changed it. I guess, given where the Seattle Serpents are at now, it might not have been such a bad idea.
Chloe is quiet on the other end of the line, so quiet I start to question if we lost connection, but then she speaks.
“Can you tell me about it? Your new routine, I mean.”
I grin, even though she can’t see me. “You want to hear about my pre-game routine?”
“Yes.”
She never had to ask about it before, having been there for it since college.
“Okay,” I tell her, wiggling down in the hotel room bed more. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
I smile. “Well, it starts with a bit of meditation.”
“Shut up.”
There are those words again.
My grin grows wider. “I swear it’s true. Can you believe it?”
“No.” She laughs. “You drop the gloves far too often to be a person who meditates regularly.”
It’s my turn to laugh. “All right, that’s fair. Okay, so maybe I don’t meditate. But I do like sitting in silence for a bit, then I put on my headphones and blast all that screamy music you hate.”
“I just don’t get it. How the hell do you understand what they’re saying?”
“Then I usually have a plate or two of pasta,” I continue, thinking of all the times she used to complain about my music tastes, not that hers are any better, usually putting on some bubblegum pop that I can’t stand. “Then I’ll do a quick two miles on the treadmill, then three to five on the stationary, whatever I’m feeling that day.”
“You really lost me at all that cardio,” she says. “Hmm. So no nap?”
Curling up with her used to be my favorite thing, but after she left, nothing I tried felt right, so I gave up the naps completely.
“Not anymore.”
“That’s a shame. I miss taking naps.”
I miss taking naps with you.
I don’t give that thought a voice and instead change the subject.
“When is your coffee date?”
“Right now, actually. I can see Auden and Lilah walking toward the shop.”
