Page 48 of Inside the Penalty Box

“Maybe I should let you get some rest.”

“No, I’m good.”

“Can you hang on one minute. I have another call coming in. It could be Lorelai she’s out with some girls.”

“Sure thing.”

I lay there as the phone went silent, waiting for her to come back. I placed my free hand behind my head and turned the TV on. I was about twenty minutes into a movie when Aurora finally returned.

“Sorry about that.” She sniffled.

“What’s wrong?” I asked immediately. I could hear she was upset.

“It’s nothing…really.”

“Aurora, come on, talk to me.”

She went quiet, and then I heard her blow her nose. “Sorry, that was Greg.”

Who the hell was Greg and why was he calling my girl. “Sorry?”

“Greg, my ex.” She sniffled again.

Was she crying? I rolled over, giving her my undivided attention. “Aurora, what happened?”

“Nothing. It’s stupid. Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”

“No way. You’re upset. What happened?”

“He’s just an asshole. When he broke things off with me, he gave me zero reason. He apparently heard from Lorelai’s ex, Hugo, that I’m dating again.”

“So, what did he want?” I questioned.

Aurora was quiet for a few minutes.

“I’m afraid to tell you because I don’t want you to think I’d ever—”

“Aurora, just tell me.”

“He called me up to see if we’d be able to work things out and get back together.”

“What was your answer?”

“No, of course.”

“Okay, so if you said no, then why are you crying? You’re obviously not going to tell me you’re leaving me for him, so there should be no need to shed tears.”

The line went quiet for a moment. Then she cleared her throat. “I don’t think I could ever leave you.”

I closed my eyes at her admission, wishing that I was with her at this moment. I wanted to see her face, to hold her close to me. This was the first time she’d really sort of told me how she was truly feeling about us, and I was miles and miles away from her.

“I wish I was with you right now.”

“Same here.” She sniffled.

Chapter 14

Aurora

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