Page 108 of Spin Serve

“What the hell?” Kendra said. “Did I drop something downstairs?”

“Room service,” someone said from the other side of the door.

“Dinner,” Aspen told her with a wink. “One second!” she yelled and hurried to the door to pull it open before a cart was pushed inside.

“You ordered dinner?”

“Here you go, Ma’am,” the hotel employee said in English with a German accent as he handed Aspen a padfolio for her to sign.

Just as soon as he’d entered, he had left, and Aspen turned back to Kendra.

“Happy one-month anniversary,” she said and lifted the cloches, revealing plates of food.

One plate had what, Kendra guessed, was a variety of German sausages with some diced seasoned potatoes, and the other had a roasted half-chicken and some schnitzel. There was a bottle of wine in the middle, with two glasses, along with a bottle of sparkling water and glasses for that as well. Bread with little pads of butter in the basket completed the things she could see, but Aspen pulled another, smaller cloche and revealed what looked like a slice of cheesecake with a few mixed berries on top.

“It’s a German cheesecake, so it’s different, but I thought we could try it.”

“You remembered?” Kendra asked.

“Our anniversary? Of course, I did. We went out on our first date one month ago. We should celebrate.”

“You’ve been so busy… And I didn’t know if you’d want to celebrate something like a one-month anniversary.”

“I do. And we are. It’s just dinner,” Aspen told her. “I didn’t exactly have time to get you a gift, so I hope this is okay.”

“My girlfriend qualifying for the Olympic Games would be quite the anniversary gift.”

“Well, I’ll see if I can arrange that.” Aspen chuckled.

“Oh, I got you something. Not a fancy dinner, but I thought it would just… be something.” Kendra pulled the bag from the airport out of her shoulder bag and handed it to Aspen. “I didn’t have time to wrap it. I’ve– Well, I’ve been busy with work, trying to get set up to leave, and my sleep schedule has been off because you’re here. It’s silly, but just open it.”

Aspen pulled the shirt out of the bag and laughed a little.

“It’s perfect. I love it. You know, I’ve never actually had one of these.”

“It’s stupid, and I could’ve gotten it for five bucks on the street, probably, but I paid way too much for it at the airport.”

“I bet this one will last longer,” Aspen suggested. “And I love it. I like silly things, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Am I silly for buying it?”

“No, but I still like you.” Aspen leaned in and kissed her. “I hope you’re hungry. And I’m sure you’re tired, so after we eat, I can run you a bath, and you can relax until it’s time to get some sleep. Does that sound good?”

“Sounds amazing.” Kendra kissed her this time.

It had been a very busy month for both of them. Aspen and DJ had run through a few more coaches and had one they were really interested in, but they didn’t want to do anything until after Berlin because they’d been playing well enough without one and didn’t want to upset the applecart until after the event. They’d also won the two USPBV tournaments prior to leaving for Germany and seemed, to Kendra, to be in great form, which had extended to the first three matches they’d played in Berlin.

Kendra, for her part, had been thinking more and more about what she wanted to do with her life. She couldn’t just quit her job because she’d just bought a house, so everything she’d had saved up was going into it, but she also knew she wasn’t as happy doing what she was doing as she’d once been. When Aspen had left for Berlin, Kendra had wanted to leave with her, but she’d needed to cover another indoor match with Wyatt and hadn’t even been able to see Aspen off to the airport, which she’d hated. While she still liked talking to athletes, she was increasingly growing tired of asking the same questions over and over again and getting the same responses.

“How do you feel after the game?” she’d ask.

“We feel pretty good. Lots to improve on, though,” they’d reply in one way or another.

“How do you think so-and-so played tonight?” she’d ask.

“I think they played well, coming off the bench for us late and making an impact,” they’d reply in some way.

Kendra felt like, at this point in her life, she maybe only asked ten different questions on a regular rotation and got about ten of the same answers, and that was getting old for her. Since she didn’t come from money and couldn’t just follow her girlfriend around the world without a job, she’d have to think about what she wanted to do next, but that would be for later Kendra to worry about because tonight was her one-month anniversary with the girlfriend whom she was mad about and had missed like crazy for the past ten days.

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