Page 63 of Walk Off

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Hours later, he was alone back in his hotel room and ready to call his girls. He leaned back against the pillows on his bed and hit send on Celia’s number for a FaceTime.

Seconds later, her face lit up the screen and all was right in his world. At least for a little while.

“She’s coming,” Celia said to him. The exact same thing she'd said to him the previous night when he’d called.

He wasn’t about to tell her he wasn’t only calling for Jasmine. “No worries. How was your day?” He tried to ask her questions, so she’d know he wanted to know about her too.

“Busy. I love teaching middle school, but those kids can have real attitudes.”

“Let’s hope that’s not Jasmine when she’s that age.”

“Oh God, help me now,” she said in an exaggerated tone. “I might have to send her to live with you during those years.”

He laughed along with her, even though, in his version of their future, they lived together.

“Here she is!” She passed the phone off to Jasmine and that was the last of seeing or talking to her for the night.

As luck would have it, his plan started tomorrow.

“Guess what?” Jasmine asked, and then for the next twenty minutes, proceeded to tell him every single thing that happened in her day. He loved listening to her talk, part of it being that he just loved knowing she was his daughter. He’d never thought about kids, not in any real way. Mostly because he’d never seen himself in love with anyone other than Celia.

If he wasn’t with her, there would be no kids.

Funny how that seemed to work itself out. It’s as if the universe knew and wanted them to be together.

The universe was finally on his side.

As a kid, and then teenager, he thought the world was against him. Why else would it give him such shitty parents? There were days he had no food and times the electricity was out for days because nobody paid the bill. He had nothing good in his life until his Great Aunt Elinor stepped in and made sure he was always taken care of. When she died, he was back to thinking the world was conspiring against him.

Until he met Celia.

For a few brief moments, he’d been happy and thought this was why he’d gone through the hard stuff. To end up with her.

Then she’d left, breaking his heart into a million tiny pieces. After that, he seriously believed he was unlovable and meant to be alone. He might have never stopped loving Celia, but he also never really believed they could be together again.

Now he did.

The universe had kicked him and knocked him down over and over again, so that when the time came, he would understand what it meant to love someone.

Because when you loved someone, you didn’t let anything else get in the way. Not anger, nor animosity, nor regret. You could either choose to love or choose to be alone.

Both weren’t possible.

He was choosing love. He loved Celia and Jasmine and would do anything to make them his family.

He was going to ask for a trade to a team closer to them. He knew how much Celia loved Ruby, and there was no way he could ask her to move away. Not to mention, he didn't want to uproot Jasmine. She had a whole life in Valley Falls and so many people who loved her.

She had what he’d always wanted, and he wouldn't be the person to take that from her.

After he ended the call with Jasmine, he stripped off his clothes, turned off the lights, and lay down in bed. His mind was swirling with ideas for his plan, which was part of the reason why he was still awake.

The other part was that his dick was hard with thoughts of Celia.

If he wanted to get any sleep at all, he was going to have to take care of the problem.

Closing his eyes, he let himself remember how it felt to have her in his arms. How her bare skin felt against his. The way her eyes darkened when he pushed her limits, and the way she moaned in pleasure at the things he did to her body.

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