Page 56 of On the Power Play

The idea that Delia might need something from him or have a problem he could help with sent his pulse racing. He lowered his phone and reached for his shirt hanging on the hook in his locker. Delia had texted back by the time he pulled it over his head.

I'm in a green room. They don't have tea, so basically dying

Jack grinned and knew exactly what to text next.

Do they have toothbrushes, though? Then you can at least dig into the squirrel food

No squirrel food either. Only candy and gross protein bars

For the squirrels on a bulk

He sent it too fast to question whether that was actually funny, then stared at the messages. Delia was in a green room? She hadn't mentioned anything about a show tonight, though they hadn't talked about anything beyond Bond girls and pizza toppings. It had been nice. Simple. Not real though.

OMG of course that would be your first thought

Jack laughed.

“God's gift to women” doesn't happen on accident. Also, why are you in a green room?

The three dots appeared below his message, then disappeared. Jack was already imagining her biting on her lower lip. He needed to stop. He had a thousand other things he should be thinking about right now, including but not limited to how he had three pending distribution agreements that needed finessing before they were going to be accepted, as well as his current conditioning predicament. This was a relationship he didn't need to spend any time on.

But maybe that was the problem. After Ange he didn't want to put time in . . . but that was all he knew. He knew what real was. He knew what he was capable of, and he wasn't used to half-assing anything in his life.

I'm the musical guest for “Late Night with Ken Massey”. Airs tonight at midnight MST

Jack audibly gasped, then cleared his throat to cover it up in case any of his teammates heard. She was doing a Late Night show? How had that not come up yesterday?

It was last minute. Tony phoned me after I got home. Otherwise, I would've told you

Something warmed in his chest. No. It didn't matter. He didn't need to know what was going on in her life. Though, it was probably good that he did. Kind of awkward if someone asked about it and he had no idea what his girlfriend had on her schedule.

I'll watch. Good luck

Break legs. We don't say good luck because it's actually bad luck

Who's we?

Performers. Actors. All the people you didn't know growing up because you were too cool

I wasn't too cool for the drama nerds. I mean drama kids

I KNEW IT

Why would you make the one phrase used universally to give blessings of luck to mean the opposite?

We had nothing to do with the decisions of our predecessors

Feels like you could have a town hall meeting or something

I’ll put that on my list. K, they just knocked on my door

Break legs?

Exactly

Don’t ever say that to me before a game

What should I say?

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