Page 96 of The Future Play

Baseball boyfriend: As badly as I want to see that, there are too many prying eyes around. I’ll have to settle for the live show tonight.

Me: I’ll be waiting.

He sends a kissing face emoji, and I finally tuck my phone in my bag.

“How’s Jamie?” Chelsea sings from her spot next to me on the bleachers.

Chelsea Winters is one of my best friends in the universe. Which is saying something since I have a whole tribe of them now. We met at the beginning of fall semester when she started working with Rae and then dating Trevor. She easily became a part of our friend group, and we’ve formed a strong bond. We both love volleyball, so we teamed up for the rec league this year along with Dani.

We named our team the Ida Heartthrobs after the town that none of us are from but bonded us anyway, and the fact that we’re hot as fuck badass babes.

One of the douchey guys from another team tried to mansplain how “heartthrob” is only supposed to be used for men. He was on the receiving end of three withering glares and a speech about feminism.

Secretly, our team name is also a little nod to our guys, since they are three hotties from Ida, who everyone always wanted, but they only have eyes for us.

I’ve gotten a lot better about not questioning that. I’ve had to. Of course, in almost two years, Jamie has shown me over and over again how much he wants me and how deeply I can trust him. With him on the road and even at the minor league level havingball bunnies around, my trust in him has been put to the test, but I don’t even question it now. Jamie has shown his loyalty and put my heart at ease. He comes home as quickly as he can and is always ready to worship me. I do everything I can to make him feel the same way.

Our relationship is far from perfect, but it’s beautiful, hard-won, and something we both continue to work on and fight for every day. If I could describemyperfect relationship, that’s exactly what it would be. Even in our rough moments, he always makes me feel seen and understood. He is my safe place and my home, and I’m grateful for how hard we’ve worked to be here now.

I elbow Chelsea. “He’s fine. How’s Trevor?”

“A sweet little grumpy bear like usual,” Chelsea says.

Dani laughs at that. “He’s so soft for you. It’s adorable. You know he’s going to be here with a jug of water, cheering you on, scowling at all the guys—especially the ones we have to play against—and making sure you’re hydrated.”

“And Jesse will be right next to him,” Chelsea throws back. “Probably with ice cream.”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he convinces Garrett to bring the truck down.”

One of Jesse’s best friends owns an ice cream place, and would probably happily sell ice cream to all us sweaty and overheated players.

I smile along with the girls, but that pang of sadness hits me. I wish Jamie could be here too. I love when he’s cheering me on, but this is a part of life—a part of his career. One that I’ll probably never get used to, but I’m okay with that if it means I still miss him. I’d rather feel those achy pains in my heart than not care when he’s gone.

“You two ready?” Dani asks.

Chelsea and I stand up, and follow her onto the floor as the announcer calls out, “And in our first matchup, the Ida Heartthrobs versus the Good Old Boys.”

Chelsea, Dani, and I look at each other and snicker.

Time to hand the douchey boys their asses.

“Yes,I can add those flowers to the list, but it will increase the price of the bouquets.”

The bride I’m on the phone with sighs heavily then says she’ll confirm with her mother, who is paying for the wedding.

“Okay. Have her call me directly if she has any questions. Anything else?”

When she says no, I happily end the call and put away my phone.

I have a love-hate relationship with planning weddings. Some couples are incredible to work with and have fun ideas and input. We work together to make the day their dream, no matter the budget. It all started with Aaron and Rae. I planned their wedding in four months, and it was amazing. It’ll go down as one of my favorite events ever planned, and that’s only partly because I love them so much. I’ve done a handful since then, and they’re always either awesome or terrible, nothing in between.

This one has been terrible, bridging on migraine territory every time I have to solve a disagreement between the bride and hermother. The groom is as useful as a dull nail, and usually looks like he’d rather be watching paint dry than having a conversation about the wedding. The bride and her mother are either crying happily in agreement—rare—or they’re yelling at each other while the mother threatens to not pay, and the bride threatens to uninvite her from the wedding. Somehow, I’ve become the family therapist. I’m not sure who I feel worse for.

Besides myself.

Whatever. I keep business hours. In theory. So the work phone is going off—because I do not give clients my actual number anymore after one called me at three in the morning. Any other chaos will have to wait until morning.

I made food earlier, so all I have to do is warm it up when Jamie gets home.

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