Page 8 of The Road to Home Base
I video-called him. It rang once, twice, and then a selfie feed of me flipped to show Alex with curiosity scrawled on his face. I saw his eyes dip down, then back up, and I remembered I called him while half naked on my way to the cold plunge.
“Just verifying that it’s actually me, Number Sixteen for the New England Riders,” I said as I paced toward the freezing, porcelain tub, thankful I had a valid excuse not to jump in quite yet.
“Wow. So it is.” Alex finagled his phone and then wedged it against something to hold it up. He leaned back. I could see a fancy desk chair, a wood desk, and the interesting tattoo rings around his forearms as he rested them on the edge. He wore a heather-gray t-shirt. Behind him stood a wall of black and white frames with photos. “So, you want some pictures?” he asked, then moved his hand to fidget with a mouse that came into view. His eyes rolled up. He must’ve braced his phone against the bottom of his computer monitor.
“Yeah, that’d be great. How’d that one come out of me hitting the wall?”
I watched as Alex pressed his lips together into a suppressed grin. He bobbed in his chair. “Came out great. You want that one, too?” His eyes dropped to his phone as I moved to the tub. “What… what are you doing, anyway?”
I blew out air with puffed cheeks as I set my phone on a rack next to the tub. I angled it so he had full view of the tub from the foot end. “I am about to do the absolute worst thing in the world.”
“Take a bath?”
“A certain kind of bath,” I said as I walked away from the phone and circled to the side of the tub. His eyes tracked me, didn’t look away. I was by no means a bodybuilder, but years of professional sports leaned out my body, bulked out all the right muscles. No six pack, but my stomach was flat and solid. My necklaces dangled out as I stood at the head of the tub, braced my hands on the edge of the porcelain, and leaned forward. “I hate this part.”
“Oh, that’s a cold plunge isn’t it?” Alex nodded to himself and leaned into the camera. “All right, tough guy. Let’s see it.”
I rolled my neck and cracked it to make a show of my ferocity. Then, with a careful and controlled hoist, I went up and over the head of the tub and plunged in. The water sloshed as I dropped below my shoulders and then came back up. Bitter, inconceivable cold that hit my skin like a thousand needles. Everything in my being told me to jump out and seek the safety of something warm, but I stayed in and swirled around the tub while breathing rapidly.
“Shouldn’t you stay still?” Alex asked. “I heard that’s the best way to do it.”
I shook my head. Endorphins flooded my system. Gave me power. Gave me insight. “A thermal barrier forms if you staystill. It’s cheating.”
“Interesting. And you don’t strike me as much of a—“
“Wanna come to a party tomorrow?” I interrupted. I needed to capitalize on the bravado that hit while my body went numb. Purposefully jumping into frigid waters and successfully remaining in them gave flight to a whole new level of confidence. People were unaware of how simple temperature changes affected your motivation.
“What?” Alex asked as his brows climbed his forehead.
“My teammate is throwing a birthday party at his house tomorrow. He lives right here in Lexington. I think it’d be cool if you came. We could hang out.” I continued to swirl in the icy waters in abject refusal to let that thermal barrier form.
“Um.” Alex looked around his room.
Oh, no. He’s married. He has someone. I completely misread this whole thing.My swirling slowed as fear overcame my confidence, an eclipse of terror from an avoidable taboo.
I blinked through it. “Oh, sorry. That was too forward.”
“No, no,” Alex said. I watched him, studied his eye movements. It didn’tlooklike he was staring at someone else in the room. “That wasn’t too forward at all. Just unexpected. What time?”
“Early evening,” I said as I returned to swirling. The eclipse passed just as quickly as it appeared. Nothing but blissful and beautiful sun. While sitting in water with ice forming on top. “I can text you the details. Please, don’t feel obligated. If you’re busy or have something going on, I’d hate to intrude.”
Alex snickered. “I’m free tomorrow. You aren’t intruding,Romo.”
The way he said my name. Like a fan. Like someone who stayed at a distance. “It’s just Rome. All roads—”
“Lead to you, I know. I can see why now.” He said that in a playful way. A way I really liked. “Cool. Tomorrow it is. I cantext you those pictures but I’ll probably grant you access to my e-share site since they’re high resolution and might look funky through text. Is that okay?”
I already have your number, so, yup. “Totally cool.”
He clicked a few things with his mouse as he looked at his monitor. After a few seconds, his eyes slid back to the phone. “You don’t have to keep showing off. You can get out of that thing now.”
I leaped out, sending up a geyser of water and grabbed a towel from the rack. I tossed it over my shoulder as my bare feet slapped against the rubber on my way to get my phone.
“Sufficiently impressed, then?”
He laughed. I also liked the sound of that. “I was impressed last night. Now you’re just grandstanding.”
“Well, good. I’m glad I could make an impression.” He stared at me after I said that. I could see something in his eyes, something he wanted to say, but he held back. I moved the conversation forward. “All right, so tomorrow. I’ll text you the info.”
