Page 36 of Best Year Ever
A couple of other obligations pop up. I have a two-day trip to NYC to film a commercial and go on a talk show. I record another commercial here in Orlando, for a major local franchise. Endorsement money is a larger part of my pay right now than my rookie contract, so I take advantage. Aiden’s killing it with these deals, and I can see my bank account reflecting his efforts.
Along the way, Rori and I stay in touch by text—text only again. Our conversations are still not super frequent, but our messages are starting to get a little more personal, I notice. Most recently, she was telling me about how her dad’s focused onsetting up his next phase of life and isn’t traveling with her as much. We still make silly jokes and share memes too. I follow her lead—remembering my promise not to be a distraction.
Before I know it, the Miami tournament is starting in five days. Pulling up the schedule, I see that I could easily make her first-round match, which is on a Monday. She hasn’t repeated her invitation of coming to a round, but I feel pretty confident that it still stands.
LANDON Hey, I’m looking at the schedule for the Miami tournament. Would it work for me to go to the first round? The second half of the week I’m due back in New York for another shoot.
She gets back to me within an hour. She was probably on the courts when I sent the message, as it’s her normal time for drills.
RORI: Yes! I didn’t want to mention it again so you felt pressured to come, but that would be great.
Game on.
Next Monday, I pull up to the house of one of our offensive linemen, Carter Geurhardt, who agreed to come with me to the match. I told Rori not to worry about our actual tickets. Our team owners have a suite for the tournament, the biggest one each year in Florida. They happily gave Carter and me seats in the suite for the first round.
After his big ole’ body lumbers out of the house, Carter hops into my car and we drive to Key Biscayne, the location of the tournament. Traffic’s jammed up badly as we get closer to the road leading us from the mainland to the Key.
“Shit, hope we aren’t late,” Carter says.
We better not be.
I haven’t told Carter anything about my history with Rori. When inviting him, I only explained that I’m excited to watch herplay—and her name is so hot right now in sports that he took my comment at face value.Everyone’sexcited to watch Rori play.
Luckily, we left early enough that the traffic doesn’t cause us to miss anything. As we park the car, there are still thirty-five minutes until Rori starts her match. We make our way to the suite, which in this small stadium, is simply a normal section of seats with a small plastic barrier separating it from those nearby. Almost immediately, fans come up to Carter and me for autographs and photos.
“Just until the players come in,” I tell them with a smile.
A roar goes through the crowd about fifteen minutes later, and out comes Rori. She’s wearing a pale orange tennis dress, showing off her fit, tan legs and arms. Her hair’s pulled back in a braid, held together with a matching orange hair tie at the bottom. As she waves to the cheering attendees during the walk to her chair, her face is lit up with a grin.
“LET’S GO RORI,” yells Carter at the top of his lungs.
Nice.
She looks our way at the sound of his 350-pound behemoth shout, and a flash of recognition hits her face immediately. She smiles and waves to us.
“Well, I guess she knows we’re here now,” Carter says, sitting down.
“Guess so,” I chuckle back. “She actually invited us to grab lunch afterwards. Her team rented a private room for their group at a nearby restaurant.”
“I’m down,” Carter says.
Rori makes quick work of her opponent, a young local player who’d qualified by winning a play-in tournament. Ninety minutes in and they’re shaking hands at the net.
My nerves start to prickle as I realize that I’m going to finally be able to talk to Rori in person after weeks of text-only conversations.
I truthfully don’t know what to expect. This is the firsttime that I’ve ever had a woman in my life who is both a past hook-up and a friend.
And Rorihasbecome a friend through our ongoing conversations. It’s a new road for me to navigate. On top of which, I’m still attracted to her, without question.
Just stay cool, I say to myself.She has been clear about what she wants.
As if her ears are burning, she looks up quickly at me from the court on her way off, her racquet bag thrown over her shoulder. We lock eyes, and I give her a dip of the head with a grin on my face.
You did good, see you in a little bit, I say to her in my head and hope it translates in my expression.
Her lips turn up as she keeps moving into the covered hallway, disappearing into the dark tunnel.
Within minutes, Carter and I make our way out of the tournament grounds. When we reach the restaurant, we look around, trying to find the entrance to the private room.
