Page 121 of Making It Count

It had been three years since that championship, and Dunbar had made the tournament the following year, but they’d lost in the second round as a thirteen seed. They hadn’t made it back since, which made Shay a little sad, but that was how it went sometimes. Their coach had been poached the year after their championship and had moved on to a bigger school, which she deserved. Losing Shay, Hilton, Layne, and a couple of other seniors meant that Dunbar had had to rebuild for a bit after that, but this season, they were on track for a pretty decent year and would at least make their conference championship tournament if not the NCAA tourney, too.

Shay had requested the move to Chicago because Layne had moved there after she’d finished her MBA at Dunbar and had gotten a scout role at Northwestern, working for the women’s basketball team. Scouting wasn’t what Layne wanted to do forever, and she had hopes that she’d get into sports management in a few years, but she was great at spotting basketball talent. She’d spent the past two years as a graduate assistant at Dunbar and had helped their coaching staff recruit a couple of three-star recruits out of high school, along with a four-star. Shay had helped as well by showing up and talking to them about her time at Dunbar and now playing pro ball.

They’d been together for four years now, if they didn’t count that time Shay got scared and broke them up, which neither of them did. They also had an apartment close to campus because the WNBA didn’t pay NBA money, unfortunately, but they hoped that they’d be able to buy a house one day.

Shay wasn’t sure how long she’d play in the league. She was getting some decent minutes so far in the season, but she would probably never be a starter or get any nice sponsorship deals, so she’d been planning what she would do when she either had to retire, got released from the team one day, or got injured. For the first time in her life, planning for something other than basketball didn’t bother her. She knew she’d land on her feet and had been thinking about her original backup plan of pursuing a degree in kinesiology and sports performance. Chicago had plenty of schools, and a few of them offered the program, so every so often, when they were traveling for a game, she’d pull up information on her phone and read about it.

Layne’s mom had moved close to them, living only about twenty minutes away, which gave Layne peace of mind, knowing her mom was close by. She cleaned houses full-time now and had been doing that for the past year. With her mom being fully vaccinated and boosted, Layne wasn’t as worried, but she still asked her to wear a mask in other people’s houses, so her mom did.

“Can I talk to you?” Shay asked Layne’s mom as they sat at the woman’s new kitchen table.

“Of course, you can. I figured that was why you asked to come over without Layne.”

“She’s on a trip to Detroit, checking out a high school junior to see if she’d be a good fit for the program.”

“I know. She told me,” Layne’s mom replied and took a sip of her lemonade.

Shay took a deep breath and said, “I want to ask Layne to marry me, and I’m hoping you’ll give me your blessing.”

“You need my–” She laughed a little. “Oh, honey. You don’t need my blessing. Layne can marry whomever she wants.”

“I know. But I want you to be okay with it.”

“You’ve been together for four years. What’s taken you so long?”

“Hey!” Shay laughed. “Layne hasn’t exactly asked me, either.”

“You’re in season right now. She’ll ask you when that’s over. Count on that.”

“Wait… She told you that?”

“No, but it’s been four years. She’s finally out of school and has a job. You were able to get that trade. You’ve also been living together in one place or another for three years. She probably just wants to wait until the off-season for both of you.”

“Oh. Do you think she’d say yes if I ask her before the off-season?”

“Shay, she would’ve said yes had you asked her three years ago. She loves you.”

Shay smiled and said, “I love her, too. She’s the only one I’ve ever really loved.”

“I’m sure it’s the same for her. So, you can have my blessing if it makes you feel better, but I’d worry about getting a ring.”

“Oh, I already have that.”

“You do?”

“It’s not much… I mean, I’m no millionaire, and I also didn’t want to ask my parents for help paying for an engagement ring for my fiancée. It’s just a band. But Layne doesn’t like big jewelry.”

“No, she doesn’t. She’ll love whatever you get her. My kid is smart enough to understand that it’s not about how showy the ring is. It symbolizes something. It’s that lifelong commitment to another person.” Layne’s mom held up her hand. “I still wear the ring her father gave me.” She looked down at it.

“It’s beautiful,” Shay said.

“It is, yeah. It’s not much, either. We didn’t have a lot of money, but he picked this out just for me at an antique store in town, and I loved it. I loved him, too. Always will.”

“I wish I would’ve met him. Layne always talks about him.”

“She does?” Layne’s mom asked, sounding surprised.

“All the time,” Shay replied. “She misses him a lot.”

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