Thinking about Ryan that way couldn’t lead to any good. At least not until I knew where his head was. As rightness settled in my chest while certainty clicked into place, I smiled. Heading to the US to spend time with the guy was definitely what I wanted to do.
* * *
A hitchin my breath was a dead giveaway, but I couldn’t stop it. “So yeah, I’ll come out for the week before you return here, then.” I forced myself to pause, the desire to ramble and overexplain riding me.
The quiet down the line seemed to drag a beat too long before Ryan’s exhale reached me. “You will, definitely?”
Disbelief edged his words, making them rough and a little throaty. Hell, based on how I was feeling, maybe there was some emotion there too. “Definitely. I’ll look into flights tomorrow.”
“I can get that sorted.”
“No, honestly, it’s good.” He’d offered before, but it felt all kinds of weird to take him up on it. I managed to pay myself a decent salary at the store, and it wasn’t like I spent a lot of cash on myself, so my savings were good.
“Don’t you remember what you made me promise, though?”
The mere reminder was all it took for the flash of memory to hit me. I chuckled. “Not so much a promise. More of my arsehole self taking the piss.” I leaned back against my propped pillows and smiled. “God, it feels like a million years ago.”
“Right. I sometimes wonder where the years have gone.” The rustle of a packet caught my ears. “We’re only twenty-six, but sometimes I feel a hell of a lot older, especially today.”
“Yeah, why’s that?” Concern had me frowning.
“My ankle—”
“The one you hurt in the Cats game?”
“Yeah. It’s twinging and not feeling quite right, you know?”
“What’s the doctors or whoever say?”
The sound of the opening and closing of a door preceded him saying, “I’m working with the trainers at strengthening it without pushing it. Doing lots of hot and cold, keeping it strapped.” He hissed. “Fuck.”
“You all right?”
“Ice packs,” he grunted. “You’d think I’d be used to them by now.” He chuckled lightly. “But I’ll be fine. They’re not too concerned. It shouldn’t impact Tuesday’s game.”
I swallowed hard and released a heavy breath, not realizing how much his words had worried me. “Well, that’s something.”
“Uh-huh, but back to you coming out here….” His words trailed off, and another rustle followed. When he spoke again, his tone was quieter, a little more tentative. “I can’t wait for you to be here. Finally watch a game.”
I closed my eyes, not having to ask what he was referring to. It wasn’t like I thought too hard or often about our millions of past conversations or anything. I rolled my eyes at myself. “Me too. So,” I started, wanting to pull away from the past, “LA for a few days, then back to Minnesota.”
“Yeah.” Somehow I knew he smiled as he spoke. “We’ll hang out, do some sightseeing, then head here for the last couple or so days. Obviously we’ll have to fly back to LA to get our flight to Brisbane. It’ll be a ball ache. Maybe I should figure out a way so we don’t have to come back here?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I want to see your place, where you’ve called home for the past few years.”
“Yeah?”
“Definitely.”
“A whistle-stop tour… I can make that happen.”
“Holy shit, Broadwater, you’ve learned how to whistle. Your balls have finally dropped. Give me a moment while I wipe my tears of pride away.”
Laughter burst down the line. “Fuck off, Griffin. And what the hell does whistling have to do with balls?” I made to speak, but he added, “Scrap that, I don’t think I even want to know.”
I snickered and relaxed even more against my mattress, loving this… how we could banter and talk shit. While we’d never forget how things had changed or that we’d had so much time apart, you couldn’t destroy the connection we had. The certainty of my thoughts took me by surprise. Six months ago, I wouldn’t have believed that was possible. Yet here we were.
“I’m sure whatever you decide are the must-see places to see, it’ll be great.” I pushed sincerity into my tone.
