Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86367 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
When we finally get back home, I toss my bag into the closet and text Ryleigh.
Me: Home for the next ten days.
I try to give her hints about how I want her to come and see me. Even though we are home for ten days, we have games every other day, and the coach has called practices on the off days. We’re close to making the playoffs and all need to give our best effort.
Every single day, I wait for Erika to call me. Every single day she doesn’t, I lose more and more hope. Forget the fact that Ryleigh hasn’t even mentioned anything about coming to visit me.
We talk every single night, and every single night, I end the night telling her I wish she was with me. Then I hang up. After the first five days, my mood goes downhill, and after the seventh day, our conversations get shorter and shorter.
Finally, after nine days, Erika calls me back. “Hello,” I answer after one ring.
“Stone,” she says, and I try to see what her tone will tell me, but it’s neutral.
“What did they say?” I cut to the chase. I don’t want to know how she’s doing. I don’t want to know how Cooper is doing. All I want to know is the answer.
“I’m so, so sorry,” she says, and I close my eyes. “I tried everything I could. Nashville would not budge, even if I asked for first-round picks. They wanted to hear none of that.”
“Okay.” The defeat hits me right away. “Well, I tried.”
“We can try again in June when the season is officially over.” She tries to give me hope.
“Sounds good. I have to go.” I hang up the phone and toss it to the side.
This literally feels like you are in the Stanley Cup Finals, and it’s game seven, and you lose. Everything that you wanted was within reach, but you just couldn’t grasp it. It literally fucking sucks.
I try not to show it in my tone when we speak later on in the day, but she picks up on it right away. “Is everything okay?”
No, my head screams. “Yeah, just tired is all.”
“Well, why don’t you get some sleep?” she urges me, and it just makes me madder than I already am.
“I’ll do that,” I confirm. “I guess I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Okay,” she says softly, “sleep tight, SR.”
“You too, gorgeous.” I hang up the phone and the urge to take it and throw it against the wall is strong.
“What the fuck am I going to do?” I ask the empty room. “How much longer is this going to even go on?” The thought alone is too much to bear, but the reality is I already feel like I’m losing her. She hasn’t once even mentioned coming to see me. She hasn’t once told me she misses me. She hasn’t once sounded frustrated about the situation.
This woman who stopped my heart the first time I laid eyes on her has got a hold of my heart in a way I can’t even describe, and little does she know, I would give it all up for her. Everything I’ve worked for in my whole life feels futile now. Everything I’ve busted my ass for feels like it’s been for nothing. Everything without her in it is lifeless.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
ryleigh
He hangs up the phone, and all I can do is stare at it. The picture of us on the hot air balloon from my screen saver now flashes. I close my eyes before tossing my phone on the side of the bed that he sleeps on when he’s been here. The teddy bear he sent lies down on his pillows while I wear his T-shirt.
I lay my head on the pillow and pull my knees to my chest, blinking away the tears. I have never in my life cried more than I have in the last two fucking weeks. After losing the trial that, according to my boss, was a slam dunk, I’ve been keeping my head down and plowing through with work. I don’t even work from home anymore. I show up every single day, afraid to even skip a day in case he comes into the office and sees me not there. The last thing I need is to go away to see Stone for a few days and then he shows up. I can’t do it. I just can’t. I know he's dropped some hints here and there, mentioning he’s home for ten days. Trust me, if it were up to me, I would have been there on day one, but I just can’t leave when I want. I just can’t. That’s not to say I haven’t tried. Fuck, have I tried. I’ve gone through my calendar and even tried to take off and see him on the weekends, but it just couldn’t happen. And when I could go, he was leaving to go on the road for three days.