Rose’s derisive snort surprises me, but I try not to let it anger me. “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting after the game.” But it seems like she’s not worried about that at all because she merely shrugs her shoulders. She’s quiet, so I tell her about the aftergame interviews. “I had three different news stations interview me. You know I couldn’t turn down ESPN, and if we watch it later, you’ll hear me thanking you for all you do for me and that I wouldn’t be where I’m at without you.”
But she still doesn’t comment, and I know I should just go back to the hotel and let her cool off a little. I don’t know what she expects. It’s not like I’m just goofing off or hanging out. This is part of my job. It’s how I make money.
With a frustrated sigh, I start the car and pull out in the already empty parking lot toward the exit. Traffic is almost completely gone, making me realize exactly how long I left her waiting there. I know I’m going to have to make some apologies to her. The exhilarated feeling I had after the game is long gone now. It completely went away the instant I walked out the doors and saw that Rose was not standing in her normal spot, waiting on me. The guys all wanted to go out and celebrate later, and even though I told them Rose and I would go, I know I’m going to go ahead and cancel with them. I think I need to spend time with my wife.
As soon as we get to the hotel, I get a call from my agent, Mike Kelly, wanting to talk about the aftergame interviews. “Meet me in the lobby.”
I look over at Rose as she’s sliding out of her shoes and taking off her earrings. “Can this wait until tomorrow?” I ask my agent.
“No, Brody. You have some things to decide on, and I want to make sure you look at it all from every angle. C’mon, meet me in the lobby in fifteen. I’ll buy you dinner and we can go over things.”
I agree and hang up. “Rose, that was Mike. He says there’s some things we need to go over for the endorsements and the interviews after the game. Do you want to go downstairs and eat with us and hear him out?”
I hold my breath, wondering if she’s going to answer me or not.
“No, I think I’m going to go to bed early tonight.”
“I can call him back and see if he can meet tomorrow,” I offer, even though I know she already heard me try to move the meeting.
“No, really, it’s fine. I’m going to shower and go to bed. I’ll see you later,” she says right before she shuts the door to the bathroom.
I walk toward the closed door and am about to open it when I hear the shower turn on. Rest. I’m going to let her rest, and then we’ll talk about everything when I get back.5RoseHe doesn’t even realize he forgot to send me our signal from the pitcher’s mound before the first pitch.
Brody talked non-stop about the game and interviews, and I didn’t want to be a killjoy for him. It was obvious that he was really happy about how the game went and the benefits of his performance paying off with the added attention clearly had him over the moon.
Brody wasn’t the kind of guy who coasted through life. He’d worked his butt off to get where he was, and now that it was finally paying off, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about what I was feeling.
I get into a sexy, silky number and get into bed to wait for him. Brody is downstairs in the lobby with his agent for hours, and I wonder why I’m wasting my life following him around when it really doesn’t seem to matter if I’m there or not.
If I wasn’t following the games, he’d be taking the team bus, spending his time in training or on the phone with his agent, and going out with his friends to blow off steam just as he’d done while I’d been finishing school.
When Brody comes to bed still wet from a quick shower, he groans because he’ll only get a few hours of sleep before he has to report for the team meeting, then if he’s lucky he’ll have time to pack before we travel to the next town for the next game.
He’s tired, and I don’t want to start a discussion with him now, knowing that we won’t be able to finish it and work it out. Brody kisses me with a quick peck before falling asleep.
Lying there with one of his arms draped over my stomach, I realize I only spoke with Brody three times the entire day. Once to wish him good luck and to be safe when he left the hotel really early that morning, and then again to brush off his lateness in reaching the parking lot from the game, and then the third time when I told him I wouldn’t be joining him and his agent.