The Games We Play
Thirteen
Ali tossed Brittany’s bag in the trunk of her car. When she came around to the driver's side, a sad looking Brittany gazed out of the open window.
"Thank you so much again" she said.
Ali smiled. "Anytime, Britt...you know that. Thank you again for coming."
There was a somber pause. Brittany ran one of her manicured nails along the steering wheel. "I'm sorry about the whole thing with Beau..."
"Pfft...Don't apologize." Ali waved it off, but inside, she really didn't know what else to say. It had been weird, if anything, that her friend hooked up with one of James' teammates. If they were still in college, this wouldn't have fazed her a bit. But now, she couldn't shake what Brittany had said to her last night at the club.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Of course!" Brittany said.
She hesitated, not sure how to approach it. "Remember last night....when we were in the restroom at the club? And I asked you about Tyler?"
"I know, I know, Ali--"
"--No, wait...hear me out" she said, holding up a hand. "Do you remember what you said? That you were 'just having fun'? What did you really mean by that?"
"I.....I don't know...." Brittany said with a shrug. "I guess that...I'm not married to Tyler, and we haven't really been together that long....so who cares, right?"
The tears that came to Ali's eyes at that moment caught her off guard. She blinked hard, hoping that they would disappear as quickly as they formed, but Brittany was too sharp to not catch them.
"Ohhhhh noooo, Ali! What's wrong??" she asked, concern slipping into her tone. "Are you okay?"
Feeling dumb, Ali brushed away the tears, half laughing. "Sorry....." she shook her head. "Just sad to see you go." She couldn't tell her that she was worried that would be her answer, and that her answer was something she feared James would say the next time he messed up....if there was a next time.
Brittany got out of the car and immediately brought her in for a hug, the pair of them swaying in a comforting embrace.
"We'll see each other soon, okay? Don't worry! You have James....and he's perfect, Ali. Really. I'm so glad I got to meet him."
"Thank you." Those words were a relief to hear after what had caused the tears. "Don't let it be another couple years before we do this again, k?"
"I promise." Brittany gave her a reassuring smile. She got back into her car and Ali helped shut the door. "Call you later?"
"You better" Ali said, trying to sound lighthearted. "Drive safe."
The engine came to life, and Brittany gave her a final little wave before she pulled out of the driveway. Ali remained outside watching until her car was no longer visible. When she faced the house again, it was the new life she lived that she was approaching. The old, familiar life had just driven away. That's how she viewed it, anyway.
James was in the kitchen when Ali came back in the house. He watched as she bypassed him and went straight to the living room, hugging herself with her arms, head down. Frowning, James followed her, wondering if maybe she needed support after Brittany left. Instead, he saw that she was balled up on the couch, crying into her hands.
"Whoa, hey.....what's wrong?" He went towards her on the couch, but her weeping became stronger. He stopped, unsure of what to do or what was going on. "Do you want to talk?"
Ali shook her head, sniffling.
"Do you want to be alone?"
Ali nodded.
"Okay...." James was confused, but at least he had some direction. "I'll be upstairs getting ready for practice if you need me." He wished for some sort of response or reaction, but Ali just stared at the floor, crying.
Without knowing much of what else to do, James went upstairs. As he rummaged through whatever was left of his clean practice gear, his mind stayed on Ali. He went about the motions to get ready to head to the rink, but kept an ear open for any movement from downstairs. When nothing came, he grabbed his gym bag and headed back downstairs.
He found Ali still on the couch, but now she was curled up on the pillows and fast asleep. James stood there a moment, studying her as she slept. Her breathing was calm and regular, not shaky as it had been before, her face still wet with tears. It worried him to see her like that, especially when he didn't know how to fix it. He felt an intensely protective feeling well up inside him. It made him want to stay with her and make sure a tear never fell from her beautiful eyes again.
As quietly as he could, James leaned down and kissed Ali on the top of her head, wishing he didn’t have to leave.
* * *
That morning’s skate was intense. The Pens were preparing for another lengthy road trip, in which they would spend a week on the road over the course of four games: Montreal, Detroit, Vancouver, and then Calgary. It was the last practice they’d get on home ice before they flew to Montreal the next morning.
Because of this, practice left little time for the guys to do much of anything other than what their coaches barked at them. Drill after drill, combo after combo, the players pushed through a five-hour practice before they were dismissed.
“5 am, guys! No later!” Bylsma reminded the group as they exited the ice.
The minute they filed into the locker room, Beau was hit with a barrage of banter about the previous night.
“So what the hell?” James asked. “I really thought the green-eyes thing was just a line you were using.”
Fleury waddled into the room, facemask in hand. “What happened? Catch me up.”
“Bennett fucked Ali’s friend last night” James said. “….And again this morning.”
“Whoa, really?” Fleury looked pleasantly surprised. “Was she the real tall one who came out with us?”
James nodded. Seated at a nearby stall, Sid removed tape from his calves. “So you really did fuck her?”
Beau looked at his teammates, but said nothing. His smiled revealed everything they needed, though.
James took a seat. “You were keeping a pretty good pace this morning, I gotta admit.”
“Shut up, Nealer.”
“You may even catch up to me someday.” He delivered a smirk as he lifted his practice jersey up over his head. “Even Ali was impressed.”
“She heard me?” Beau said. You could see the gears grinding in his head as a look of revelation came over him. “Fuck me.”
“I would, but I’m not into blondes” James razzed.
“Have you talked to her since she left?” asked Sid.
“She called me from the road……….she said she missed me.” Beau’s grin was met with a chorus of sarcastic Awwws.
“You do know…” James began, “that she has a boyfriend back in Boston?"
All their heads turned, their focus going to Beau. He just stood there, his clear blue eyes wide. “You’re kidding me.”
James shook his head as he unlaced his skates.
“No shit.” Beau ran a hand through his sweaty hair.
“Draaammmaaa” Fleury added.
After that, most of their provoking faded off. James mainly brought up the thing about Britt's boyfriend because he wondered if Beau even knew. He got his answer.
A little later, as James headed towards his car in the parking garage, Beau came up behind him.
“Hey, Nealer…got a sec?”
He turned around. “You really are a sucker for punishment.”
“I wanted to ask you if Ali talked to Brittany yet?”
James thought his question was cute. Beau really did sound young sometimes. “I don’t know, Ali was acting weird this morning after she left. I tried calling her before we hit the ice, but she didn’t answer.”
Beau frowned. “Is everything okay?”
He shrugged, hands going to his pockets. “I’m assuming she's sad to see her friend leave. She wouldn’t talk to me, though.”
“Ahhh…” They were quiet for a second.
“So you could’ve at least told me she had a boyfriend" Beau added.
“I didn’t remember, man…I had other shit on my mind” James admitted. “Ali only confirmed it to me again this morning. It seemed to bother her more than anyone.”
“Okay, so she could’ve let me know—“
“—Leave her out of this.” James’ tone was defensive. “It’s no one’s business, anyway.”
“Oh yeah, coming from the Saint, himself” Beau said, rolling his eyes.
James turned back to his car, ignoring the comment. “I’ll catch ya later, Bennett.” He didn’t wait for a response as he slid into the car.
Once he was on the freeway back home, he found himself replaying the conversation he’d had with Ali that morning on the couch. In his opinion, she seemed fine…no indication of sadness. Even at Pauly’s, she was in good spirits, laughing and joking around with all of them. And then all of a sudden, she was crying and wouldn’t answer his calls. It confused the hell out of him.
His thoughts kept after him all the way home. When he made it inside, he went to the living room first, but Ali wasn’t there.
“Ali?” he called. The house was silent.
He headed upstairs to the bedroom, and that’s where he found her. She was still asleep, just in a different location. Her phone on the bedside table, and she was still dressed in the same clothes she had on from that morning. Her dark hair was splayed on the pillow and remained a mess from the night before.
James wrestled with whether he should wake her or let her be. It was one in the afternoon, and she apparently had no intentions of getting up or getting ready. This was not a typical scene for him, so something was up.
“Ali…” He sat next to her, gently petting the side of her head. A few tender strokes through her hair, and her eyes opened. They were red and puffy.
“Hi, James.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but she normally greeted him with ‘babe’ or ‘baby’.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, fear creeping up behind him.
Ali shook her head as her eyes filled with water again. “Oh, James…” she breathed, letting more tears fall. She sniffled and wiped her face.
James didn’t know what was going on. Every time he came near her, she started crying. What did I do? How do I fix this?
“Here…” He opened his arms, and thankfully, Ali sat up and allowed him to hold her. He felt a small amount of relief when he felt her arms tighten around him further. “What’s wrong, Ali? Talk to me…”
“I’m scared for us, James.”
The words came out and he was completely taken aback. Out of all the responses he expected, that one wasn’t even a consideration.
“What?”
“I don’t want us to end” Ali said, sniffling, “But if Brittany can just cheat on her boyfriend and not even think twice---“
“—Whoa, whoa, whoa.” A sharp tightness filled James’ chest. He held Ali away from him so he could look at her. “Where is this coming from? You don’t have anything to worry about. I told you.”
“But Brittany said she was just having fun!” Ali’s voice was rising. “She didn’t even care about Tyler. She didn’t even think twice about him, James!”
His nerves were on edge now. “What do I have to do, Allison? You know I love you. This whole lifestyle…it’s fucked, okay? I love the game, but it’s completely fucked."
Ali wouldn’t look at him, so he lifted her chin so her eyes met his. “Brittany and Tyler aren’t us.” Ali studied his gaze, the water in her eyes magnified their brown color.
“I fucked up last week, I know” James continued, “but I swear to you—“
“—Just leave me alone.”
If there was a dam holding back the fear in James’ chest, it finally burst. What the hell was happening? What did Brittany say to her? He’d do anything Ali asked, but the last he wanted to do was leave her. They needed to talk about this. He had to make her see he was changing, and he was doing it for her. For them.
Afraid of making the situation worse, James stood up from the bed and gave Ali the space she wanted. As he closed the door to the bedroom, he watched Ali lay back down, resuming the position she’d been in when he saw her earlier.
* * *
James couldn't just sit in the house without doing something to help Ali, but his hands were tied. Just to get out of the house, he decided to go grab some food, only to find that he didn’t have much of an appetite. His hours were ticking down. Tomorrow morning he’d be on a plane to Canada, and wouldn’t see Ali for a week. He desperately needed to talk to her before he left, because he didn’t want either of them to go that long without any resolution.
He cranked the music in his car to drown out his thoughts. Shifting angrily, he pulled out onto Parkway East, not having any real destination in mind. He let his car take him, since his heart and his brain weren’t doing it very well.
Looking across out the passenger seat, he saw the skyline of Pittsburgh in the late afternoon light. Everything good in his life was because of this city. His contract with the Pens had come at the perfect time, and he never felt more at home than he did with his team or with Pittsburgh in general. Ali only enhanced that. She was such an unexpected gift, one that James never saw coming. Now, over the course of a week, he seemed like he was constantly playing catch up. Every time he made a successful step forward, he took two steps back. It pissed him off.
He shifted to a higher gear, hitting the gas pedal. His confusion was turning to anger. The more he let his thoughts run amuck, the angrier felt. He loved that girl…and he wouldn’t lose her. Not after some stupid fucking move her friend made.
The next bridge he came to, James took it. All bridges led back home in Pittsburgh, and he eventually made his way back to where he’d left his girlfriend alone. When he came inside the house, he was happily surprised to see Ali sitting at the kitchen island. She’d changed into jeans and hunter green sweater, her hair pulled up into a loose ponytail. She was nursing a cup of tea, staring into the liquid.
When she heard James enter, she looked over. Her eyes appeared less puffy now, and her nose wasn’t red. “Hiya babe.”
Thank god, he thought. “Hi.”
“I’m better now” Ali said, her eyes returning back to the liquid in her mug. She gave him a half-smile. “You were right. We aren’t Brittany and Tyler. We're not even close.”
James took a seat across from her at the island. “You really don’t have anything to worry about. I don’t know how else to tell you or show you.”
Ali nodded. “I know. I guess I’m just not used to this yet. I get so scared sometimes….it takes over, and I'm blind to what’s in front of me.”
“It’s only been a month” James replied, understanding her concerns. “It takes time. Clearly, I’m still getting used to it.”
They looked at each other, and James smiled for her. Slowly, he saw Ali’s smile appear as well. The dread that clung at his heart started to slowly release.
Ali bowed her head and laughed to herself. “And now you’re leaving for a week.”
Reaching across the island, James took her hand in his, hoping his touch would calm her fears. “It won’t matter, I’ll make sure of it.”
Ali smiled at him.
“And besides, you’ll at least have me on tv to make fun of without me knowing.” He squeezed her hand, watching as her smile became bigger.
Tears sprung up in her eyes again, but this time, he was happy to see them. "I love you, James."
James exhaled with relief. “Love you too, Ali.”
* * *
"Thank you so much again" she said.
Ali smiled. "Anytime, Britt...you know that. Thank you again for coming."
There was a somber pause. Brittany ran one of her manicured nails along the steering wheel. "I'm sorry about the whole thing with Beau..."
"Pfft...Don't apologize." Ali waved it off, but inside, she really didn't know what else to say. It had been weird, if anything, that her friend hooked up with one of James' teammates. If they were still in college, this wouldn't have fazed her a bit. But now, she couldn't shake what Brittany had said to her last night at the club.
"Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Of course!" Brittany said.
She hesitated, not sure how to approach it. "Remember last night....when we were in the restroom at the club? And I asked you about Tyler?"
"I know, I know, Ali--"
"--No, wait...hear me out" she said, holding up a hand. "Do you remember what you said? That you were 'just having fun'? What did you really mean by that?"
"I.....I don't know...." Brittany said with a shrug. "I guess that...I'm not married to Tyler, and we haven't really been together that long....so who cares, right?"
The tears that came to Ali's eyes at that moment caught her off guard. She blinked hard, hoping that they would disappear as quickly as they formed, but Brittany was too sharp to not catch them.
"Ohhhhh noooo, Ali! What's wrong??" she asked, concern slipping into her tone. "Are you okay?"
Feeling dumb, Ali brushed away the tears, half laughing. "Sorry....." she shook her head. "Just sad to see you go." She couldn't tell her that she was worried that would be her answer, and that her answer was something she feared James would say the next time he messed up....if there was a next time.
Brittany got out of the car and immediately brought her in for a hug, the pair of them swaying in a comforting embrace.
"We'll see each other soon, okay? Don't worry! You have James....and he's perfect, Ali. Really. I'm so glad I got to meet him."
"Thank you." Those words were a relief to hear after what had caused the tears. "Don't let it be another couple years before we do this again, k?"
"I promise." Brittany gave her a reassuring smile. She got back into her car and Ali helped shut the door. "Call you later?"
"You better" Ali said, trying to sound lighthearted. "Drive safe."
The engine came to life, and Brittany gave her a final little wave before she pulled out of the driveway. Ali remained outside watching until her car was no longer visible. When she faced the house again, it was the new life she lived that she was approaching. The old, familiar life had just driven away. That's how she viewed it, anyway.
James was in the kitchen when Ali came back in the house. He watched as she bypassed him and went straight to the living room, hugging herself with her arms, head down. Frowning, James followed her, wondering if maybe she needed support after Brittany left. Instead, he saw that she was balled up on the couch, crying into her hands.
"Whoa, hey.....what's wrong?" He went towards her on the couch, but her weeping became stronger. He stopped, unsure of what to do or what was going on. "Do you want to talk?"
Ali shook her head, sniffling.
"Do you want to be alone?"
Ali nodded.
"Okay...." James was confused, but at least he had some direction. "I'll be upstairs getting ready for practice if you need me." He wished for some sort of response or reaction, but Ali just stared at the floor, crying.
Without knowing much of what else to do, James went upstairs. As he rummaged through whatever was left of his clean practice gear, his mind stayed on Ali. He went about the motions to get ready to head to the rink, but kept an ear open for any movement from downstairs. When nothing came, he grabbed his gym bag and headed back downstairs.
He found Ali still on the couch, but now she was curled up on the pillows and fast asleep. James stood there a moment, studying her as she slept. Her breathing was calm and regular, not shaky as it had been before, her face still wet with tears. It worried him to see her like that, especially when he didn't know how to fix it. He felt an intensely protective feeling well up inside him. It made him want to stay with her and make sure a tear never fell from her beautiful eyes again.
As quietly as he could, James leaned down and kissed Ali on the top of her head, wishing he didn’t have to leave.
* * *
That morning’s skate was intense. The Pens were preparing for another lengthy road trip, in which they would spend a week on the road over the course of four games: Montreal, Detroit, Vancouver, and then Calgary. It was the last practice they’d get on home ice before they flew to Montreal the next morning.
Because of this, practice left little time for the guys to do much of anything other than what their coaches barked at them. Drill after drill, combo after combo, the players pushed through a five-hour practice before they were dismissed.
“5 am, guys! No later!” Bylsma reminded the group as they exited the ice.
The minute they filed into the locker room, Beau was hit with a barrage of banter about the previous night.
“So what the hell?” James asked. “I really thought the green-eyes thing was just a line you were using.”
Fleury waddled into the room, facemask in hand. “What happened? Catch me up.”
“Bennett fucked Ali’s friend last night” James said. “….And again this morning.”
“Whoa, really?” Fleury looked pleasantly surprised. “Was she the real tall one who came out with us?”
James nodded. Seated at a nearby stall, Sid removed tape from his calves. “So you really did fuck her?”
Beau looked at his teammates, but said nothing. His smiled revealed everything they needed, though.
James took a seat. “You were keeping a pretty good pace this morning, I gotta admit.”
“Shut up, Nealer.”
“You may even catch up to me someday.” He delivered a smirk as he lifted his practice jersey up over his head. “Even Ali was impressed.”
“She heard me?” Beau said. You could see the gears grinding in his head as a look of revelation came over him. “Fuck me.”
“I would, but I’m not into blondes” James razzed.
“Have you talked to her since she left?” asked Sid.
“She called me from the road……….she said she missed me.” Beau’s grin was met with a chorus of sarcastic Awwws.
“You do know…” James began, “that she has a boyfriend back in Boston?"
All their heads turned, their focus going to Beau. He just stood there, his clear blue eyes wide. “You’re kidding me.”
James shook his head as he unlaced his skates.
“No shit.” Beau ran a hand through his sweaty hair.
“Draaammmaaa” Fleury added.
After that, most of their provoking faded off. James mainly brought up the thing about Britt's boyfriend because he wondered if Beau even knew. He got his answer.
A little later, as James headed towards his car in the parking garage, Beau came up behind him.
“Hey, Nealer…got a sec?”
He turned around. “You really are a sucker for punishment.”
“I wanted to ask you if Ali talked to Brittany yet?”
James thought his question was cute. Beau really did sound young sometimes. “I don’t know, Ali was acting weird this morning after she left. I tried calling her before we hit the ice, but she didn’t answer.”
Beau frowned. “Is everything okay?”
He shrugged, hands going to his pockets. “I’m assuming she's sad to see her friend leave. She wouldn’t talk to me, though.”
“Ahhh…” They were quiet for a second.
“So you could’ve at least told me she had a boyfriend" Beau added.
“I didn’t remember, man…I had other shit on my mind” James admitted. “Ali only confirmed it to me again this morning. It seemed to bother her more than anyone.”
“Okay, so she could’ve let me know—“
“—Leave her out of this.” James’ tone was defensive. “It’s no one’s business, anyway.”
“Oh yeah, coming from the Saint, himself” Beau said, rolling his eyes.
James turned back to his car, ignoring the comment. “I’ll catch ya later, Bennett.” He didn’t wait for a response as he slid into the car.
Once he was on the freeway back home, he found himself replaying the conversation he’d had with Ali that morning on the couch. In his opinion, she seemed fine…no indication of sadness. Even at Pauly’s, she was in good spirits, laughing and joking around with all of them. And then all of a sudden, she was crying and wouldn’t answer his calls. It confused the hell out of him.
His thoughts kept after him all the way home. When he made it inside, he went to the living room first, but Ali wasn’t there.
“Ali?” he called. The house was silent.
He headed upstairs to the bedroom, and that’s where he found her. She was still asleep, just in a different location. Her phone on the bedside table, and she was still dressed in the same clothes she had on from that morning. Her dark hair was splayed on the pillow and remained a mess from the night before.
James wrestled with whether he should wake her or let her be. It was one in the afternoon, and she apparently had no intentions of getting up or getting ready. This was not a typical scene for him, so something was up.
“Ali…” He sat next to her, gently petting the side of her head. A few tender strokes through her hair, and her eyes opened. They were red and puffy.
“Hi, James.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. Maybe he was just being paranoid, but she normally greeted him with ‘babe’ or ‘baby’.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, fear creeping up behind him.
Ali shook her head as her eyes filled with water again. “Oh, James…” she breathed, letting more tears fall. She sniffled and wiped her face.
James didn’t know what was going on. Every time he came near her, she started crying. What did I do? How do I fix this?
“Here…” He opened his arms, and thankfully, Ali sat up and allowed him to hold her. He felt a small amount of relief when he felt her arms tighten around him further. “What’s wrong, Ali? Talk to me…”
“I’m scared for us, James.”
The words came out and he was completely taken aback. Out of all the responses he expected, that one wasn’t even a consideration.
“What?”
“I don’t want us to end” Ali said, sniffling, “But if Brittany can just cheat on her boyfriend and not even think twice---“
“—Whoa, whoa, whoa.” A sharp tightness filled James’ chest. He held Ali away from him so he could look at her. “Where is this coming from? You don’t have anything to worry about. I told you.”
“But Brittany said she was just having fun!” Ali’s voice was rising. “She didn’t even care about Tyler. She didn’t even think twice about him, James!”
His nerves were on edge now. “What do I have to do, Allison? You know I love you. This whole lifestyle…it’s fucked, okay? I love the game, but it’s completely fucked."
Ali wouldn’t look at him, so he lifted her chin so her eyes met his. “Brittany and Tyler aren’t us.” Ali studied his gaze, the water in her eyes magnified their brown color.
“I fucked up last week, I know” James continued, “but I swear to you—“
“—Just leave me alone.”
If there was a dam holding back the fear in James’ chest, it finally burst. What the hell was happening? What did Brittany say to her? He’d do anything Ali asked, but the last he wanted to do was leave her. They needed to talk about this. He had to make her see he was changing, and he was doing it for her. For them.
Afraid of making the situation worse, James stood up from the bed and gave Ali the space she wanted. As he closed the door to the bedroom, he watched Ali lay back down, resuming the position she’d been in when he saw her earlier.
* * *
James couldn't just sit in the house without doing something to help Ali, but his hands were tied. Just to get out of the house, he decided to go grab some food, only to find that he didn’t have much of an appetite. His hours were ticking down. Tomorrow morning he’d be on a plane to Canada, and wouldn’t see Ali for a week. He desperately needed to talk to her before he left, because he didn’t want either of them to go that long without any resolution.
He cranked the music in his car to drown out his thoughts. Shifting angrily, he pulled out onto Parkway East, not having any real destination in mind. He let his car take him, since his heart and his brain weren’t doing it very well.
Looking across out the passenger seat, he saw the skyline of Pittsburgh in the late afternoon light. Everything good in his life was because of this city. His contract with the Pens had come at the perfect time, and he never felt more at home than he did with his team or with Pittsburgh in general. Ali only enhanced that. She was such an unexpected gift, one that James never saw coming. Now, over the course of a week, he seemed like he was constantly playing catch up. Every time he made a successful step forward, he took two steps back. It pissed him off.
He shifted to a higher gear, hitting the gas pedal. His confusion was turning to anger. The more he let his thoughts run amuck, the angrier felt. He loved that girl…and he wouldn’t lose her. Not after some stupid fucking move her friend made.
The next bridge he came to, James took it. All bridges led back home in Pittsburgh, and he eventually made his way back to where he’d left his girlfriend alone. When he came inside the house, he was happily surprised to see Ali sitting at the kitchen island. She’d changed into jeans and hunter green sweater, her hair pulled up into a loose ponytail. She was nursing a cup of tea, staring into the liquid.
When she heard James enter, she looked over. Her eyes appeared less puffy now, and her nose wasn’t red. “Hiya babe.”
Thank god, he thought. “Hi.”
“I’m better now” Ali said, her eyes returning back to the liquid in her mug. She gave him a half-smile. “You were right. We aren’t Brittany and Tyler. We're not even close.”
James took a seat across from her at the island. “You really don’t have anything to worry about. I don’t know how else to tell you or show you.”
Ali nodded. “I know. I guess I’m just not used to this yet. I get so scared sometimes….it takes over, and I'm blind to what’s in front of me.”
“It’s only been a month” James replied, understanding her concerns. “It takes time. Clearly, I’m still getting used to it.”
They looked at each other, and James smiled for her. Slowly, he saw Ali’s smile appear as well. The dread that clung at his heart started to slowly release.
Ali bowed her head and laughed to herself. “And now you’re leaving for a week.”
Reaching across the island, James took her hand in his, hoping his touch would calm her fears. “It won’t matter, I’ll make sure of it.”
Ali smiled at him.
“And besides, you’ll at least have me on tv to make fun of without me knowing.” He squeezed her hand, watching as her smile became bigger.
Tears sprung up in her eyes again, but this time, he was happy to see them. "I love you, James."
James exhaled with relief. “Love you too, Ali.”
* * *
@Lolo2020
Thank you so much! Amazing people still read it and enjoy it so much. That was my goal :)
2/6/17