He waited for something simple like ‘okay’ or ‘sure.’ Even a flat out no would be better than the silent treatment he was getting because it felt too much like indifference—and Silas wasn’t sure if he could work with that.
When no answer came, he put his phone away and put himself into the drills.
Miriam
Normally, it only took Miriam twenty minutes to get ready.
Today, she’d been standing in front of the mirror for nearly an hour.
Everything was wrong. Her waves wouldn’t fall right. She couldn’t get her eyeliner to look the same on both eyes. And she was breaking out. Seriously, it was like that giant zit on her forehead came out of nowhere. She did her best to cover it before putting on her favorite Storm shirt and fluffing her hair one last time.
Her phone buzzed from its propped up position on her bathroom counter. Allie’s smiling face filled the screen. Her tightly coiled black curls were pulled back by a colorful scarf.
Miriam put her on speaker phone and continued to examine herself in the mirror. “Hey, girl.”
“You doing okay?”
Miriam had filled her best friend in on all the Silas drama, and the two girls had been doing a countdown to the meet and greet that was scheduled for that afternoon. She leaned in close to see if the pimple was visible beneath the concealer. “No, I’m most certainly not doing okay.”
“Wanna skip and enjoy some much needed retail therapy instead?”
Miriam let out a wistful sigh. She would have loved to go shopping with Allie, but her bank account wasn’t nearly what it needed to be to hit all the expensive boutiques that Allie loved to shop at. Not to mention that it was literally her job to show up to these events. She couldn’t bail no matter how badly she wanted to. “Can I get a raincheck?”
“Sure.” There was a long pause before Allie spoke again. “Listen, you know you can always call me if things go bad, right? I’ll be happy to show up at The Sports Emporium and tell Silas what’s up.”
Miriam snorted. She had no doubt that Allie had quite a few things to say to Silas after listening to Miriam cry about the breakup for months after it first happened. “I’ll let you know.”
“Good. And Miriam?”
Miriam let out a non-committal noise as she turned back and forth looking for anything that stood out.
“Stop obsessing over the way you look and get going.”
She stilled and mumbled, “I wasn’t obsessing,” under her breath.
“Uh-huh.” Allie giggled.
Miriam looked at the time on her phone. She needed to start loading her car with everything for that day’s event if she didn’t want to be late. “But I do need to get going.”
“Okay. Later, babe.” Allie made a loud kiss sound.
“Later,” Miriam mumbled before she ended the call.
With a defeated sigh, she grabbed the pop-up banner, table, and box of table decorations and swag from her closet. When she walked out into the living room of her one-bedroom apartment, her orange tabby looked at her with an accusing stare from his perch on the back of her hot-pink couch that Silas had always teased her about.
“What?”
Hobbes’ yellow eyes stayed fixed on her as he cocked his head. Was everyone going to accuse her of trying to impress Silas today?
“I’m not trying to look nice for him. I want to look nice for the meet and greet since I’m representing the team.”
Great, now she was the crazy lady who talked to her cat like he was a person.
It wasn’t entirely her fault though. This past week had been a difficult test of her sanity. The unexpected text from Silas had been, well, unexpected. Had he kept her number this whole time and just never used it? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
Silas was quickly becoming a distraction that she didn’t need in her life. And now he was showing up for an event she intentionally hadn’t invited him to. She wanted to tell him he wasn’t allowed. She wanted to stomp her feet and yell ‘nuh-uh’ until Silas agreed not to show up at The Sports Emporium. But she was twenty-five years old and a professional. She couldn’t go around acting like an obstinate child just because things were going to be difficult.
“Wish me luck,” she said to Hobbes before she brought everything out to her car and began a grown-up version of Tetris to try to fit it all. With one last glance in the rearview mirror and a pang of longing to curl up with Hobbes and a book instead of facing the day, she drove to The Sports Emporium.
The drive took ten minutes longer than usual, which meant she had exactly ten more to get everything set up in time. Her non-primping primping had totally messed with her schedule for the morning. She popped the trunk of her hatchback and started unloading things.
“Want some help?” a deep, familiar voice said from behind her.
Miriam closed her eyes and started counting down from ten. Ten…Nine… Eight…
“Miriam?”
She spun around, all attempts at trying to calm herself lost. “What are—” The words died on her tongue when she saw Silas. Or more specifically, his chest. He was standing closer than she had realized, only two or three feet in front of her. Close enough to put her hand out and touch those stupid pecs that were visible beneath his shirt. The sleeves hugged his biceps and Miriam had to stop and make sure that her mouth wasn’t hanging open.
Did he pick the tightest tee on purpose?
“Here. Let me get that.” He bent down and grabbed the handle of the folding table in one hand and reached out to grab the banner with the other.
She crossed her arms and stuck out her chin. “I’m fully capable of bringing everything in myself.”
“I know you are.”
