I flip on ESPN, watching some sports highlights while I pass the time. My phone buzzes next to me, so I flip my phone over and see my sister and nephew’s faces on the screen. I hit accept and they both fill my phone’s screen.
“Uncle Lucas!” Milo practically screams when he sees me.
“What’s up, buddy?”
“I’s had to have pokes today,” he says as he sticks his bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout.
“I’m sorry to hear that, buddy,” I tell him. I hate that he has gone through so much in his short life already. He was born prematurely and has had health complications since. Thankfully, once he made it out of the NICU after a two-month stay, he’s not had any life-threatening issues, but more so just lingering complications due to being premature. He has a feeding tube that they are working to get him off of, but have to go through food therapy, first, which wasn’t easy. Everything would make him puke, due to the textures. Because of his complications, he has to get regular bloodwork and other tests done to make sure that he’s staying as healthy as possible. The doctors are all predicting that he’ll eventually outgrow most of these things, it just takes time. “How many pokes did you get?” I ask him.
“Two,” he says, his lip quivering.
“Aww, I bet you were a superhero, though.”
“I got a sucker and then Mommy took me for ice cream!” he says, the quivering lip gone, and a smile plastered on his face once again. He learned quickly that he loved ice cream, so it often becomes a reward when he has to have doctors or therapy appointments.
“A sucker and ice cream? Man, you must have been a good boy!” I praise him. There have been many days that I’d get calls from Tiffany as she sobbed after a hard day of him screaming through a therapy appointment or having to be pinned down just for them to take blood. Once I got called up to Indianapolis, it has allowed me to come and help her sometimes. The day he broke his leg and had to have surgery was the day of the fan event that I blew off because my family comes first. Maybe I should explain to Carmen why I missed that event, not that it would change anything since it was weeks ago, but at least she’d know why I wasn’t there.
“You ready for game one tonight?” Tiffany asks as Milo slides off her lap and disappears out of view.
“I think so, had a good morning and now I’m just hanging out in my hotel room relaxing. Will head out for some lunch here, soon,” I tell her, just as a text notification pops up at the top of my screen. I can’t read all of it but can tell that it is Carmen texting me back, so I grab my iPad from the bedside table and pull up my messages.
“What’s that smile for?” Tiffany asks, always the observant one.
“I just got a reply from someone I was waiting to hear back from,” I tell her.
“Oh god, please don’t tell me you have a booty call that lives in each city.” She grimaces.
“Damn, jumping to savage right off the bat.” I chuckle and bring my eyes back to the camera so I can give her my ‘not amused’ look. “But no, not a booty call. It was from Carmen, the team’s PR person,” I tell her.
“Ooh, is she the one that you have the crush on?” she pries.
“A crush, really?” I deadpan.
“No sense lying about it. I can tell you like her just by the way you, one, always bring her up when we talk. I don’t even think you realize that you do it, but I have. Two, the way you say her name and the way your voice changes. It’s okay, baby bro, you’re allowed to like a woman. I’d actually encourage you finding someone to date, and, I don’t know, maybe marry one day.”
“Fuck, Tiff. That’s a little fast, don’t you think? I’ve only slept with her once,” I blurt, and slam my lips together after letting that slip out.
“What!” she yells, slapping her leg or the couch or something that causes a loud smack sound. “Tell me everything, well, not everything, but I want all the details outside of the actual smexy times, because eww. You’re my brother, I don’t need to know those specifics.”
Before I answer her, I look back at the text from Carmen so that I can reply.
Carmen: Sorry for the delay, I just got done with my morning meetings. I’m free until about two.
Lucas: Meet me for lunch?
I shoot off the question, and the bubbles immediately pop up. “Just a second, Tiff,” I tell my sister while I wait for Carmen’s reply.
Carmen: Sure, can you give me twenty minutes?
Lucas: Yep, do you need longer? I’m free until the bus takes us to the stadium.
Carmen: Thanks.
Lucas: I’m in my room, just come here when you’re ready, sound good?
Carmen: Sure.
Knowing that Carmen is coming to me when she’s ready, I put my iPad back down and turn back to my sister. The Cheshire smile filling her pretty face tells me she is not going to let this little tidbit of information go.
“You were about to tell me all about Carmen and the fact that you’ve, apparently, already slept together. Why haven’t you told me more about her already?” she asks, and I can tell she thinks that I’ve kept things from her.
“It just kind of happened,” I tell her, reaching for my water and taking a quick drink before I continue. “When I first got to Indianapolis, I wasn’t her favorite person. I kept doing shit that she’d have to spin. After the baby debacle, I’ve laid low, as you well know, and did my best to stay out of her radar.
