Page 23 of Never Say Never
Once again, it takes me longer because of my pads, and when I come out of the dressing room, Avery’s seated at the table that’s been set up. She’s back in that little shirt and comfortable pants, but her black hair is still in the sleek ponytail.
In front of her is a recording device, and on each end of the table is a sheet of paper with our list of questions.
All of the questions are scripted. The answers are scripted in a way too, I just need to remember all the notes Jim gave me last night.Goody.
“Hey,” I say as I approach her from behind. “You ready for this?”
She turns around, and I see her eyes move quickly up and down my body.
I swear, this woman keeps checking me out.
She turns back to sit squarely in her seat as I settle into my own opposite her. “If I’m not, we’re in trouble, aren’t we?”
Face-to-face now, I notice that while she’s scrubbed most of the makeup she had on for the photos earlier, her lips are still glossy.
I want to respond with something clever, but the chair they’ve given me to sit in is so uncomfortable it pulls my focus. I switch positions to get cozier, and I see Avery’s eyes drop down to my leg.
What’s she looking at now?
Ah, my shorts rode up a little when I moved around and one of my tattoos is showing.
She seems curious, but doesn’t ask about it. Her eyes move back up to mine.
“Yeah, I have a tat there,” I say to satisfy her unspoken question, and then pull my shorts up a couple of inches higher. Her eyes snap back down to my upper thigh. “I got it after my final bowl game in January. It saysBetter Together.”
“What does that mean?”
I pause. “Should we save the questions and answers for the recording?”
“Somehow, I don’t think our teams want us talking about our tattoos in the article,” she quips, her lips turning back up.
I chuckle. “Good point. It’s a saying that my siblings and I came up with when we were younger. Our parents had a messydivorce, and it became our motto to represent that we always have each other’s backs.”
“And do you? Always have each other’s backs?”
Her question inspires a flood of memories of my siblings bailing me out. “More than I deserve,” I say softly.
Intrigue hits her face when she processes my answer, but she doesn’t follow up. Instead, after a couple of beats, she twists around, and pulls down the collar of her shirt.
“Can you see that?”
I see the top of her tattoo, but I can’t tell what it is. “Sort of. What is it?”
“It’s a saying too. ‘Born Ready.’ My brother used to chant it all the time growing up before games, and it’s not a full-blown family motto like yours, but I got the tat in honor of him.”
“It’s a good one.”
She turns back in her seat, facing me squarely again. “Yeah, the phrase fires me up every time. Still to this day I can hear his voice yelling it around the house.”
“Are you guys close?”
“I mean, I can call him anytime, but we’re both so busy. He has a daughter, and she’s only four, so between that and basketball, he has zero time.”
“A daughter, wow, yeah, that’s a lot.” He must have had his kid really young.
“It’s fine though. I’m closer to my mom.”
“That’s cool.”
