Page 106 of The Catch

It's hard to breathe, the way my chest is heavy with the news.

But I knew this could happen. If I imagined she'd be in the suite to meet my family, to watch me play, to find me on the field afterwards… that was all my doing. None of it is part of our agreement.

This is too big an opportunity for her, for me to be selfish and ask her to support me instead.

"For the pilot only," she adds behind me. "My agent is negotiating that the proper show filming happens here, but the pilot has to happen there. Budget reasons, they said."

I turn and run my fingers through my hair.

"You hadn't said anything." I keep my voice neutral.

"I was… distracted." She points to the bed a few times. "I'm sorry."

"If I can be a poor substitute…" Pablo speaks from the phone.

"Of course." I clear my throat. "Please come! I'd love to have you there."

Though Ames' presence can't be replaced.

"And we are so excited about this chance for you, Ames," Pablo says.

"We are. It's such an opportunity," I manage.

"They're saying that if the execs like the pilot— and if the tests do well— they would start with ordering ten episodes. Depending how those do, we'd film a second season." She gives me a tenuous smile. "Can you imagine?"

"I can imagine." I pull a smile from somewhere in my guts. "Excellent news."

"That's the dream," Pablo says.

"It is." Ames takes a deep breath. "I hope I can carry an episode on my own."

"Of course you can, Ames." I put a hand on her knee. "You will dazzle them. You'll see. We will be pursuing big career goals at the same time. That's kind of cool, isn't it?"

It is, even if her absence will be a big splinter in my side.

Chapter 32

Ames

"Explain to me again why we're not at that stadium?" I ask.

We're at Evie and Logan's place. It's a nice house, airy and light. Everything is in shades of a very, very pale yellow and warm honey. It looks straight out of a fancy furniture store quarterly magazine, in a minimalist sort of way.

Technically, I know why we're watching the conference game here and we're not there huddled in a suite. My question is mostly a complaint. Evie knows this, but she still explains.

She brings me a new drink and sits next to me on the sofa. "Apparently the guys asked Coach Clark to change his mind but he didn't. He insisted he wanted no distractions. Logan was grumbling about it before they traveled."

An impressive cream sectional surrounds a large TV, and we gather close, right in front of the screen. Pen sits while doing and undoing a braid. Nat stares at the screen with a focused face. The Strike is currently winning, but there's a lot of time left.

"Grumbling because of the morale?" I sip from my drink.

Saint didn't grumble while saying goodbye, but he hugged me and spoke to my ear instead.

I wish you could be there.

That's what he said. While holding me close by his door, right before he went to the Thunderdome in time for curfew, and I attempted to work at what's left of my catering business for a few hours.

It was hard to concentrate. Competing feelings clashed and warred inside. Warmth, because everything Saint and I have done in the past couple of weeks has settled in my heart with feelings of candles, blankets, and my favorite tea. Anxiety, because I was meant to stop myself from feeling these things at all.