Page 57 of Platinum Pressure
She sniffed them both and smiled as she held out the bottle of her choice for me to take. “Buy a couple of bottles of this one and put them in the locker room. Come home to me smelling like this, and we can avoid any further mishaps.”
I chuckled. “I won’t use the one in the locker room ever again. I felt bad seeing you bolt out of the room like that. I didn’t even know your nose was that sensitive.”
“Me either . . .” She scratched the back of her head while she looked away.
After I removed my clothes, I made sure everything I wore went directly into the laundry basket, then stepped into the shower.
Dow started up another conversation. “How did today go for you? Was it better than you expected?”
“Man, bae. Today was perfect. Everyone was excited to see me. I felt bad icing them out of my recovery process once I saw all the genuine care around me.”
“Aww! What did your coaches say? I know Seddrick and the medical team kept them updated as best as they could, but how did it go speaking to them personally?”
“I ain’t gon’ lie. My heart was in my ass when Coach called me to his office, and I saw the GM on a video call. Shit was smooth, though. They want to monitor my progress in real time. It’ll be a day-by-day basis until I’m fully back on the active player roster.”
“Yay! I’m so glad you got good news today. We should celebrate.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“It’s not about what I want to do. It’s about what you want to do. We’re celebrating you.”
“I want to lie on the couch, eat some chicken wings, and enjoy the evening with my lady.”
Even though the steam from the shower interfered with my view of Meadow, I could hear the happiness in her tone as she replied, “I’d like that a lot. I’ll order the wings. How many do you think you can eat?”
“I could take down twenty flats, a large fry, and a slushy without an issue.”
“I’ll get a thirty piece. What flavors?”
“Half hot honey and half lemon pepper. Cajun seasoning on the fries.”
“My mouth watered.”
Meadow was genuinely the funniest woman I’d ever met. Some women thought they were funny, but Dow naturally had me cracking up at her effortless comedic timing.
After my shower, I wrapped a towel around my waist and closed the distance between us. I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers. The kiss was passionate, sensual, and healing. Meadow was my best friend and confidant. She was my biggest supporter and motivator. It was like no matter what happened in the day, I knew I could come home to my lady, and she’d be the perfect balance.
Just as I requested, my night ended with our bellies full of wings, a movie on the TV, and my head resting in Meadow’s lap. She rubbed her fingers through my beard as I slowly welcomed sleep.
Life couldn’t get any better than this.
“Whatever it says, I will be okay. We will be okay.”
My feet moved on autopilot after I set the stick on a pillow of folded paper towels. With shaky hands, I set a timer. The stick would reveal the results of the test shortly, but I already knew what it would say. As a nurse, I studied the female anatomy for many years to have signs and symptoms memorized.
I was in denial.
The first inkling that maybe I should come down off cloud nine and weigh in on my reality came when Porter got home from training the other day, and the scent on his body repulsed me. I used to love every scent he wore, but that one did something horrible to my nose.
Sensitivity to smell was a common symptom.
Because I wanted to celebrate him, I pushed all thoughts of potential pregnancy to the back of my mind until he went back to training today. I went to the store and bought the cheap tests. I didn’t need a fancy test because they all worked the same.
Today, I had all the time in the world to mull over everything I’d felt over the last few months.
Fatigue was another common symptom.
I assumed I was tired all the time because of the amount of stress in my daily life. Between making sure Porter was keeping up with his recovery to getting my practice up and running, I was exhausted and overstimulated often.
