“Yeah, she had to stand in last minute.”
“Well then I’m sure you’re in good hands.”
It was all Cat could do to keep from one, choking on her tongue and two, bursting out laughing. “I’m fine Mom. We’re having a great time.”
“When are you coming home for a visit?”
“In a couple weeks I hope. I should have a break when I can slip in for a day or two. Listen I need to go, give dad and the heathens my love.”
“Love you Catherine, be good.”
“Love you too Mom. Bye.”
Cat hung up the phone and slowly turned to Dylan. “We’ll she said she’s sure I’m in good hands with you.”
“Truer words were never spoken.”
“And she told me to be good.”
“So much for my plans for the rest of the evening.”
“Now wait just a minute. I can still be,” she paused and flashed a seductive smile. “Good. She did not define what kind of good.”
“Oh I like the way you think.”
Cat was lying in Dylan’s arms, absolutely, completely, and totally satisfied. She was right on the verge of slipping into a very content sleep when she
realized that Dylan wasn’t relaxing the way she had hoped.
“What’s wrong?”
“Huh? Oh nothing, just thinking.”
“About tomorrow?”
“Yeah.”
“Nervous?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
Cat rose up and looked at her lover. “You don’t think so? What kind of answer is that? Come on, it’s me. Be honest.”
“It’s not so much that I’m nervous nervous. I’m just hoping that my knee will hold and I won’t dump myself on my ass in front of ten thousand people.”
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“No, definitely not that, though I’ll admit to wondering if I’ll come off as rusty as I feel.”
“This from the woman who runs us ragged during practice?”
Dylan chuckled, pulling the blonde back down and kissing the top of her head. “Big difference between running you losers ragged and stepping back out on
the court in front of ten thousand screaming maniacs.”
“Then just pretend you’re running your losers ragged. Is there anything I can do to help? You know I’ve got your back on this or I wouldn’t have asked you to
play with me.”
“You’ve got a lot of faith.”
“You know it. You are the best female basketball player I have ever seen. Let alone had the privilege to work with. You are the best. I hope at the end of my
career, I can say I was half as good as you. We are going to go out there tomorrow and kick their ever loving butts.”
“Oh man you are so good for my ego.”
“That’s nice to know, but that has nothing to do with it, Dylan. You are so talented and such a wonderful person I don’t know how you can even be
sweating this.”
Dylan sighed, then shook off the momentary blues. “Just chalk it up to pre-game jitters.”
“You?!?”
“I am human, Cat,” Dylan replied, laughing softly. “Even the Goddess has been known to blow her breakfast before a really big game.”
“You know, that’s not exactly the image I want to have of my hero,” Cat teased.
“And you, Ms Nerves of Steel, never once were anything but cool as a cucumber before a championship game.”
“Well…”
“Thought so.”
This brought a grin to Cat’s lips as she rubbed her hand over Dylan’s stomach. “So are you sleepy?”
“With that hand roaming around like that, are you crazy?”
“Probably a little. I mean this is kinda crazy isn’t it. It could ruin us both.”
“It won’t. We won’t let it.” Dylan rolled over and smiled down at her lover. “I promise.”
No further words needed to be said.
*******
The morning had dawned clear and bright, and Kimberly McKessin was about as high as it was possible to get without benefit of illegal substances.
Chosen as one of the top ten fund raisers for this year’s charity games, Kimberly had drawn the Badgers out of a hat and had been quite content with the
selection. Others had laughed at the stocky young woman, betting that she’d play all of one game before getting knocked out of the tournament by any one
of the “better” teams participating.
And then they had announced Chaney’s injury.
And her replacement.
And the laughing stock had, overnight, become the envy of the neighborhood. Oh, the offers they’d tried to tempt her with when they’d learned; offers that
made the shy young woman blush, then redden with a different sort of emotion when she heard them whispering behind their hands that she’d somehow
known, that she’d rigged a game she wasn’t even sure she wanted to participate in. She’d held her tongue, though, as was her wont, and faced her
tormenters with a serene smile that made them question her mental acuity.
Inside, though, was a different story. Inside, she was screaming and laughing and dancing a jig to shame the most devout Irish lad. Not only was she being
given the chance to play beside her favorite active player, Catherine Hodges, but now…The Goddess. She’d pinched herself several times since the
announcement, and her bruises were the proof that she wasn’t dreaming.
And now, finally, was the day of reckoning. The day she would finally get to live out her dreams.
She looked down at her belly as it made an ominous rumbling noise. Her face paled, and with a mumbled “shit!”, she turned and ran for the bathroom,
slamming the door behind her.
