Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
COLTON
OCTOBER | IN THE AIR
“Cap. Hellooooo, Cap?”
I held up a finger. “One second.”
“He’s too busy reading his pornography,” Royce said.
“Who could blame him? It can be enthralling,” Sorrento mused.
My eyes scanned through the rest of the page, my finger tracing the sections I wanted to highlight.
I’d graduated to an e-reader after the first everybody-comment-on-what-Colton’s-reading debacle.
Plus, the thing could hold so many books!
And I could just buy them without making time to go to a bookstore? Wild.
But like, support your local bookseller too.
I planned to as soon as I was back in Columbus, with Violet by my side. I had to pinch myself. Violet was back in my life.
I was on my third book of the week, racing to get plenty of material for Violet to read and choose from. Did they still give out pizzas for reading books? I would’ve had so many pizzas.
It was the most I’d ever read in my life—outside of those few years I went to an Ivy League and had to actually act like it.
I got to the end of my chapter, stuck the e-reader in the seat pocket in front of me, and sat back with a sigh. “Okay. What?”
Dylan Sorrento flashed me a wide, white grin, his knocked-out tooth making his otherwise model looks, well, not model-like. “Jeanine and I would like to invite you, and everyone else, over for dinner two nights before our first home game.”
“Oh. Cool.” Mentally, I’d already cleared my schedule for Violet every night into perpetuity, just in case. In case of what? In case she’d want to hang out every night and sleep in my bed.
Which reminded me, she’s sensitive to scented laundry detergent. After she bailed on me for a second time, I went back to using it as an act of rebellion, and probably to make myself miserable.
Well, now I’d be burning my sheets, getting all new ones, and washing them in Violet-safe detergent.
Did I need to get a new washer? A new mattress? Better order one just in case. I opened a browser tab.
“That’s it?” Sorrento asked. “Cool?”
I huffed and gestured to my phone in my hand. “I thought of something I had to look up.”
“Like what you could bring to my party?” His grin had turned to more of a grimace.
I put my phone facedown on my tray table. “Yes, Dylan. What can I bring to your party?”
“Nothing, but yourself and whatever girl has you tied up in knots.”
“Got his dick tied in knots,” Jack Leroy grumbled.
“Is that why he’s being so spacey?” Royce asked.
“Easy, now. The man’s in love,” Dylan pouted. “I remember young love.”
“Not quite young love at this point. They say third time’s the charm,” I said.
“You’ve dated this girl twice already?” Leroy asked.
Royce put a finger up. “Wait, how have you dated your eighteen-year-old girlfriend twice?”
“She’s not eighteen!” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “We dated when we were both in college, hooked up at a wedding, and now we’re . . . not even dating. We’re just friends.”
Sorrento rolled his eyes. “Fine. Bring your,” he made air quotes, “‘friend.’”
Royce smirked. “The one with the hot mom? You never showed me a pic.” He swiped my phone out of my hand.
“Gimme that, you fucking animal.” I snatched my phone back. “What’s the matter with you?”
Royce shrugged. “I just feel like it’s the captain’s duty to make sure everyone has someone nice to go home to. So you need to hook me up with somebody. You know the phrase. ‘Happy goalie, happy life.’”
“That is not—” Owen started, but the poor thing couldn’t even get his whole sentence out.
“Shut up, rookie.”
“No, but really, that’s not your job,” Sorrento followed up. “Get a dog, Royce.”
“Are you calling Colt’s girl’s mom a dog?” Royce said, barely able to say it before he started cackling.
I massaged my temples. “You know what? Maybe I don’t want to bring Violet.”
“No, no, bring her,” Leroy said, sounding like he actually cared.
I snapped my head over to him, shocked by the rare show of interest in another human. “Really?”
Leroy scoffed. “You think I care whether you bring her? I’m recruiting friends for Mara.”
“Thank god,” I said. “I thought you were getting sick.”
I turned my attention to my phone.
COLTON
hey, my friend’s throwing an end of summer barbecue. wanna come with me?
as my friend :)
VIOLET
sure. when?
COLTON
next wednesday
VIOLET
we might have our IRB results then :(
if they don’t approve, i’ll be slammed with trying to fix the study
COLTON
damn internal revenue bervice strikes again
VIOLET
hopefully we’ll have everything together by then. can i give you a tentative yes?
COLTON
tentacle? i didn’t know you worked with octopussies
VIOLET
i don’t, but there are books to that effect
COLTON
let me add that to our reading list