Stars Align

Be Nice.

Dani~

"He's going to act like he doesn't like you, but he does, I promise," I tell Christian as I lead us into the fieldhouse.

"You sound very confident about that."

"Just trust me."

I turn on the lights that shine on the court and push the two carts filled with balls out onto the court.

I set my stuff down as he looks around the fieldhouse. "Is your number retired?" he asks as I put my shoes on.

"Yeah. Along with Mikayla's and some of the other girls that play internationally that came through the program and stayed with the program."

I put my hair up before going over to stand next to him. "What are those?" he asks pointing up to the rafters at the flags.

"Our NCAA tournament accomplishments."

"So cool."

I quickly kiss him. "Dani, get warmed up!" my coach yells as he walks through the tunnel.

Here we go. I walk toward my coach, "I saw that. Get warmed up."

"Okay. Be nice to him please."

"Who says I'm not nice?"

"I didn't say that," I say as I walk away from him after grabbing a cart and pushing it behind the service line. I stretch out my arms and legs before going into serving.

I don't pay attention to them as they talk on the side of the court. "Four, Dani!" he yells as I'm in the middle of the serve.

That ball is not going to land there. That's on him for yelling in the middle of my serve. I look over at them as the ball lands in zone five. "Maybe don't yell when I'm in the middle of my serve."

"Maybe don't miss your spot when I tell you where to be," he says back to me.

I had that one coming. I keep serving the rest of the balls over, trying to not pay attention to the two guys talking.

Christian~

"Boyfriend?" Dani's coach asks me as he walks up to me.

"That would be me."

He holds his hand out. "Coach Kelly Sheffield," he says.

I shake his hand, "Christian Yelich."

"I know who you are." I'm an intimidated.

He turns away from me, "Four, Dani!" he says in the middle of her serve. She will not be happy.

She turns to us, "Maybe don't yell when I'm in the middle of my serve."

"Maybe don't miss your spot when I tell you where to be."

I can tell she's trying not to laugh as she turns away from us. "What happened to the team this year?" he asks as we watch her.

"I wish I could give you an answer. We were doing really well and then it just stopped."

"My daughters are in softball and love going to games. Of course, I make it when I can, but my wife usually takes them."

I nod. "She's come a long way," he tells me, "When she went down in April, I wasn't sure we'd get her back so soon. Now, it's looking like she'll be back for our first match. And I think a lot of that has to do with you. So, thank you. I promise I'm hard on all the boyfriends I meet, so it's not just you."

"She needed help and I happened to be close. She didn't want help. I saw her in some of her darkest days and I wasn't going to not help when she needed it. From first-hand experience, I can tell you that she hated being back in Milwaukee. I enjoyed it just because we got closer, but she didn't like it at first."