Him & I

Talk To Me

In any kind of conversation
Whether you're happy or mad
I kinda like it when we argue
Just to hear you talkin' back
I love it when you talk to me, talk to me, talk to me

-----Talk to Me, Seaforth

January 31, 2019

Grayson wasn't unaccustomed to getting home in the middle of the night. It had happened often enough in college. And it was a regular occurrence now.

They'd gotten killed by Portland, but he'd finally gotten to play some actual minutes. Of course, he'd gotten called for a flagrant one within a minute of entering the game. As soon as he'd gotten in the locker room, he'd seen the text from Cait telling him to stay off Twitter.

But he played 17 minutes, scoring 10 points.  And had shot 40% from deep.  He'd actually felt okay about it, but gathered that the Jazz beat writers had fired off their typical crappy tweets all but blaming him for losing the game. Never mind that he hadn't checked in until the third quarter.

He entered the quiet condo and dropped his bag, just breathing a sigh of relief.  It was good to be home.  And, hopefully, he was home for like ten days.  That was honestly the longest stretch he could remember right now.

It was especially good to come home and know that the one person he most wanted to see was there waiting for him.  Even if she was asleep, she was still there. After everything that they'd been through in the twenty five months of their relationship, she was still here waiting for him to come home.  And that wouldn't change. Not because of flagrant fouls or idiotic tweets.

This NBA stuff was more difficult than he'd ever imagined.  He'd known that he would need to work hard.  Harder than he'd ever worked before.  He'd known that it would be time consuming.  And that his life would, in large part not be his own for most of the season.  He hadn't totally appreciated how that would feel, but he was dealing with it.  It was frustrating at times, but he realized that he had no control over it.  Just like he had no control over whether he played or not.  Or whether he was traded or not.

So he made his way to the bedroom, slid out of his clothes and gratefully wrapped his arms around the woman in the bed. She snuggled close to him, nuzzled her head onto his shoulder and sleepily kissed his cheek.

"Love you," she mumbled.

"Love you too, Kitten," he whispered.

*****

Grayson had film and a walk through, so Cait found time to get things ready for Will and Sherry's visit. She'd timed her meeting with the Salt Lake City 2030 committee so that she could pick them up from the airport when it was over.

Now she just had to actually tell Grayson about the meeting. If it weren't for the game the night before, the looming trade deadline and the rumors that continued to swirl, she wouldn't have been at all concerned about this conversation.  But Grayson had been tense and she knew the reasons.

She started by making pasta for dinner. Grayson loved pasta and the carbs would keep him calm. She hoped so anyhow.  Once she got that underway, she also started something else.

*****

Grayson arrived home to a plethora of smells.  But the one he immediately identified was Cait's low fat, low sugar banana bread.  One of his favorite treats during the season. 

It wasn't only his favorite.  His dad loved that banana bread too, so Grayson suspected that it wasn't just for him.  But he'd gladly share the results of Cait's afternoon in the kitchen when his parents arrived the next day.