Chapter 11

Jensen

Hell, yes, I wanted to chat.

I didn’t have a lot of time, though. I was at my hotel in Anchorage, and we would be heading to the arena in about an hour. I was supposed to be napping, but I was totally down for a phone conversation.

@Phantom: I’d love to talk. Do you want to exchange numbers or would you feel safer using our Realm Crusaders accounts? The Wi-Fi here isn’t good enough to actually play on my laptop, but I could probably get into the chat and use the voice feature.

We normally didn’t do that because too many voices at once got confusing, but the two of us could manage it while still maintaining a modicum of privacy since the chats were internal and personal information was kept hidden unless you chose to share it.

@Empress: Sure. Let me go get my laptop.

It took a couple of minutes, but we were finally connected, and I had to admit I was excited to hear her voice.

“Hello? Jensen? Can you hear me?” Her voice was soft and feminine, but also a little husky, just as I’d imagined it.

“Hey, Bailey. I hear you just fine.”

“Well. Hi .”

“Hi.”

Why was this both awkward and comfortable? Like we’d done this before but the for the first time. It made no sense.

None of this did.

Yet I was here for it.

“So, how are you?” she asked after a moment.

I hesitated but figured, what the hell.

“I’m good, but tell me about the book you sold,” I responded. “That has to exciting!”

“It is and it isn’t. I really don’t want to make promotional appearances and such.”

“Is it mandatory?”

“I don’t think so, but my agent sounded frustrated when I told her to tell them I wouldn’t do it.”

“If it doesn’t impact the sale, why aren’t you happy?”

“It doesn’t impact the sale but… it’s complicated.”

“Most things that are financially beneficial usually are.”

“That’s for sure.”

“Listen, I have about an hour to talk, then I have to go to a work event. Just wanted to let you know up front.”

“No problem at all. Just let me know when you have to go.”

“Great. Can you tell me what the book’s about? Is this the one you were talking about a few weeks ago?”

“Uh, no, actually. I wrote this… right after my car accident. I sent it to my agent and she said she thought it would be a hard sell. So I forgot about it and moved on. And then today she told me she got the green light.”

“I’m really happy for you. Are you an author?”

“I… yes. Kind of. That’s complicated too.”

I hesitated.

I didn’t want to push her on our first phone conversation, but at the same time, what were we doing if we weren’t going to get to know each other better?

“Look, I understand you wanting to be safe—I feel the same way—but we’re going to need to open up a little if we’re going to do this.”

“Agreed, but what are we doing?” she asked quietly. “I mean, are you planning to ask me out? Is that where this is going?”

“Well, yeah. What else would the goal be? If I just wanted an online friend, we could stick to the status quo and not bother with any of this.”

She sighed so softly I almost missed it, but there was no doubt she was conflicted. Whether it was about me specifically, the idea of meeting someone on the internet, or something else, it was impossible to know.

“This doesn’t have to be hard,” I said gently. “Let’s go slow and talk. I don’t get back to L.A. for four more days. In the meantime, tell me something about you that I don’t know. Something personal but it doesn’t have to be anything that might make you uncomfortable.”

“Should we go big or small? Like, my favorite food or something a bit more juicy?”

“First one should be small.”

“My favorite food is ice cream. Not even kidding. I could eat it three times a day. I don’t, but I could. And my favorite flavor is Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.”

I chuckled. “My favorite flavor is Americone Dream, although I don’t know if I could eat it three times a day.”

“Amateur.”

I laughed.

“That was too easy,” I said playfully. “For round two, let’s go with something a bit more intense.”

She was quiet for a moment and when she started to speak again, her voice was flat, as if saying the words was difficult for her.

“I was in a car accident three years ago that left me partially disabled. I shattered my right hip and pelvis. My hip had to be rebuilt and I was in rehab for months learning to walk again. I walk with a limp now and the right side of my body, from just below my waist almost down to my right knee is badly scarred.”

“Jesus, Bailey.” Now I felt like a jerk. “That must have been so painful. I’m really sorry that happened to you.”

“I guess I just want you to know that the brief glimpse you saw of me at the restaurant that night… it’s not an accurate picture. I mean, yes, that’s my face and everything, but the rest of me is broken. I’m not sure what you’re expecting, but I don’t have a lot to offer a guy like you.”

“A guy like me?” I wasn’t sure what she meant.

“Come on. I saw you. Tall, good-looking, you travel a lot for work so you must have a decent job… I’m sure you have girls crawling out of the woodwork. And I’m a recluse with mild PTSD from the accident who hasn’t been out on a date in three years.”

This was a lot of information, but nothing she’d said so far was a deterrent.

In fact, I was more intrigued than ever.

I’d already liked her.

I already knew she was beautiful.

The fact that she had scars and a limp sounded like a woman in desperate need of a guy like me.

Maybe I was a romantic fool, but I suddenly wanted to know everything about her.

“If you’re trying to scare me off, it’s not working,” I said.

“Good to know.” Her chuckle was laced with humor. “Okay, well, your turn to try to scare me off.”

“Let’s see. My mom came to L.A. to try to find me a girlfriend. She was up in Oakland visiting my oldest brother last fall, and wham! Somehow, by the time she left, he’d met someone and now they’re serious. Her next stop was to visit my brother who lives in Portland. He’s a divorced single dad of twin boys, and now he’s in love.”

“And now she’s visiting you?” Her voice sounded funny, almost as if she were choking. Then she burst out laughing. “Oh my god, you’re next!”

“Laugh it up—she was with me at the restaurant, and she knows the whole story. She’s been encouraging me to make my move since that night.”

“Seriously?”

“Oh yeah. Hell, she’s the reason I reached out to you at all. I was afraid it would freak you out, so I was hesitant, and it turns out I was right.”

“Yeah, but I’m okay now. I had to think about it. And make sure my computer hadn’t been hacked. You did tell me you have a degree in computer science, right?”

“I did,” I agreed. “But I would never do that!”

“I had to be sure.”

“Totally understandable.”

“Did you leave your mom in L.A. while you were on the road?”

“I…” Crap. This was hard. But she’d opened up to me about her accident. I probably needed to be a little more forthcoming about who I was. Except I was fairly certain I was the only professional athlete in Los Angeles whose first name was Jensen. So, it wouldn’t take much in the way of detective skills for her to figure out my full name and what I did for a living.

“You…?” She prompted.

“She’s still there,” I said at last.

I wasn’t ready to come completely clean.

Not yet.

We needed an in-person meeting first.

I had to look in her eyes again to see who she was.

It sounded overly simplistic, but I could tell a lot about a woman from her eyes. That was why I’d been so taken from the look we’d shared at the restaurant. There was something there, and I couldn’t walk away from this until I figured out what it was.

“You planning on bringing her with us if I decide to go out on a date with you?” Her question brought me out of my reverie.

“If it makes you more comfortable, sure. In fact, I was thinking you should probably bring someone too. Like your friend Manny and his wife. Or whoever you want. I’d bring my mom, and it could be a nice, casual dinner with a small group. If we don’t hit it off, no harm, no foul. If we do, we’ll be with people who care about us, so they’ll possibly give us a bit of privacy. Well, maybe.”

“That’s a good idea,” she said. “And it takes the pressure off both of us.”

“Exactly.”

“When do we want to do this?”

“Well, I get back to L.A. in four days. I have work the next day, but I should be free in the evening.”

“We’re talking about Wednesday?”

“Yes.”

“Papaya’s at seven?”

“Sure.”

“Then… I guess it’s a date.”

“I’m going to talk to you before then, right?”

“If you want to.”

“I do.”

“I’ll be around. Like I told you, I don’t go out much.”

“But you’ll go out for me?”

“Yes.”

That made me grin, even though she couldn’t see it.

“I’m looking forward to it,” I said sincerely. “Both the date and more conversation.”

“Same.”

“We’ll talk soon, Bailey.”

“Good night, Jensen.”

I disconnected and closed my laptop.

We were going out on a date.

With my mom and her friends.

It was like middle school all over again with chaperones.

And for some reason, I was totally okay with it.

I had to tell my sister, Annie.

She would get a kick out of this.