Part six of six! Enjoy.
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Chapter 25: Seven Years
"Come on, man, four more. Then I'll let you take that ice bath."
"That's not really motivation, Golding."
Sarah laughed, "Yeah well, you'll do it anyway because you want to pitch this spring."
She was lunging on the floor of the training room, spotting her latest charge, the number one pitcher for the Astros who was working through some lower back spasms. The facilities for pro sports teams still astounded her and she went to work every day in awe that she had made the cut to work in one. Right out of graduate school, she had applied to every major league team in the country. Houston was the only one to call her back. She went happily and loved her work.
"Alright, you're good. Hit the bath. And don't overdo it in practice tomorrow! I'll know if you do."
"Yes, ma'am." They shook hands.
Sarah had found during her internships that bonding with fellow athletes was easy. She established good relationships with her clients working through sports injuries. They respected her medical opinion and her softball background. Working with baseball players was especially rewarding, but really, she was just happy to be around people who took their recovery so seriously. For athletes, recovery was business.
After logging her notes on her last patient of the day, Sarah hopped in her Jeep to head home. She stopped for take-out on the way. The warm weather and mild breeze was pleasant. She still found herself surprised by the subtropical climate, it being so different from where she grew up. Not that this was better, in fact, if she was honest, Sarah preferred the varied climate and the snow.
As she put the take-out containers in her car, the bluetooth connected to her phone rang through the Jeep's speakers. Carly's icon popped up, a picture of her in her wedding dress and Sarah in her bridesmaid's dress. That was the last time Sarah had long hair and probably the last time she wore a dress. Sarah wore her hair shorter now, an undercut with the longer top bleached a brighter blonde than her natural dark blonde roots, though when she wasn't working, this was often obscured by a baseball cap.
"Hi Carly!"
"Sarah! How's everything in Houston?"
"Gorgeous, better than Boston," she teased.
"No, it's not," Carly laughed, "But I'm glad you still like it. Are you coming our way anytime soon? I don't know how much you travel with the team."
"Uh, sometimes, I'm still the low-man on the totem pole, so I go when no one else wants to. I was thinking of making a trip before the season starts, right after spring training."
"That would be great!" Carly's classic squeal was a bit calmer now, but still rang out in Sarah's car enough to make her flinch. "Will you bring Jen too?"
"If she can get the time off, yes." Sarah's girlfriend, Jen, was a lawyer at a major firm in Houston. They met at a charity gala where they'd been two of the youngest women in the room not hanging on the arm of some wrinkly millionaire. Jen was smart, driven, and hot. They'd hit it off and moved in together after just four months of dating.
"Great, I think you'll like the spring here. Campus is beautiful. I'll make sure David gets some time off so we can do something fun. Oh and Finn will be walking by then!"
"That kid is still crawling? Tell him Aunt Sarah's got some exercises for him to do!"
Carly laughed, "I will. I miss you, Sar."
"Miss you too."
"I'll text you tomorrow, I've got to get some stuff done while the monster sleeps. I really just wanted to see if you were coming to our time zone soon."
"Sounds good, yeah, I'll see you soon, Carly. I'll look at some dates and email you guys."
"Bye, hon!"
"Bye!"
Sarah smiled, it would be good to see Carly and David and little Finn again. It had been months since she went to meet the baby after he was born. Boston really suited them well. Carly taught first grade and David was a professor at MIT. They joked about how their students were essentially the same: moody, needed naps, and couldn't stop touching each other.
Jen's car was in the driveway when she got home. They were renting a small, two bedroom house in a busy neighborhood outside of the city. Sarah loved the space, but the yard was a pain with their schedules. She noticed again that the hedges out front needed more trimming.
Grabbing the take-out and opening the front door, she announced her arrival, "I'm home! And I bring sustenance!"
There was a responding "whoop" from the second bedroom. That meant Jen was still working. The second bedroom was for guests, technically, but was mostly her office.
"Give me ten minutes!" came her reply. Sarah filled a plate with food and plopped onto the couch. Twenty minutes later, Jen emerged, phone still in hand answering a few emails. She gave Sarah a peck on the cheek and went to grab a plate from the kitchen.
"I'd ask you how work was, but it looks like you're still at it," Sarah commented when Jen finally sat down.
"Sorry, babe. I'll put it away. Just trying to get all the documents from this client in one location. They are a bit of a scatter brain." Jen smiled and thanked Sarah for the dinner.
They sat in comfortable silence, watching some TV and eating as they both decompressed from their busy jobs. It was hard to remember sometimes what it felt like to just do nothing together. When they first started dating, they had to squeeze in time together in their calendars. That's probably why it took them four months to decide to move in when most of their acquaintances were u-hauling after a few weeks. But, happily, they found neither resented the other's crazy schedule, and Sarah admitted it was nice having someone to fall into bed with at the end of a long day.
"So I talked to Carly today. She invited us to come up."
Jen flicked her short brown hair out of her eyes, "When?"
