Page 81 of Clear Shot

She’s good for me.

And I want to be good for her.

“These,” she says as we stand in front of a huge wall of towels at a local department store. She plucks a thick white towel off the shelf and squeezes it, pressing it against her face. “Yup. We need some of these.”

“How many?” I ask. “And what colors?”

“I don’t know. How do you feel about shades of green for our bathroom?”

“I don’t care.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I. I don’t care as long as the entire house isn’t pink. And if that was super important to you, we’d find a compromise.”

She smiles and when she does, it lights up her whole face.

She’s so pretty I can’t resist stealing a kiss.

“I think six,” she says, turning back to the shelf. “Four in this sage green and two white.”

“Okay.” I let her hand me the thick, fluffy bath towels as she searches for the matching hand towels and wash cloths. As she’s doing her thing, I spot something interesting on a shelf. It’s a bathmat made from diatomaceous earth stone and is supposedly non-slip, fast drying, and antimicrobial. Whatever that means.

“Hey, look at this,” I tell her. “We should get these for all the bathrooms. They seem better than just putting a fabric towel or rug down.”

She studies them for a few minutes, reads everything, and then nods. “Let’s get three.” Then she’s off, looking at rugs and waste baskets.

Nearly a thousand dollars later, we have more than we can carry and I leave her at the entrance while I go get the SUV. We pack everything in the back and she slides into the passenger seat with another huge smile.

“That was fun,” she gushes. “I’m sure you hated it but?—”

“I don’t hate anything when I’m with you,” I interrupt quietly.

Her eyes fly to mine, and right before I put the car in drive, she leans over and crushes her mouth to my lips. I kiss her back with as much passion as I can muster up here in the parking lot of the mall.

“I don’t hate anything when I’m with you either,” she says.

“Where should we go for dinner?” I ask after a long moment of staring into each other’s eyes.

“Let’s go to Cicero’s,” she says. “They’ve been so generous with their time and money, let’s go spend a little on them.”

“Sounds good. I love the food there.”

I turn toward the pizzeria and pull into the parking lot ten minutes later.

“Looks busy tonight,” I say.

“Good.” She gets out and we walk into the restaurant hand-in-hand.

“Hey, guys!” Jordan is sitting there with Felix and a couple of the rookies.

“Join us!” Felix calls.

I shake my head. “Sorry, fellas—it’s date night.”

They all start to boo and I just laugh. I love my teammates, but tonight is about my wife. I can spend a full week with them on the next road trip, so she’s my priority while I’m home.

We settle into a booth by the window, and the waitress brings us a basket of their garlic rolls. It’s a favorite of mine but the minute she puts it down Hana makes a face.