Love on the Line (Beaumont Legacy #2)

34. Maya

Chapter thirty-four

Maya

T he next day, Maya had physical therapy, two lessons, and a couple of hours of coaching with On the Line, so by the time she got back to the house, she was beat. Cooper had fallen asleep eating dinner the night before—something that made her both laugh and worry for him—so he hadn’t called, but he’d promised to make it up to her in their video call this evening.

Maya showered quickly before eating some leftovers. She worked through emails as she ate, one from a tax attorney Devi had put her in touch with, a few from local coaches interested in helping with the charity, and an even larger number from families eager to get their children enrolled.

It was while Maya was finishing up the last of the tax paperwork that Cooper finally video called, right as the rays of sunshine in the backyard cast long shadows on the grass. She answered on the second ring, needing to hear his voice and see his face.

“Hi, sweetheart.” Half the tension in her body melted away at his words.

“Hi, cowboy.” Maya set the phone up against her water bottle so he could see her.

Cooper chuckled, and she saw his ceiling as he moved about. He looked tired, probably just getting home from a long day of camp, his body aching like it had been the past week. He’d told her June was the hardest month because his body got used to not practicing as much during offseason.

He lay down on his bed, an arm behind his head as he looked up at her. “I missed you all day. So much. Practice was a nightmare because I couldn’t stop thinking about how badly I want to make pancakes with you in the mornings and drive you to get your disgusting ice cream with gummy bears every evening.”

Maya huffed a laugh, saving her work and closing her laptop so she could focus all her attention on him. “Rude. And I could never eat ice cream every evening.”

“Fine, just on the nights you want a sweet treat, then.”

Cooper was too sweet for his own good, and Maya wished she could have him often enough that they could do all he said and more.

But that wasn’t in the cards for them right now.

Maya smiled sadly .

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Just miss you. And I worry I’m going to be doing a lot of that here for the foreseeable future.”

“Yeah…” he answered, like he’d also been wrestling with the thought of that.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know what to say, sunflower. I haven’t come up with a solution that you’ll accept yet, so right now, I have to be okay with the little I can see you. Because having you at all, even if it’s mostly through video calls and texts, is better than not. I’d take a million days of only video calls if it meant I got to keep being with you.”

Maya’s eyes watered at the confession. “Coop,” she groaned. “I feel the same way, but that’s not sustainable.”

“We’ll figure it out. I know it’s hard now, but…”

“It’s only going to get worse. Once preseason really hits, we’ll only get to see each other when I have time to travel to games.”

“I can come every once in a while too.”

Maya felt the well of her emotions open, and she fell right in, spiraling down.

Broadly speaking, their two options for staying together were for him to allow her into his space or for him to move his entire life for her, neither of which she felt comfortable with.

Maya wanted this to work out so badly, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that it might not.

And if not, she’d have to be okay leaning on the community she’d built up in Los Angeles. Maybe she wouldn’t be completely fine, but she’d get there.

The thought brought fresh tears to her eyes, and at her first sniffle, Cooper ran a hand through his hair, eyebrows pinched in concern.

“Sunflower, please don’t cry. Please. I don’t want this to be a sad call. I can see you’re in your head. Let me help. Talk to me.”

Maya swiped at her face for the second time today, sighing. “Why do you call me that?” She pushed her thumbs over her closed eyes to stop the tears.

“Sunflower?”

Maya nodded.

“Because you brighten up everything around you. You’re brilliant and beautiful, and you have this air about you that just…lights up the world. And when I found you again here all those months ago, even with the grief of your injury, you immediately brightened up my sad, bleak, and boring life. You’ve made every single day since so much better.”

“Oh, I—” Maya tried to respond but only managed a squeak as another tear fell down her face. “Sorry,” she breathed. “I don’t know why I’m so emotional. I think I’m just uncertain about the future.”

His words gave her hope. Maya knew she’d probably spend the rest of her life wondering if he was getting tired of her, getting ready to leave, but at least she knew where he stood now. As long as she did all she could to prevent his wanting to leave, like being sure she paid him back for all he’d done for the charity, maybe they stood a better chance.

Maybe things with Cooper really could be different. Even if they had to be different across the country.

“How can I make the future feel more certain to you? What if we get matching tattoos? I’ll get a giant M across my face and you can get a C on your left butt cheek since that one’s my favorite.”

Maya let out a watery chuckle, and Cooper laughed alongside her. She wiped away the remainder of the tears, sucking in a breath. Damn if he didn’t always know how to make her feel better. “I want you. Ideally beside me, but in whatever form I can get.”

Cooper’s smile was wide and bright, and she wished she could kiss it.

After a few seconds of staring at each other with big grins, he asked, “Are the reporters still outside?”

“Let me check.” Maya walked to look out the curtained windows to the front yard and sidewalk, where there were indeed a couple of reporters.

“Yeah,” she called, walking back to the dining room. “One of them asked me if I have the job with On the Line because we’re together.”

His expression changed lightning fast, eyes angry, jaw tight. “Describe them. ”

Maya cocked her head but answered, “Shoulder-length dark hair, kind of pale, and—”

“Kind of thin and spindly?”

Maya nodded.

“Yeah, I know the one.” His words were harsher than she was used to, though she knew they weren’t directed at her.

“I’ll be okay. They don’t bother me when I’m in the house. I only went for a walk because I thought they’d left, but now I know better.”

Cooper’s face relaxed, marginally. “You know all those things they’re saying aren’t true, right?” He said it so quietly, she almost missed it. “You are so special to me, if I haven’t made that abundantly clear, sunflower. You could never ever be a notch on my bedpost.”

Maya had known that. She’d known it the minute she’d seen the article on her screen, only a split second of fear before she’d known how wrong it was.

Still, his reassurance was soothing,

“I know. You’ve never made me feel otherwise. I know it’s different with us.” She paused, realizing how he must be taking the news as well. Cooper had been trying so hard to change the narrative around him.

How did he feel?

“You know all those things they’re saying about you aren’t true, right?” she asked him the same question he’d asked her. “Who cares what any of those people think? The only people who matter are the people who care about you, and all of us know you’re not like that. Don’t let their boredom-induced speculation tear you down, cowboy.”

Cooper’s lips twitched, and she knew she’d done well. “Let’s talk about something that isn’t depressing before we sleep. Or are you planning to stay up longer?” he asked.

“God, no. I’m exhausted. I was just passing the time until you called so I could hear your voice.”

They did their nightly routine together, him asking her to double check that all the doors and windows were locked before they brushed their teeth and slipped into their beds.

Maya set her phone down on her charger, her eyelids growing heavy.

“Have I ever told you when I knew you were going to change things for me?” The quiet confidence in his voice had Maya turning around to look at him on her nightstand.

“Don’t think so.”

“It was the first time we met, at Frankie’s, when you were here for a few days before a tournament, I think. I knew Colton had a sister, but you’d been so busy with college tennis and then starting the tour that I didn’t meet you until I’d been on the team a couple of years.”

“Mm-hmm,” she mumbled sleepily.

“You came to hang out with Colton, and I was lucky enough to be invited. He didn’t want to be there, unsurprisingly, so he was at the bar, but you were out on the dance floor making friends with everyone around you. And I don’t know what it was, something about the way you looked at me when I talked, like you really saw me, really cared to hear what I had to say, but I knew then that you were going to be different for me.”

“Of course I cared what you had to say. Everyone should.”

Cooper chuckled. “I was so scared that every birthday or holiday I saw you at, I tried my best to stay away. It was hard, and I usually failed. I always wanted to know more about what the tour was like, and every time I asked a question, you treated me like I was the only person in the room, even though I tried so hard to make sure we were never alone.”

Maya yawned, trying to keep her eyes open, a smile slipping onto her face. “I always thought that was odd. How you used to leave the room with Colton if he was going to get something. Tried not to think much of it but…” Another yawn. “What changed on my birthday?”

“Your friends had gone to the bathroom, and when you begged Colton to come dance, he told you to take me instead. So, you did, and I watched you dance with the rhythm of a one-winged penguin.”

“Hey!”

Cooper laughed. “It’s true. It was adorable, and all I could do was hope your friends would come back because I really wanted to kiss you and I knew that was a bad idea.”

“You should’ve kissed me.”

“I’m glad I didn’t. I wasn’t ready then.”

“Mm. And are you ready now? ”

The words tumbled out of her right as she felt the edges of consciousness fraying, and as she fell asleep, Maya thought she heard him say, “More than you could ever know.”