You Make It Easy

Money.

Maya~

As soon as we get back to Christian's place, he's hounding for answers. "What did she say? What did you talk about? Did it go well?"

"Are you going to breathe?" I ask, turning around to face him.

"When you tell me."

"She apologized about four times and it probably won't be the last. It's fine. It's worked out."

"That is not everything."

I back up so we're not so close. "She told me she was worried about you. That apparently you've brought home some real winners."

"We don't need to get into that."

I look at him, wanting to get into it. We sit on the couch. "Prior to you, I felt the pressure to be with someone. Not from my mom. I see the guys with their wives and kids and it's something I want. So I think I just was finding somebody, thinking it would work out, and then bring them home. Then once they found out about my salary and they see my house, they start to realize that they don't have to work."

"You know that's not going to happen with me, right?"

He nods, "What I'm about to tell you may or may not happen. It's still in the works and I'm not my holding breath."

"Okay."

"Me and the Brewers owner, Mark, have been talking about a possible extension that keeps me in Milwaukee for possibly the rest of my career. We're talking until 2029 and possibly receiving over 200 million dollars."

I keep my expressions limited. That's a fuck ton of money. I'd be lucky to even break three million dollars in earnings when adding my yearly salary for however many years I work. "I signed a seven-year contract when I was in Miami. It was worth about 50 million. When I got traded to Milwaukee, Miami was still paying because I was under contract even though I was playing for a different team. It's how that stuff works. I love Milwaukee. I love the fans. So we've talked about it for a while. I don't know if it will happen. It's a shot in the dark. Obviously, I'd love for it to happen because it means that I can stay in the city. Milwaukee has been so good to me. Better than I ever expected it to be."

"That's why she was so worried."

"Yes, but that doesn't excuse anything."

"It doesn't but I understand where she's coming from. She just wants to protect you."

"Maybe I don't want to be protected anymore."

"I don't think you have a choice. She's your mother. All moms want to do is protect their children."

He shrugs, "The money isn't going to change me."

"I would never expect it to."

"What do you think about it?"

"It's life-changing money, no doubt about it. But it's not mine. It's yours. You already know that I am financially stable. And in the future, if this does happen and we're still together, then that's another conversation for a later date."

He nods, "What else did she tell you?"

"That she had no right saying those things and that she feels awful about it. We cleared up some things about the pregnancy and I answered some of her questions that I don't think you could've answered."

"You didn't have to talk about that if you didn't want to."

"I'm finally in a place where I can talk openly about it without becoming upset. It wasn't anything huge."

"Do your parents know?"

I look away from him, "No."

"Why's that?"