I'll Find You

America's Sweetheart

Well they say I'm too loud for this town
So I lit a match and burned it down
What do you want from me, I'm not America's sweetheart
But you love me anyway
——America's Sweetheart, Elle King

February 11, 2018

Grayson had breakfast with his parents. They weren't playing until 6:00 p.m. and then would be headed right back to Durham. And his mom would be leaving for South Korea. She was meeting Jennifer in San Francisco and they'd be on their way to Cait.

He'd given his mom Cait's Valentine present and he'd hugged her for a long time and asked her to give that to Cait for him. He'd been more emotional than he'd expected. But in just a couple of days, his mom would be with Cait. And that meant that it wouldn't be too much longer until Cait was home.

He couldn't temper the excitement he felt at that. He was so anxious for her to be there. He knew he'd still be busy, but the idea that she'd always be nearby, that he'd be able to climb in bed with her and just hold her at the end of the day made him happy.

But now he had to get ready to play Georgia Tech. He really had been paying attention to Luke and Cait talking to him about playing with fire, about not being afraid to shoot. His wrist was feeling better and he was going to try to take their advice. But he couldn't wait until Cait was there to remind him in person. At least Luke and Rae would be arriving in a few days, which would help the time go faster.

*****
Cait was once again watching the game on her laptop in the hotel suite in South Korea, her stomach tight with worry.  Lately, she was always worried about him and always afraid that some cheap shot or confrontation was looming.

She wasn't staying in the athletes' village. It wasn't the best place to rest and she wanted to be rested. She was attending the other Alpine events, going through her own maintenance workouts, and trying to keep up with her coursework, while getting some sleep.

Her dad was sitting nearby, watching the game with her. He had his own suite of rooms across the hall, since Cait would be sharing her suite with Jennifer and Sherry in a couple of days. But they'd ordered an American breakfast from room service and settled in to watch the game.

Marvin was out and that seemed to force Grayson to be more aggressive.  He got going early and, even though he was playing the one a lot, he took his shots.  His shot still wasn't perfect, but it was better.  And he hit all of his free throws, which was definitely an improvement.

Cait spent most of the game gnawing on her bottom lip, but in the end he scored 23 and she was happy for him.  He looked better.  His wrist seemed okay and he was smiling, which was good to see.

She watched until the broadcast ended.  She needed to get a workout in.  She'd been scheduled to go watch Giant Slalom and cheer on her teammates, but it had been postponed by high winds.  That meant that the end of the week would be even busier, but it couldn't be helped.  But as she watched Grayson leave the court, she wished that she could be there when his media was done, just to hold him for a few minutes.

February 14, 2018

Cait woke and made her way out to the living area of the suite in search of coffee. She found an entire breakfast spread, with calla lilies on the table and a wrapped gift on the plate. There was a note attached and she recognized Grayson's atrocious handwriting.