The Rookie and Me (COMPLETE)

six.

I woke up to the sun beaming through the small cracks in the blinds. I slowly blinked my eyes open and stretched my arms out as wide as I could. This is the comfiest bed I've ever slept on. I sat up and quickly realized that I was alone in bed. I tossed the covers back and jumped up out of bed.

"Cam? Cameron? Where are you?" I opened the bathroom door, "Cam?" No sign of him.

I walked downstairs and found Cameron and Tyler in the kitchen together. They are both standing at the stove, cooking what smells like pancakes or waffles. I cleared my throat softly and they both turned around as if I startled them.

"Mommy!" Cameron said with a big smile on his face. He climbed down from the chair that he was standing on and ran over to hug me.

I spread my arms open wide and pulled him into a bear hug. "Good morning, bug. How'd you sleep?" I kissed his cheek and released him from my embrace.

"Great! That bed was so comfy!"

"It definitely was comfy, huh?" I agreed while running my fingers through his blonde curls.

Cameron's eyes get really wide and he nods his head up and down. "More comfy than Auntie Whitney's couch bed!"

Shit. That definitely wasn't something I wanted Tyler to hear. Oh, hi, Tyler Reeves, NFL defensive end rookie that clearly makes millions of dollars. My name is Ali Walker and I am a single mother living on my childhood best friend's pull-out couch. I could crawl into a hole right now, I'm so embarrassed. Hopefully he didn't hear Cam. Hopefully he is so distracted by trying to make the most perfect pancakes that he completely zoned out.

"Good morning, Ali. Did you sleep well?" Tyler asked me as I walked toward them to see what they're cooking.

I leaned in over the stove to smell the pancakes. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in, "Mmm.... These smell amazing. I haven't had pancakes in so long!"

He laughed softly and flipped each of the pancakes. "So, back to my question... How'd you sleep?"

I looked up at him and grinned, "Honestly, I can't remember the last time I slept that good. That bed is like a cloud. Well, aside from Cameron here putting his ice cold feet on me all night." I tickled Cameron's sides and asked, "How did you sleep?"

He leaned down, his lips barely touching my ear, and whispered, "Well, I would say after the goodnight kiss that I received..." He winked at me, "... I slept pretty good, too."

He handed me a plate of pancakes and smiled at me. My cheeks flushed bright red and I grabbed the plate from his hand. He walked with me to the dining room table where Cameron is chowing down on his breakfast. He pulled out a chair for me and sat down beside me.

"Aren't you going to eat any breakfast? There's plenty of pancakes here for us to share."

"I already ate breakfast actually. I've been up for a couple hours." Tyler said as he gestured for me to eat. "Those are all for you two."

I looked behind me at the clock on the stove. 8:27 a.m.

"You've been up for a couple hours?! It's a Saturday! Why didn't you sleep in?"

"I get up every day at 5:00 a.m. to workout unless we have practice." Tyler said as he watched me take a bite.

"Geez, that's so early... but wait, I thought the roads were bad... How did you get to the gym this morning?" I asked him in a confused tone.

He chuckled softly, "Finish your pancakes and I'll show you."

Cameron and I finished our breakfast and put our plates in the sink. I rinsed them off and washed my hands. Tyler led us down to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs awaits an entire gym! A treadmill, a rowing machine, a pull up bar, and an entire weight lifting section. There were framed jerseys on the wall with his last name on all of them. He even framed a pee wee jersey. I giggled to myself. How cute is that?