Shortie - Jayson Tatum

Fifty One.

"In the morning?"

"Yeah. It'll give me enough time to be with y'all before having to be with the team later." He kissed Journey and smiled at her. "You're eating the girls up JuJu. How was that? You think she'll think I'm cool?" He directed his questions to me.

"The coolest." I chuckled.

He wants our kids to be his best friends. Of course he has dad mode but he wants a nice balance and so do I. We want our kids to be open with us but still have that respect.

"Are you ready for playoffs? How's your body feeling?"

"I'm good boo." He laid on the bed with Journey resting on his chest. "You know my thumb been a little sore but other than that I've been cool."

"You're not lying to me, are you?"

"No."

"So you'd tell me if it was hurting more than normal?"

"Prolly not." He shook his head.

"Why? I could help."

"Because you're not my trainer. You're my wife. If I'm having a basketball related issue, I'll tell Nick. If something at home is bothering me, you'll be the first to know."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Ok he ate that one little thing. Me personally I think I'm able to be trainer and wife but he doesn't want that, and I respect his request.

"How are you feeling today?" He changed the subject.

"Good."

His stare was intense. "Be honest. How are you feeling today?"

I shrugged and gave a slight smile. "I'm good Jay. Today was a good day. I had Lauren, Journey and me were fine. I'm...good."

"That's a lot of goods. You want to throw in another adjective to try to convince me?" He said letting me know he didn't believe a word I said.

"I'm not crying today. My tears are dried up. So if that's what you're looking for then I'm sorry."

"I'm not looking for tears, Naomi. I'm looking for honesty. You're saying you're fine, or your favorite word, good, when you're not. And I'm not trying to argue but-"

"That's what it sounds like. Like you want me to be bawling my eyes out all day. I've done that and it sucks. I don't want to do that anymore."

"So you don't want to talk? You're going to keep it inside?" He stood up with Journey still in his arms.

"Jayson-"

"Yes or no?"

"No. I told you the honest truth. Today was good. It was a better day than I've had. It was calm and I love calm at this point. What other answer are you looking for?"

"I'm just making sure you're ok Naomi. That's all. When you give me "good" it sounds like an answer you give so we don't have to go into detail."

I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his torso. "I'm fine Jay. You know I'd tell you if it were different. You don't have to worry about me."

"I do. I love you and don't want to see you sad." He kissed my nose then my forehead.

"You were really going to argue with me?"

I knew he shook his head. "Not argue. That's called passion. I'm passionate about you so I advocate for your feelings even when you don't for yourself. I care."

I took in his scent with my eyes closed as my head laid on his chest and I listened to his heartbeat. "Thank you."

"You're welcome baby and I'm sorry for coming at you hard. My approach could have been better."