The Curve Ball - Samantha Lind Page 0,89
perfectly.”
“I’d have to agree with that,” I tell him, leaning over to kiss him. I break away from his lips to keep from letting the kiss get too heated. I pour batter on the grill, listening to the satisfying sizzle it makes when the batter hits the hot surface.
“That smells good, anything I can help with?” Justin asks, dropping a kiss to my cheek.
“I’ve got this under control. You just sit there and look good,” I tell him.
Justin
“The Indianapolis Lightning’s Justin “JJ” Johnson was once known as the player of the team. When a daughter was dropped on his doorstep last spring, JJ made an abrupt one-hundred-and-eighty-degree change, becoming a family man, one that is about to marry the woman he refers to as the love of his life. He sat down with one of our reporters for an exclusive interview.”
I read over the headline and subsequent article that will be released tomorrow. This time, I was involved from start to finish and know what this article will say, and I know exactly what images they’ll be printing, all of them approved by Riley and me.
“Justin, tell me what your favorite thing about being a dad is?”
I can remember back just a few short weeks to when I sat down for this interview; the memories come flooding back to me as I read over my quotes. “Oh, wow. There’s so much that has happened in the last ten months. Sometimes it is hard to believe that it's been ten months since Evie came into my life, but yet, at the same time, it feels like it was just yesterday. I have to say, the best part is just watching her grow. Watching her experience things for the first time. The first time she called my fiancée, Riley, Mama, both of their eyes lit up. It was an extraordinary moment for the three of us. Riley has been the only mother figure that she’s known, and that wasn’t something that we made light of, but it was also the moment that I knew it was time to propose, so I did. Right there in bed, with my two girls, bed head, and morning breath. It was perfect.”
“Riley started as your nanny for Evie, is that correct?” the reporter asked.
“That’s correct. Riley is also my best friend, Derek Smyth’s, little sister. The night that Evie’s mom brought her to my house and then just left; the first person I called was Derek. I knew that he or his wife, Jillian, would know what to do with a baby, seeing as they had two kids of their own at the time. Not ten minutes later, Derek arrived, but with Riley, not Jillian. She swooped in and calmed my daughter down. She stayed the night and took care of her like she was her own. That morphed into me hiring her to be Evie’s nanny. I obviously don’t work a normal eight to five work schedule, so trying to hire someone was going to be challenging. Riley had just moved here to be near her family and hadn’t found a job yet. She offered to watch Evie on a trial basis to make sure the arrangement worked for both of us. Long story short, I’d say it worked out just fine.”
I remember answering that question, as well, smirking at my honest answer. Riley joined us shortly after that, answering a few questions on what it was like to be attacked verbally in the tabloids and by jealous female fans. It was a bit hard to listen to her retell what she went through. But as much as I hate that part of things, it’s part of our story. It helped make us stronger, made us turn to each other more.
“Hey, baby?” I call out, putting my iPad down after I finish reading over the article. I’m one hundred percent happy with the outcome and hope she is, as well.
“Yeah?” she asks, peeking her head around the door.
“Did you read this yet?” I ask.
“Not yet, was it good?” she questions.
“Yeah, I really like it.”
“Good, I’m glad. I was hoping that you would. We poured our hearts out to them, so I’m glad they got it right,” she tells me as she walks over and sits down on my lap. I wrap my arms around her torso as hers go around my shoulders, one of her hands threading into my hair.
“So, I was thinking…” she says, trailing off.
“What’s that?”
“What if we went and got married at