Page 83 of The Call-Up
Danton slaps the roof of the car, then leans his head throughthe open window to get a better look at me. He nods his chin in my direction. “What’s he freaking out about?”
“The usual,” Ryan says. “Coming out to the coach. You know how it is.”
“Of course I do.” Danton laughs. “I’m an expert. And as your captain, I’m obliged to ask. Do you want me to come with you?”
Ryan
What was supposed to be a casual, albeit revelation-filled meeting with our coach, has now turned into a bit of a group affair. We brought in Danton, and much to our surprise, Coach Chris’s wife, Michelle, is also here in his office when we arrive.
“Give me one second, boys,” she says, grabbing her laptop off the corner table. “I can find another room to work in.”
“Actually—” Brandon flashes me a look, “maybe you should stick around for this.”
I tip my head at him. That’s not a bad idea. After all, she was instrumental in getting Connor Kennedy out of his situation in Chicago, and her husband under a contract here in St. Louis. As an attorney working for the Mules now, there’s nobody who knows the legal ins and outs of the NHL better than she does. It definitely won’t hurt to have her in our corner in case this breaches containment.
“Alright, then,” she says and sits back down with a not-so-subtle knowing smile on her face. She grabs her tea off the table and crosses her legs in her chair.
Danton shuts the door behind him and stands against it, out of the way, while Brandon and I take seats in the chairs sitting across from Coach Chris’s desk.
He looks up at us from the stack of game notes in front of him. “Why am I getting the feeling I’m about to owe my wife a thousand dollars?”
“Because you are, dear,” she says. “Pay up.”
“Goddamn it,” he grumbles. He looks at us and shakes hishead, but there’s a smile pulling at his lips. “Is it too much to ask to have a peaceful coaching existence?”
“Well, this is going much easier than I expected,” I say, then turn to look at Brandon. For a man who usually can’t hide the way he feels about anything, for some reason, right now, I can’t get a good read on him.
He narrows his eyes at Coach Chris. “Did you two bet on us?”
“To be fair,” Danton says, “I think half the team is playing the odds.”
“I can’t say I’d be surprised by that,” I say, then reach over and squeeze the back of Brandon’s neck. He feels hot, but he does relax under my touch. “Look, we both knew coming into this meeting that the team wasn’t going to be an issue.”
A small smile pulls at his lips. “I know,” he says around a sigh. “I just… every other team I’ve ever been on, this would have been an issue.”
“Every other team you’ve ever been on has sucked,” Danton says.
He’s not wrong. I only got a small taste of it from that Richie McDaniel kid, but I hate that that’s what Brandon is used to.
“Danton’s right,” Coach Chris says. “I know I’ve only been here a few months, but this team is different.” He looks back and forth between me and Danton. “What you guys have built here is special and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
I reach across his desk with my fist and bump his. “And we’re happy to have you, Coach. You are the perfect fit here.”
“Technically, I think that was Brandon,” Danton says.
I turn in my chair to look at him. “Fair point.”
Michelle comes around the desk to stand beside her husband. She places her laptop down and opens it, then looks right at us. “Are you two planning on coming out publicly?”
“Not at the moment, no,” I answer as Brandon shakes his head. It’s not that I wouldn’t, but right now, I just don’t see the need. It’s truly nobody else’s business, though I’m also not naive enough tobelieve that being publicly outed isn’t always going to be a threat looming over us.
“Here.” Coach Chris gets up and gives her his chair. She takes it and he starts to pace.
Settled into her seat, Michelle is all business. I already liked her, but now I like her more. “Who outside of this room knows about the two of you?”
“No one,” I say.
She looks at Brandon. “What about your parents?”
