Page 67 of The Game

"Oh."

"What does yours say?"

"Not that."

"Oh."

I stared at the pages longer. "I'll see you tomorrow, 'kay?"

"Sure thing." She hung up the phone while I still sat there clutching mine. Leaning over, I pulled the other envelope out, the one that Betsy had given me, the one I hadn't known was an option. I lined both sheets of paper alongside one another, and there I sat and stared until the early hours of the morning while I tried to work out just what it was I wanted.

My fingers rapped on Waller's door, and I swallowed down a bubble that was restricting my throat. "Come in," he called, and I edged the door open poking my head through the gap.

"You haven't knocked on this door the whole season."

"Yes, I have!"

His head swung from side to side. "Nope, normally you just march straight in."

I ignored his jibe and said one of the two things I'd knocked on his door to say. "Thanks for letting the team come to Sammy's school yesterday; that meant the world to me."

He waved his fingers at me, "It was all Willis' idea I can assure you."

I attempted a poker face. I attempted, I may not have succeeded. "Oh, right."

Waller's belly jiggled as he laughed. "Sure why not, I said. I mean it's only four days to the season finale, it's not like we had anything better to do." He grimaced with his sarcasm.

I flashed him a grin and sidled into the visitor chair, deciding to lock away the information about Jonathan being the instigator in yesterday's events. I'd ponder it all later. "So how do you think we are set?"

"How do you think we are set?"

I stared at the ceiling. "Well, they are fitter, more cohesive now, but then what are the Hurricanes like? We haven't played them since the beginning of the league, and they could have been working just as hard."

Waller sighed, and his neck looked like it was going to disappear into his shoulders as it folded into a concertina of excess flesh. "You've done well to get them all fit. Fit enough to handle the game at this level."

There was no mistaking the emphasis on the word all.

I gave the briefest incline of my head I could manage.

Puffing out my cheeks I sat back in the chair and twiddled with the lace of my trainers. This was harder than I was expecting it to be. "Spit it out, Rivers," he said when it was obvious that I wasn't going to be forthcoming about my visit.

I reached down into my tote and pulled out the A4 envelope. His already grey face took on an ashen effect when he saw me slide it across the table. I didn't know how to phrase what I wanted to without getting the captain in trouble. With a nervous cough, I said, "I appreciate the amendments to the contract."

Waller’s eyes explored my face, reading my expression. "But?"

I loved this guy, he knew me so well. "But, I'm not going to sign."

Waller put his head onto the desk and groaned loudly. I thought this was it, the heart attack that had been brewing all season with his purple flushed rages and his increased stress levels had finally done the job. “Coach?" I sat forward ready to jump into some form of CPR if only I could remember it.

"This is shit." He groaned into the wood, his nose flattened against the surface as if he planned to never lift his head back up again.

"There are many fitness coaches out there more suitable." I spoke the truth and he knew it.

"But the guys love you, and they respect you."

"They are good boys, and they will respect anyone." I flushed a little when I thought of the lack of respect Jonathan had initially shown me, and how I'd earned that respect the hard way, through sweat, tears and determination.

"What are you going to do?"