Page 40 of Game Misconduct

“He’d come with me.”

I can’t hold back the laugh bubbling up within me. “You mean he’s going to play a game on Wednesday, fly to Boston, stuff his face, then fly back to Austin the next day for a matinee game?”

He’s playing New Orleans, and I wish I could watch live, but I’ve got a game of my own to play. I can’t decide which of the two teams I want to lose more. And it has nothing to do with where each team sits in the standings; it’s all about my personal vendetta.

“I mean…”

“That’s crazy. No, don’t do it. It’s one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. You don’t want that headache.”

“You don’t miss me?”

“That sounds like a trap.”

She doesn’t deny it.

“Look, this is your first Thanksgiving as newlyweds. I’d love to see you. You know I would. But with the game schedule, it doesn’t make sense for either of us to travel. We’ll be together soon enough.”

“I’m just worried about you, Mitch.”

I don’t tell her I’m fine. I don’t tell her not to worry about me—no matter what I say, I know she will anyway.

“I’ll be okay.”

“Your dad…”

“Haven’t responded to him.” Don’t want to, either.

“Mitchy…”

“I promise, I’ll be okay.” Not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But eventually, I will be. “I’ll get there.”

“Okay, well… I have a favor to ask.”

Heaving a sigh, I already know I’ll give in. Whatever she wants, I’ll do it, no questions asked.

“Go for it.”

“I need you to check in on Bex.”

My stomach sinks. Anything but that.

“Why?” My tone comes out combative, and I immediately regret it. Elsy isn’t the source of my frustration; she is.

“She’s been kind of… volatile lately. I’m worried about her health.”

Volatile? She’s always that way around me. I don’t want to think I bring out the worst in her, but sometimes it sure seems that way. We’ve settled into an amicable truce, where I pine obnoxiously from afar and don’t talk to her, and she avoids me like the plague.

“Why me?”

“Because you’re there, and I’m here.”

“She doesn’t want me poking into her private business.”

“Mitch, please. For me.”

“We work together. It’s weird.”

“It’s not weird, she’s my sister-in-law. You guys are my best friends. I need you to be my proxy. Check in on her. Look out for her.”