Page 55 of Offside

"I'll have both drafts for you tonight. Nothing goes to the club before you approve it."

"Good," I said. "I'll read it tonight."

I ended the call. The club wouldn't be able to turn his decision into a reason to cut my value if Marchetti made it clear we would expose that. They couldn't blame him for the leak if I defended his work.

Declan came up after the staff dinner because I asked him to.

I opened the door before he knocked a second time. He wore dark pants and the gray sweater he'd worn on our first date. Snow had melted into the shoulders of his coat.

"You said it was contract news," he said. "What happened?"

"The club made an offer," I said. "Two years, one-point-seven."

His face changed. "That's less than—"

"It's half the August AAV," I said. "Half the term."

"What does Marchetti think?" he asked.

I laid out the independent assessment and performance counter, then the private letter alleging the appearance of retaliation after his disclosure. I told him about the threatened public response and the plan to use his recusal and the limited relationship fact as leverage. Declan stood by the door through the whole account.

"You authorized that?" he asked. "All of it?"

"I authorized the draft, but nothing's gone out," I said.

"You authorized my name." His voice stayed level.

"Privately. Marchetti can keep the public version unnamed unless they force it," I said.

"That's not what I asked," he said. "Did you authorize my name?"

"I told you before it went anywhere," I said.

"After you decided it—which is the problem," he said.

"They're cutting my offer after your recusal," I reminded him. I understood his point, but he needed to understand mine. "If we put the timing in front of them, they can't use you and then blame you."

"Use me how?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Your notes. The disclosure. The article makes it look like medical drove the number. Now they want to say the conflict tainted the record."

"Has the club said that?" Declan asked.

"Not yet," I said. "Not to us."

"Has the access review named me as the source of the leak?"

"No," I said. "The review is still open."

"Has Park challenged the accuracy of my notes?"

"No," I said again. "Nobody has challenged them. You know that."

Each answer removed a reason and left my fear standing alone.

"Then your letter makes my work the alleged harm," Declan said. "It takes a disclosure we made to protect your care and turns it into evidence that the club damaged you. It puts my employment and my clinical record into your salary negotiation."

"It keeps them from doing it first," I said. "That's the point."