Page 29 of The Waiting Game

“Fun! I’m surprised you didn’t buy matching boxers too,” Felix said, clearly joking.

Jonah grinned. “Who says I didn’t?”

“What?” Felix laughed. “No way! Let me see.”

“You want to see me in my underwear?” Jonah teased, all thoughts of Henry Brown forgotten. “I mean, I think you should take me out on a date first.”

“I see you in your underwear every fucking day for free,” Felix said with a laugh, hooking his finger in the waistband of Jonah’s trousers. “And I bought you lunch today so that should totally count.”

Jonah scoffed. “Pregame lunch does not count at all. What are you even talking about?”

“Boys,” Coach Casey said, sounding amused as he loomed over them in the aisle. “Do I need to separate you two tonight?”

Jonah looked up sheepishly at his coach. “Uh, sorry, Case.”

Felix settled back in his seat. “Nope, we’ll be good.”

“Oh, I’ll believe that when I see it,” Casey said, still smiling as he patted Felix’s shoulder fondly. “And do we need to have a conversation about what’s appropriate? And that perhaps reaching into someone’s pants to see their underwear in a semi-public place is not that?”

Jonah and Felix both shook their heads, trying to maintain straight faces. Jonah knew if he looked Felix in the eye, he’d crack up so he stared straight at his coach.

Casey’s eyes twinkled behind his glasses. “Good. Now, can I give my little speech before we head to the arena?”

They nodded.

“Thanks. Much appreciated, boys.”

Jonah loved Claude Casey. He was a rare coach in the NHL. Quiet, thoughtful, measured in his approach.

That wasn’t to say he never got fired up. He’d been kicked out of a game once for yelling at a ref.

But for the most part, he got his point across without screaming.

He led the team with quiet strength rather than brute force or intimidation. They respected him, but they didn’t fear him. And the team would go through a wall for him.

In a high-pressure market like Toronto, coaching changes happened fairly frequently.

But Casey had been with them for about five years now and despite the ever-present rumblings of discontented armchair GMs hiding behind their social media accounts, there was no serious talk of Casey being let go, despite the shaky season they’d had so far.

Jonah studied his face as he waited for the noise of the team to die down.

For a guy in his early fifties, Casey was handsome. His dark hair was slowly being overtaken with more gray every season, though his face remained youthful, and he was still agile in his skates when he was on the ice demonstrating a drill.

“Okay.” Casey raised his voice. “We’ve got a situation I want to bring your attention to. A major weather system is projected to head across Oklahoma tonight. Which, for those of you who do not know your North American geography, is where we’ll be flying over on our way to Dallas. Ending up in the middle of that storm is something I assume we would all like to avoid. As of right now, we’re going to try to outrun it. That means no dawdling in the locker room postgame. I want everyone to go through postgame workouts as fast as possible. Quick showers. Media questions will be limited. We’re in and out, you hear me? Anyone holding us up will be fined.”

It wasn’t until Felix’s hand settled on Jonah’s thigh that he realized his entire body had tensed.

“You okay?” Felix murmured in his ear, so quiet Jonah barely even heard him.

Jonah slowly released a breath, nodding. He wasn’t doing great but he’d be okay.

He’d made the mistake of looking up information about the plane crash his parents had been in and he’d immediately regretted it.

Though Jonah hadn’t been with his parents when the plane went down, it was still a visceral fear for him and he spent even the smoothest flights simmering with tension.

Flying through turbulence was so much worse.

Jonah was able to grit his teeth and get through flights, but he’d never enjoy that part of hockey.

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