Page 83 of The Waiting Game

Looks like that’s the only thing that’s straight. Felix groaned internally at the pun that had popped into his head.

“Well, Grandma Ji-min has to believe it’s real,” Jonah said.

“Obviously.” Felix grinned at him, then typed that in. “Ismael knows the truth.”

“I told Henry too.”

Felix glanced up, surprised. “Your plant professor?”

“Well he’s not mine, but yes.”

“I didn’t know you two were that close,” Felix said, surprised.

Jonah shrugged. “We mostly talk plants but yeah, sometimes we chat about our personal lives. I trust him, if that’s what you’re worried about. I know it’s not like the sponsor-sponsee relationship but—”

Felix laughed. “It’s sponsored. Not sponsee.”

“Well, I like sponsee.”

Felix shook his head. What a ridiculous man. “Okay, go on.”

“I mean, I know your conversations with Ismael are considered kind of sacred and there aren’t really the same rules when you’re chatting with a plant biologist, but what’s Henry going to do? Contact JockGossip and squeal? Not likely. And it’s not like he’s going to blab to his friends. I don’t think that many Australians are into ice hockey. Or at least not the crowd Henry hangs around with.”

“Hey, if you trust him, it’s all good,” Felix assured him.

“So add Henry to your little spreadsheet.”

Felix grinned, not even glancing up from his screen. “I think we should tell the team the truth,” he said.

When he was met with silence he looked up, only to see Jonah’s surprised expression. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Felix had considered it for a while and finally landed on that being the right call. “I just don’t think it says much for our team or my sobriety if I’m lying to them.”

Jonah nodded. “I get that.”

“You okay with that?”

Jonah hesitated. “Maybe let’s talk to Dustin about it first. He’s always harping about wanting people to come to him so … let’s talk to him about it and go from there. See what he says. I definitely don’t want to make you lie if you don’t feel good about it, I just worry that’s an awful lot of people who could accidentally let it slip.”

“Well, to be fair, they all apparently think we dated in the past or are actually together now.”

“True.”

“But you do make a good point. So, yeah, let’s talk to Dustin and go from there. Maybe tell the core but not the call-ups and stuff.”

“If you feel okay with that compromise.”

“I do,” Felix said. “I mean, frankly, what matters is being honest with my friends. The call-ups, they’re great guys, I like them on our team, but we’re not that close, you know?”

“I get that.” Jonah scooted forward and rested his hand on Felix’s knee.

His skin was warm and Felix shivered a little at the contact.

“So, uh.” He cleared his throat. “We’ll talk to Dustin before practice tomorrow?”

“Sounds good.”

“What about Casey and Kate and the rest of the organization?”

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