Page 24 of The Right Move

Phil turns my way. “Get him to the airport on time, will you, Shay?”

“On it.”

Phil shakes his head as he walks away.

“Love that guy,” Dom sighs.

“Where’d y’all go last night?”

“Sway,” Ethan answers for him.

“You went too?”

“No way. Annie would’ve served me divorce papers if I went out partying the night before a road trip, but Dom was persistent in trying.”

“Oh.”

“Did you want to go?” Dom questions. “You almost never go out with us, so I didn’t think to ask. Sorry, man.”

I shake my head. “Nah, it’s cool. I wanted to be home.”

Ethan and I are the two homebodies on the team. Ethan because he has a wife and three children and me because leaving my house and risking negative headlines is almost never worth it. The last time was almost a disaster. I punched an old teammate for treating Stevie poorly, and thankfully, my sister’s boyfriend took the blame to keep the heat off me. But I didn’t realize I had declined my teammates so much already I was no longer getting invited.

Dom could’ve called me for a ride at least. Sure, he didn’t realize that I was wide awake most of the night wondering why my new roommate wasn’t home yet, but I was.

I have ten more minutes to ice my shoulder before I can hit the showers and head to the airport, so I stand around shooting the shit with a handful of my teammates. Dom recounts the hookup he had in the back of the club last night, and Ethan fills us in on how his oldest daughter’s dance recital went.

The two spectrums of our team. Sleezy hookups in a club and dance recitals with children. I don’t know where I fall between these guys. It’s hard to relate to anyone when the only thing I care about is getting this team to the playoffs.

“Ethan,” our GM projects from across the gym. “Caroline is looking forward to dinner on Monday.”

Ron Morgan wears the happiest motherfucking grin as he looks at the previous team captain at my side.

“Annie is stoked too,” Ethan replies. “Can we bring anything this time?”

“We’ve got it! Caroline is making that rhubarb pie you love so much.”

“Oh man!” Ethan’s head falls back. “I can’t wait.” He smiles, holding his hand up in a quick wave.

“What the hell was that?” I ask.

“What was what?”

“That. Caroline is looking forward to dinner on Monday.”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. His wife is looking forward to having dinner on Monday.”

“How did you get so chummy with him? He hates me.” Looking back, I find Ron speaking to the head coach. His creased forehead and disappointed features are back, quickly replacing the relaxed smile he wore while he spoke with Ethan.

“Exactly that. Caroline. The man goes completely soft when it comes to his wife, and she loves Annie. We’ve been doing date nights together for years now. You get in with Caroline, you’ve got Ron too.”

I nod my head. “Caroline is great. That should be easy.”

He laughs condescendingly. “Not a chance, man. She doesn’t give a shit about basketball. The topic never comes up at the dinner table and you don’t know how to talk about anything else. She’s big on family, they both are, and the only reason Ron invited us out the first time is because Caroline wanted to get to know Annie. She was and still is the only consistent woman around the team, so I should really be thanking my wife that Ron likes me as much as he does.”

“Holy mama,” Dom says loudly enough to pull my attention, his eyes glued behind me. The rest of the team follows suit, turning back towards the practice gym’s entrance.

“Hot damn.”

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