Page 106 of Play Book

“I don’t even know what I would say. Does she know what a piece of shit her father was? Or that her mother didn’t believe what he did to her?”

“No. She’s eleven. How am I supposed to tell her that? The therapist thinks we can leave that alone unless and until we have a reason to tell her. She was two. And it doesn’t appear she has any memory of it.”

“Thank fuck for that.” He snorts. “Well, it’s your life. You’re a grown man. You’ve never taken advice from me before, so I don’t know why I thought you’d start now. But be prepared, Canyon. I mean it. The girlfriend, the kid, it’s going to be all-encompassing, and this is your first chance at a championship. You don’t need to be distracted.”

“I’ll be fine. Okay? I know what I’m doing.”

He seems to give up at that point, and we talk for another minute about inconsequential topics before we end the call.

My father changed after my mother’s death.

I get it, but I also don’t.

I have great memories of him as a kid. He was a good father, a good husband, and a caring man. Something inside of him broke when he lost my mom, but I refuse to be the kind of man he’s become since then.

I’m going to do right by Ally, even if it kills me.

And some days it feels like it might.

But none of us truly fought for Carly, so I’m going to fight for her daughter.

The team meets for breakfast the next morning, and I sit at a table with Gabe, Jensen, Ivan, Marty, and Connor. We’ve become pretty close this season, despite the age difference since Connor just turned nineteen and Gabe will be thirty-seven this year. It’s a good group, though, and the fact that the women in our lives are close, minus Marty’s wife, makes it that much better.

“Harper is planning something special for Saylor’s retirement,” Gabe tells us once we’ve gotten our food.

“She’s retiring?” Marty asks.

I nod. “She wants to paint and run her gallery full-time, although she’s open for acting jobs since the money’s good.”

“What’s the plan? Jensen asks.

“She’s going to do a private, catered breakfast the morning after the Alexa Humboldt show. We have to leave for the airport by eleven to meet up with the team, so she’s planning it early. She and Chey are working on getting as many people Saylor’s worked with in her career as a kind of toast/roast, along with a slide show of the highlights of her career and a bunch of other stuff. I don’t know the details, just that we need to be there for the beginning and then we can head out when we have to.”

“Oh, she’ll love that,” I say, nodding.

“Sounds like fun,” Ivan agrees.

“I think Alexa is going to present her with some kind of lifetime achievement award because Saylor has modeled more Humboldt dresses than anyone else.”

“I never thought I’d be excited about fashion shows and shit,” Connor says, “but if it’s important to you guys and the ladies, I’m in.”

He’s grown up a lot this season, and we’re proud of him.

“Hey, can I join you?” Philippe comes in, late as usual, and drops down into the one open chair at our table.

Fantastic.

Breakfast with our least favorite dickhead.

But Coach is at the table right next to us, and we can’t very well say no.

“Sure,” Gabe responds diplomatically.

Phil puts his phone down and looks around. “I need coffee, man.”

“The coffee station is over there.” Ivan points.

Phil nods and heads in that direction.

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