Page 4 of Blood on the Rocks

There was a heavy silence that suddenly filled the room, and Seraphina noticed that even Ryan seemed to stand up straighter at the new topic.

“Ken wanted to keep the team in the family,” Earl said. “I talked to him regarding the matter just after the end of the last season, in April. If he changed his mind, he didn’t mention it whatsoever or change his will. Having said that, he wanted a specific person in the family to run the team after his death, including all the managerial duties such as signing and trading players, salaries, and the like. And that person is you, Seraphina.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped slightly ajar, in complete disbelief at what she had just heard. Maybe she made a mistake. Maybe he really said Katella’s name and not hers. Or maybe, like everything else, they split the team. Seraphina looked at her sister, wondering if she was in as much shock as Seraphina was. But on her sister’s face was a knowing smile, as though she was somehow aware of what would happen.

“Now, if you truly think you can’t handle it, Seraphina,” Earl continued, “then you can choose to sell the team. Instead of being divided between you and your sister, however, the income would be split into fours, so that you, Katella, and your uncles would get an even amount. If you kept the team, you would get your own salary, and the revenue from the franchise would be split between just you and your sister.”

When he finished, he crossed his forearms over his desk and gave her an expectant look. Seraphina was only focused on his glasses, unable to comprehend how they hadn’t slid off just yet.

Using the same hand she had just employed to calm her sister down, Katella nudged her sister. He wanted an answer now? “How long do I have to make up my mind?” she asked, and she hated to admit it, but she sounded doubtful, worried. She hated that she sounded this way in front of her uncles even more.

“Now would be best,” Earl said, once again leaning back in his chair as he stretched out his arms in front of him. “Or, if not now, as soon as possible. The season is about to start in a manner of weeks, and correct me if I’m wrong, but preseason starts in five days. The team needs to know if it’s going to play with you as the owner now because without an owner, the team is in limbo. Do you understand what I am saying?”

Seraphina knew Earl James wasn’t trying to be condescending, but it certainly felt like a dig at her incompetence of the situation she had just been thrust into. “May I take a few minutes to talk to my sister?” Seraphina asked.

Earl looked like he wanted to say no. He seemed to be in a rush to finalize everything, but he forced himself to nod. Katella followed Seraphina into the lobby and then into the parking lot.

“What do I do?” she asked once she knew it was only the two of them. “I don’t understand this, Kat. Why would Papa do this? I have absolutely no experience with this. I majored in English, for crying out loud. English. I can’t handle this. But I don’t want to sell the team and see Alan and Ryan get a fourth of the money either.” She placed her hands on her sides helplessly. “I don’t know what to do, Kat. I just don’t know what to do.”

“Can I just say something?” she asked. Seraphina couldn’t find her voice so she merely nodded. “Papa came to me to discuss this last April. I was one of his witnesses to sign everything.”

“Wait, so you’re not mad?” Seraphina asked. “About me, getting the team over you?”

“It was always going to go to you, Sera,” Katella reassured her sister. “Papa knew that I had my own business to worry about, and me and Matt are getting more serious. I’m the one who couldn’t handle getting the team, even if it was split between the two of us.”

“But why me?” Seraphina said.

“You two had discussions about the team, didn’t you?” Katella pointed out. “He valued your opinion. Sera, he believed that you could handle this. He believed that you could do this. Papa had faith in you. And you know that that means something. Look at what he gave Alan and Ryan, and those are his sons. He even made it a requirement that they get tested before they can accumulate any money. He lost faith in his own children. Just because you’re young and inexperienced doesn’t mean you can’t do it. It just means it’s going to take you longer to be good at it. But you will be good at it. Papa wouldn’t put you under this pressure, wouldn’t give you an entire hockey franchise if he didn’t think you’d do well.”

“Why do you think he made it so that if I sold it, everyone got an equal amount?” The question was meek coming out of her mouth.

Katella shrugged her shoulders and looked away. “I have no idea,” she said. “Maybe because you selling the team would be like you not having faith in yourself, and if you don’t have faith in yourself then punish Alan and Ryan doesn’t really mean anything anymore. Selling the team is a shortcut – why do you think Alan wants to sell everything right away? He just wants the fast cash. And yeah, selling this team would mean that everyone would be set for life – we wouldn’t have to work. But, I don’t know, as lame as it sounds, it means we get a boring though financially-stable life. Papa started this team. He didn’t want to sell it to get quick money. He didn’t care about that. He was comfortable. He wanted to keep his dream alive no matter what. God, I sound like an afterschool special, don’t I?”

Seraphina chuckled, nodding her head. “Yes, you do,” she murmured. “But it’s working. Do you really I can do it?”

Katella placed her hands on her sister’s shoulders and locked eyes with her. “In all honesty Sera, I think you can do whatever you want to do,” she answered. “And I think Papa thought the same thing.”

Seraphina felt Katella release her, felt her eyes look at the dull concrete underneath her feet before nodding once, twice, three times, before looking up. “Okay,” she said in a quiet voice. “Okay, we can go back inside.”

Katella followed her younger sister back into Mr. James’s office. “Well?” he inquired once the door was once again shut. Seraphina noticed the different faces looking at her. Alan looked both pissed off and hopeful that Seraphina would sell. Henry offered her a small smile, his grey eyes offering more support than she expected. She couldn’t actually read the look on Simon’s face, but he seemed indifferent despite the calm look on his face. And Ryan was looking out the window, behind Earl’s desk. Seraphina wasn’t sure if he cared about the outcome of this anymore or not.

“I’m going to keep the team,” she said. “I don’t want to sell.” And as she spoke the words, she realized that they were true.

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