Page 66 of Dancing in the Rain

“So what’s new?” Dougie asked. “How are things going with your daughter?”

Drew updated him briefly on Sara’s status then told him about Chloe and Peyton. After a while he caught the expression on Dougie’s face and stopped talking. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re crazy about her.”

Drew’s face heated. “There’s nothing between us. There can’t be.”

Dougie’s forehead creased. “Dude. I was talking about Chloe.”

“Oh.”

Dougie laughed. “Hell, that was telling.”

Drew scowled. “I meant it. Nothing. Chloe, on the other hand…yeah. Wow. I think Iamcrazy about her.”

“She’s your daughter. It would be weird if you weren’t.”

“I don’t know. Would it? Can that parental bonding thing happen with a twelve-year-old? It’s not like I ever got to hold her or feed her or rock her to sleep when she was a baby.”

“I don’t know, man. That’s an interesting question. But I don’t know if it matters. What matters is how you feel now.”

“You’re a dad. You’d do anything to protect your kids, right?”

“Hell, yeah.”

“I never got that before. I didn’t know it would be so…”

“What?”

“I don’t know…fierce.”

“Yeah.” Dougie nodded. “Fierce is a good word.”

Drew felt a little embarrassed talking like this.

“Any decisions about finding a job?”

Drew scrunched his face and turned the old-fashioned glass in his hands. “Nope.”

“Hey, you remember Jack Shipton?”

“Yeah.” He was a former player for the LA Kings, originally from Chicago. He’d retired a number of years back.

“I ran into him the other day at a luncheon where he was speaking. He has this business going…wait, I have his card.” He pulled out his wallet and poked around in it, then handed over a matte-black business card.

Drew studied it. Dynamo Sports Consulting.

“What is it?” he asked.

“They work with retired athletes. Not sure exactly what they do, but he said they help guys transition from playing to other things.”

“Huh.”

“You don’t sound enthused.”

Drew shrugged. “I just don’t know what’s involved.”

“It sounded like it would be good for you. They figure out a plan and do some branding or something…Take the card. Give him a call. Or check out their website at least.”

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