Page 39 of Bad Teammate
And you know what?
I loved it.
Every second of it.
Until, of course, Mackenzie’s comment.“Daddy said you need a girlfriend.”
Oh, kids say the darnedest things.
I carried Mackenzie around the penthouse on my shoulders, in search of one Jack Hathaway.
“Ah-ha,” I said as I spotted Hath. “There he is.” I lowered Mackenzie to the floor. “I have to talk to Crazy Daddy now, okay?”
“Oookay.”
I gave her a pat on the head and she ran along.
“Did you just call me ‘Crazy Daddy?’ ” Hath asked, his eyebrow arched with amusement.
“Yeah.” I pulled Hath away from the living room and into the hallway so we could talk a little more privately. “Apparently, Crazy Daddy is telling people that I need a girlfriend. What’s up with that?”
“She must’ve overheard me talking to Emma earlier.” He sipped his beer with a smirk. “But it’s true, you know.”
“Uh huh.” I folded my arms. “Remember back in the day, when we were green, and we used to laugh at the veteran guys who got married because they converted overnight into these preachers for monogamy?”
Hath smiled. “I do remember those days.”
“Good, because that’s you now.” I gave him a gentle poke on the shoulder. “You know that, right?”
He nodded. “Yup.”
“So go ahead, Hath. Give me the whole spiel—c’mon, I wanna hear it from you. Tell me how a good woman would keep me grounded. Tell me how she’d help my life run so much smoother, and how she’d free me up to focus on the game. Tell me how she’d make me into a better man at the end of the day.”
“I mean …” Hath made a gesture like I’d stolen the words right out of his mouth. “That pretty much covers it. You nailed it, actually.”
“Probably because I’ve heard it so many times.”
“Thing is,” Hath said, “the reason the married guys always talked like that is because it actuallyistrue, Reavo. I can say that now.”
I waved my hand at him. “Yeah, yeah.”
“I’m serious. If we want a shot at winning a Cup, we need you to be focused.”
“I’m focused, man. You weren’t around to see it, but I’m tellin’ you, Hath, I’ve calmed down a lot in the past two years.”
“Have you?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye that told me he wasn’t quite buying what I was selling.
“Well.” I stammered. “I mean, yeah, I think so.”
“Hm.” Hath poked his head out of the hallway and glanced out the window, where Katerina and the WAGs talked on the balcony. “I can see why you were so tongue-tied earlier today when you were telling me about Katerina.”
I swallowed. “Tongue-tied? Who,me?”
“C’mon, Reavo. I can see it. She’s attractive. She’s foreign. She’sforbidden. And she’s only here for a few days. Trust me, I get the appeal.”
“Whoa,what?” I chuckled. “Where is this coming from?”
We put the conversation on hold just as Niko and his date, Julia, walked between us. With a mixed drink in hand, Niko let out an enthusiastic roar and slapped me and Hath’s hands for a high five.
