Page 16 of Slew Foot
“Uhh, something light?” he said. “I’m exhausted and anything heavy will put me under the table.”
Liam nodded, suggesting a lager brewed in Dublin.
“Sounds good.”
“So, what made you decide to come to Boston?” Mickey asked when they had drinks in hand and had demolished a portion of their plates.
Rafe shrugged, dragging a sweet potato fry through the mix of mayonnaise and ketchup on his plate. “Just needed a change of pace.”
“You don’t talk a lot, huh?” Mickey observed. That was usually people’s line to him, but compared to Rafe, he was downright chatty.
“It’s been a really long fucking day,” Rafe said, rubbing his forehead.
Mickey winced at the circles under his eyes. “Oh, yeah. Your flight from hell.” It was amazing the guy wasn’t asleep under one of the tables already.
Rafe shrugged. “Yeah. I’ve been awake since … yesterday morning? Caught some catnaps here and there, but nothing longer than an hour, hour and a half, maybe.”
“Think you’ll make it to midnight?” Mickey asked.
Rafe huffed. “Maybe. We’ll see.”
“Well, I won’t be offended if you want to grab a ride share and duck out early. I’d offer to drive you but …” Mickey held up his pint glass.
Rafe gave him a faint smile. “Thanks. So, uh, you said you share an apartment with Tanner?”
“Yeah.” Mickey shook his head. “The kid rented a three-bedroom place right near the practice arena and then quickly realized he couldn’taffordit with an entry-level contract.”
Rafe chuckled, then tilted his head like a large, puzzled dog. “Wait, aren’t you guys right around the same age?”
“Yeah, pretty close,” Mickey admitted. “But Tanner …”
He wasn’t sure how to say Tanner didn’t have his shit together in any way without being rude.
But Rafe nodded, like it made sense. “So you moved in to help him out?”
“Sort of. I was looking for a place too and it was in a good location, so I figured why not?”
“Cool. Tanner seems … fun.” Rafe glanced over to where Tanner was chatting up a couple of women, gesturing wildly as he flirted with them.
Mickey laughed. “He’s entertaining. Good guy, good teammate. Just … a lot sometimes.”
“You don’t mind living with all that?”
Mickey shook his head. “No. We get along well. He leaves a mess everywhere he goes and can’t cook or do laundry to save his life, but he’s …” Mickey tried to put it into words, then switched tactics. “I’m … quiet. There’s a reason they call me Mouse.”
Rafe raised an eyebrow. “Huh. You don’t seem quiet to me.”
“You’re easy to talk to,” Mickey blurted out.
Rafe had this way of tipping his head to listen to him, like he really wanted to hear what Mickey said. Most people talked over him.
Rafe’s smile was faint but all he said was, “Maybe I’m wrong here but it seems like Tanner might be … kind of a player. I noticed him during warmups and …”
Mickey chuckled.
Tannerhadbeen flirting with fans during warmups and Rafe had shot Mickey an amused, almost bewildered smile as he watched.
“He can be, yeah,” Mickey agreed.
