Page 158 of Moonlighter
Red-faced now,I slip out the back of the room as soon as I can. Coach doesn’t need me to stay for the meeting, so I go into the locker room alone to remove my skates and my personal items.
It doesn’t take long, honestly. I don’t want to linger, and I don’t need to wallow. So I’m just zipping up my gym bag when my phone buzzes with a message from Bess.How was it? Did he offer you a job?
Basically, is all I say.
At the risk of being an asshole, take a look at this.
The next thing to light up my phone is a photo—it’s me sitting with Bess at the restaurant, eating an avocado taco.
I like tacos, I tell her.So I guess you’re an asshole for making me hungry?
Nah, she replies.It’s an I-told-you-so. I told you that this photo would remind you that you have a lot going for you.
Okay, you win. She’s right. I do have a lot going for me.
Don’t take the job with Coach, she texts next.
Bess, I love you. But can I have an hour to myself before I plan my life?
Sure thing.
I shoulder my gym bag and walk out of the room, purposely not looking back as I go. I don’t know when I’ll be back. But I will be. As a coach, maybe. As a therapist? Or maybe a commentator.
Nah, not that.
I walk down the quiet hallway. Everyone is still in the meeting. But now Bess’s message has piqued my curiosity, and I text her a question.
Who do you want me to work for if it’s not Coach?
My phone rings immediately. I answer it.
“For me, dummy,” Bess says. “I’ve been toying with the idea of taking on a partner. And you’d be an amazing agent. You’re smart. You’re easy to talk to. You know the sport so well.”
And I’m speechless.An agent. Working with players and talking to management? I could do that. I’dlovedoing that. “You are messing with my head right now.”
“I know,” she says cheerfully. “And guess what? I’m sitting at the avocado taco restaurant right now. Think of it as our office. I just ordered the appetizers. Get down here, okay? I can feed you while I blow your mind.”
“Okay,” I say, because when a woman offers you food, you say yes.
And then I walk out of the practice facility. Into the sunshine, and into the next chapter of my life.
The End
