Page 20 of Yo Ho Ho
Her smile got a little smaller. "They weren't bad," she said. "Now, you ready for work?"
"I'm ready for whatever you have to throw at me, Quinn."
He leaned back a little, folded his arms across his chest, and watched the red light on Max's recorder turn on as she pressed record.
"So, Logan." She picked up her pen and pad to take notes. "Can you tell me a little bit about how you got involved with Kids Can Skate?"
And they were off. Max asked him questions about his work that day on the ice with the kids and Logan responded with serious answers that would be perfect quotes for any story. Short and to the point. No rambling sentences, no crazy tangents. He did as he was supposed to and stuck to the interview without going overboard.
He had done interviews with Max before, but something just felt different about this one. Maybe because it wasn't in an arena locker room, or maybe because this would be one of the last interviews he did with her before her job was over. But for the first time ever, as they talked, he actually began to really pay attention to Max and what she was doing. The way she would look at him when she asked him a question, like she was really interested in his answer. The way she would take notes as he was talking, nodding along as she jotted down something else on her yellow pad. He was amazed as he watched her writing and nodding, and yet she was ready with another question as soon as he was done with his answer.
Logan always tried to show Max respect as a reporter, even after he slept with her. Sure, there were those moments — private moments — when she saw him at the ice machine or told him they couldn't be together. But when she was a reporter, he treated her like professionally and she did the same to him.
Sitting with her and watching her do this job, Logan realized he never really appreciated her and how good she was at it. There was just an ease about her reporting style. She seamlessly went from question to question while being interested in everything he had to say. She balanced notes and the recorder and the thoughts in her head.
Max also had this little trick that she used when she ended interviews. Not really the post-game stuff, but if she was doing a one-on-one interview with you or had some extra time to really ask questions, Logan and the rest of the players would always know how Max was going to end the interview.
"So is there anything else you wanted to add that you think I missed?"
It was such an open and honest question. Sometimes, players would just shrug and tell her that was all they had to say. Sometimes, they would prepare ahead of time to make sure they had a response to the question. And sometimes, like today, a response just came naturally.
"I just want to make sure you focus on the kids," Logan said.
Max gave him a surprised. "Really? Why?"
"What do you mean why?"
She shrugged. "You're a big hockey star volunteering your time, which is why I'm talking to you and not the kids," she said. "So why do you want me to focus on them?"
Max didn't ask him the question in an accusatory way or a threatening way. She seemed to be asking it because she was genuinely interested in getting an answer from him. She really cared about what he was telling her.
"I don't know," he said quietly. "I guess it's because this is a charity for kids who want to play hockey and need some help with the resources to play. It's an expensive sport to participate in. So I just hope people read the story and think about them instead of thinking about me."
There was an awkward silence as Max scribbled away at her pad, making a note of what he said or whatever notes she usually made. It was making him feel unsure of himself.
"I mean, you don't have to quote that if you don't want to," Logan said.
Max waved her hand without looking up from her pad. Then she scribbled some more on the paper. "No, it's a great quote. I liked it."
He stared at her. She liked his quote? Maybe she was just being polite. How the hell could she even say some words while scribbling different ones down? She was like a grammar freak or something. Logan was finding it all way too attractive.
Max finally stopped scribbling and grabbed the recorder sitting between them, pressing the button to turn off the red light. Then she looked up at him with a genuine smile.
"Alright, that's it then," she said. "Not too painful, right?"
Logan could only shake his head. He was suddenly having trouble finding the words to tell her anything. He could only watch as Max threw all her things in a small messenger bag before standing up and throwing it over her shoulder.
"Well, thank you again for the suggestion," she said. "This was a great help."
Logan stood up and smiled at her. "Yeah, sure. I'm glad I could do it," he said. "It really was a good idea, Max."
"I hope so."
She walked past him towards the bleacher's stairs. Logan couldn't help but naturally follow her, matching her walk once they finally made it down. He opened the door as they headed out into the bitter cold, talking about the flight tomorrow to Florida. They had two games in Miami and Jacksonville — easy opponents in a warm climate. It would be a nice trip before the holidays.
It would also be a few more games closer to Max's last day with the paper. Logan didn't have much longer to make his move and lay the groundwork for keeping Max around after her paper closed. He couldn't handle thinking about what would happen on January 1st when she wasn't with them anymore. She needed to be with him after that, or really, he needed her to be with him after that.
Max slowed down and started fishing in her bag for her car keys as they got closer to her SUV.
