Page 3 of Secret Santa

Me: You’ll be at FINA right?

I’d be in Toronto all weekend for the FINA Swimming World Cup. Damn, they’d snuck up on me too. But silver lining, I could get a few little trinkets for my Secret Santa. Who doesn’t love a little stuffed Canadian Mounty?

Beckett: You know it! I’ll see you Saturday in Toronto.

Beckett: Also…what do you have planned for New Year’s Eve?

Me: Jesus Beck, until you mentioned it, I thought I still had another week to prepare for Toronto. I have zero idea what I’m doing for NYE.

Beckett: Okay, great. Because you’re coming to Vegas.

Presley: Vegas? Seriously? For NYE. It’s going to be packed. I bet all the hotels are already sold out. ??

Beckett: Not for the Deveraux/Murray wedding at the Cosmopolitan

Presley: Seriously? ?? You just proposed in July!

Beckett: As a heart attack. We had dinner with Jeung and his girlfriend a few weeks ago and she’s like six months pregnant and all round and glowy. Now all I can think about is putting a baby in Lane because she would look adorable as fuck pregnant. ??Her tiny little body with an enormous belly. Shit. I’m hard just thinking about it.

Presley: TMI ??

Beckett: You know Mom would have my ass if Lane was pregnant before the “I do’s” so she and I talked and since Vegas is where we met, Vegas is where we’re getting hitched!

Beckett: Anyway, I’ll give you the whole download this weekend. Love you brother!

Another generation of Murrays. Holy shit. It was so strange to think that the four of us—well, the three of us, Harris still had a lot of growing up to do—were now inthatpart of our lives. The growing up and settling down part. The making babies and getting minivans and shopping at Kohl’s on weekends and commenting on how we can’t believe the Christmas hand towel displays are out already.

“Both teams look good.” Coach Kimball leaned against the door frame to my office.

“I don’t want to set my sights too high,” I took off my computer glasses, pivoting my attention to him, “but I think we might medal in both sets of relays, and in some of the individual events this weekend. I’m telling you, some of those walk ons we got? They’re going places.”

Kimball took a seat in the chair across from my desk. As the athletic director, he was my boss. But he’d also helped set me up with my apartment and took the time to introduce me around the university as well.

“I’m really impressed by the first set of competitions. Both the men’s and women’s teams have really responded to you.”

Receiving praise from someone whom I’d grown to respect over the last few months warmed me in a way I hadn’t expected. I shouldn’t need it. That validation. I was supposed to be an athlete, meant to grow stronger from criticism. Yet, that little kernel of sunshine made me feel a million feet tall.

“How are you settling in?”

His question threw me.

“Settling in here? I think pretty well. One day, I’ll remember my copy machine code and won’t need to call the front desk to ask for it.”

“No,” he chuckled, “settling here in Bourbon City. I see you in here at four in the morning and you’re always still here when I leave, sometimes nearing seven at night.”

“Well, our practices start at five. I like to be available just in case anyone wants to talk or work through mental blocks they might be encountering. And then a lot of our team come to the swim clinics at night, whether they’re required to or not. I want to be available for them too in case something comes up.”

“Look Presley, I get it. You’re new to the Big 12 and trying to find your own sunlight away from Beckett Murray’s shadow. Trust me, I do. But you’re burning yourself out. I can see the bags under your eyes from here. Shit, I think I could fit my wife’s entire set of luggage in those things. You have assistant coaches. Use them. Trust that they are just as vested in every team member’s success as you are. They have just as much riding on your success as you do.”

Man, that comment about Beckett cut to the quick. Was I that obvious? This was a chance to have something that was mine alone. Based onmyhard work. Because ofmyknow how and abilities.

“How’s Fitzy treating you? Surely, she’s got you corralled into one of her schemes by now. Are you part of that Holiday Hunks auction?”

That yanked a chuckle right out of me. I did not know just how notorious an activity it truly was. Thank god I’d dodged that bullet.

“She tried like the dickens. I told her I didn’t want to risk not being able to follow through on a date if it fell during a conference or meet.”

Kimball whistled, tucking his hands behind his head. “She must be losing her touch if she let you off the hook in one go.”

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