Page 89 of Shot Taker

And when he wakes up, he’s going to be pissed if he’s out of the loop.

The phone rings, the shrill sound too loud in this place. I grab it.Harlan.

“I understand you’re going to the all-star game.”

“I understand you might be divorced by next week.”

Nova told me about her sister finding out—that we were together, and that Harlan kept it from her.

He sighs. “Mari’s upset. She’ll get over it.”

“That what happens when you fight?”

“I’m not sure. We don’t usually fight.”

Coach’s breathing is even. His eyelids are paper-thin. He’s always been hard and tough, but now he looks fragile.

Fragile things don’t last in this world.

“LA put together a solid offer. They called me with it this morning.” Harlan’s words cut into my thoughts.

“I wasn’t sure you’d still be pursuing that given everything going on.”

“My responsibility is to this team, and your stock is rising. The more you’re worth, the more we can get back for you.”

I expect to feel anticipation. Instead, the emotions swirling are complicated.

LA is still the top team in the West. But Nova’s here. Coach is here. The guys I’ve gotten closer to this year, whether I meant to or not… I’d be leaving them.

“This is what you wanted,” he reminds me. “Their GM’s going to have it over to me in writing in a couple of days.”

I clear my throat. “Let’s talk about it after this weekend.”

He’s quiet for a minute. “We’ll talk after.”

I shift back in my chair and hang up.

Coach’s hearing was always eerily accurate. He could decipher a muttered comment from across the gym.

“This what you want?” I ask him. “Team of my dreams is calling, and I’m busy bringing you takeout.”

Coach is silent, the only sound the machines beeping softly.

“I mean it. You’re not here to stop me, I might do something I regret.” I nudge his calf with my toe and nod at his dinner, still wrapped. “Not usually a two burger guy, but that could change today.”

In college during Final Four, Coach was coaching another team, and he saw I was fucked up. He told me to get in his car, and I did. We stopped for fast food, and I told him about my broken heart.

We kept in touch. He checked in on me over the years.

Let me lean on him more than once.

I cut him down because I was self-centered and impatient.

You can lean on me, I want to say.Just wake the fuck up.

I think about the time back in preseason when we were supposed to sing the team song and I refused.

I look around, seeing the lights click off on the floor as the staff prepare for the overnight shift. At the station across the hall, one of the nurses is humming under her breath.

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