Page 62 of Blindsided

Trevor ignored Tory. “That can be the Parliament's thing!”

“What?” I asked, wondering if it was wise to engage with him.

Trevor was so excited, he was nearly vibrating with energy. “The chalkboards! The Grizzlies have our bears; you guys can do chalkboard things.”

I blinked in confusion, not sure what “chalkboard things” he meant. Somehow, Tory was following his thought and sat up in his seat. “That’s actually brilliant. I love that.”

Trevor nodded so eagerly, I worried I was going to have to explain to Brax that his boy got a concussion. “It would be so fun. I bet social media would go nuts for it. It’s funny and unique. I think I saw a football team do something similar at the start of training camp.” He nearly fumbled his phone as he pulled it from his pocket and started poking at the screen.

“Would someone please clue me in on what the hell you two are talking about?” My brain was too full for this. I took my phone out and tapped out a message to Easton.

More warning next time. They’re making my brain hurt.

Laughter sounded from the hallway just as Trevor tried to explain the idea again. “The back-to-school chalkboards, you could do one for each player.”

I actually sighed in relief when I saw Easton and Brax walk through my office door. “Sir!”

“Daddy!” Trevor said when he saw Brax beside Easton.

Tory laughed at our reactions. “This is why I love hanging out with you all. I never know what insanity is going to come out of either of your mouths.”

I narrowed my eyes at Tory. “You’re one to talk. I seem to remember you scarring Dane not ten minutes ago.”

Easton sighed. “Leave Dane alone. He’s really a nice guy.”

Brax gave Trevor a firm stare. “You guys were coming down here to see if Lincoln wanted to go to lunch, not confuse him.”

Trevor’s eyes widened. “Oh right! I forgot all about that! Want to go to lunch?”

Now that they were talking about lunch, I realized I was hungry. Unfortunately, if I didn’t figure out what the two men were talking about, I wasn’t going to be able to get anything else done today because now I was thinking about “chalkboard things,” the first day of school, and professional hockey players, and had no idea how any of them fit together.

“Chalkboard things, then lunch,” I said with finality.

Easton’s hum and small nod of approval made my stomach feel like it had started an acrobat routine. I loved making him happy. A happy Easton usually meant I got the best rewards.

Tory yawned. “Can we go to the cafe down the road? I need coffee if I’m going to make it through the day.”

“Chalkboards first,” Brax said before I could open my mouth.

Trevor rolled his eyes and started talking, though I couldn’t decide if he was talking to Brax or me. “Tory was talking about the kids starting school again and how he got up early to write on chalkboards. Have you seen those chalkboards before?”

Easton nodded slowly. “Yeah. Some of the guys have kids. They showed me pictures with their kids standing with chalkboards on the first day of school.”

Trevor nodded as Easton spoke. As soon as Easton took a breath, Trevor continued. “Exactly that. So, Tory was talking about doing that for his kids. I said that the Parliament could do that too.”

“Didn’t one of the football teams do that at the beginning of camp last month?” Brax asked the room.

“Yeah. I saw that on social media. A few of the guys on the team did it,” Easton said.

“Right. A few of them,” Trevor said, excitement building in his voice again. “I’m talking about the entire team, coaches, head office, everyone does it at the beginning of the season. Then each time there’s a trade or a new player, they do it. Then you could even do it at the end of the season too. Kind of like a last-day-of-school thing.”

I was finally following the conversation. It was a cute idea; I just didn’t know how the team would feel about it. Then again, the Grizzlies had their bears that had become such an integral part of their team identity, it was strange seeing a picture of the team without the bears. I glanced over to find Easton deep in thought.

“I actually like this idea. We’d need to find someone with decent penmanship. I don’t think you could read the vast majority of our writing. I know Tom and I are constantly asking each other what our chicken scratch says.”

“Don’t look at me,” I said when Easton looked in my direction. “My handwriting is better than yours, but it’s still not good enough for social media pictures.”

Trevor glanced to his side where Tory had his eyes open, though I suspected it was only because there were people talking in the room. “Tory has beautiful handwriting.”

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