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I’m driving home from Nathan’s house where we all hung out after leaving the hospital when Nora calls me.
Tension in my shoulders unravels just from the sight of her name. All day I’ve been considering what to do about Nora, and I think I have a good plan.
“You must have felt me thinking about you,” I say as a greeting.
“My nosewasitching earlier…”
I grip the steering wheel. “That’s not the part of your body I was daydreaming of touching.”
The line goes silent.
Grinning, I ask, “You there, Ginger Snap?”
She clears her throat. “Mm-hm. I’m here. Just…had to have CPR for a second there. I’m revived—everything is fine.”
God, I love her. Miss her already.
Turning on my blinker, I switch lanes. “How’s your day been?”
She sighs contentedly and I imagine her soft lips smiling. “It was…good. I got a new office. You didn’t see my other one, but if you hold up your thumb you’ll have an accurate representation of the size.”
I smile. “And the new one is bigger?”
“Definitely. And has these big, glorious windows and doesn’t even smell a bit like cleaning supplies.” She pauses. “You’ll have to come see it.”
“I’d like that.”
“But you’ll have to behave,” she says, accurately reading my thoughts through the line.
“When do I not behave?”
“You’re purring, Derek.”
I laugh. “So why just good and not great? Was Marty a jerk? Say the word and I’ll be the worst surprise he’s ever found in his office tomorrow morning.”
She chuckles, but it’s not convincing. “I didn’t interact with him much. I stayed buried in my office pretty much all day.”
Alarm creeps over my skin. “You sound sad, Nora.”
“I don’t mean to…I guess I just—actually can we circle back to this question? I want to fill you in on what I learned today. About your position on the team. Are you where you can talk business for a minute?”
Her tone of voice is throwing me. I wish I were with her right now so I could see her face. Check to see if there are lines beside her eyes when she smiles or if her mouth is pressed flat.
“I’m just driving home. So yeah, let me hear the good news,” I say with unmistakable sarcasm.
“I spoke with the team execs and everything we heard today at the airport really was just a rumor—and not one leaked by them.”That’s a relief.“They want you to know there are no immediate plans to cut you, and that the Sharks have always valued your position on the team and are going to give you the shot you deserve.”
“But…?” I ask, knowing full well that there is one.
“But,” Nora begins gently, “you already know the rest. Your job isby no means safe and will depend heavily on how you perform those first few games. They want to see how your injury affects your performance—and if it’s for the worse, we might be looking at a bench, a cut, a salary renegotiation…or even a trade.”
“I don’t want to play for anyone but the Sharks.”
“Even if that means not playing at all?” she says, cutting right to the meat of it.
I allow her question to sink in before I answer. And for a minute we both listen to the soft sounds of my blinker. “I don’t want to be traded. The Sharks…the guys…they’re like my family. I want to end my career as a Shark.”
“I understand that. And respect it,” she says, and I wish more than anything I were there with her—could be having this conversation with her in my arms. Preferably naked. “Okay, then I have more to say, and I want you to listen and not respond until I’m completely done. Promise?”
