He turned to see Sam still on the bed, holding up his phone with a small boy sternly staring back at him on the screen.
"My name is Griffin, not G."
"OK, Griff," Ryan said with a smile.
The kid's eyes narrowed as he tried to stare down the tough defenseman. "Griffin," he said with a growl.
Ryan put his hands up in surrender. "OK, OK. You win,Griffin."
The seven-year-old finally smiled back at him. "Thank you," he said. "Now, when my dad gets a new roommate, I have to make sure he's going to be nice this season. Are you going to be nice?"
Ryan could see Sam behind the phone, his hand over his mouth to prevent him from laughing out loud while Ryan was trying his best to keep this charade going. "I promise I will totally be nice."
"OK, then you can stay with my dad this year."
"How many of your dad's roommates have you interrogated like this?"
Griffin got a thoughtful look on his face trying to figure out how long it had been.
"This is the second time, Griffin!" came a voice from off-camera back in Michigan.
Then the face of Sam's manny, Will, who was probably around Ryan's age, popped up on the screen. In the summer, Will was an art student who paid for school with his job as a live-in manny for the Martins. He even came out for drinks a few times with some of the other single guys on the team. It was a bit of an unusual set-up but seemed to be working out for everyone in the Martin house, which made Ryan happy. Griffin was a cool kid and it was nice to see that even on the road, Sam had been able to find some stability at home for his son. Ryan remembered all the drama his rookie year when Sam's wife decided to just move out one day in the middle of the season because she couldn't handle him always traveling and playing hockey.
"Hey, Ryan," Will said, giving him a quick wave. "Sam, sorry to say, but we have to sign off because it's book time."
"So it is," Sam said. "You know, Griffin, Ryan is reading a book."
He looked over the phone towards Ryan, giving him a teasing grin. The guys were going to chirp at him all season about this book thing now.
"What are you reading, Mr. Ryan?"
The defenseman looked at this cute brown-haired kid staring back at him from the phone. If he could get this kind of reaction from Griffin all season, he wouldn't mind the occasional chirp.
"I'm readingThe Da Vinci Code, bud."
Griffin's nose crinkled. "Sounds boring."
Ryan feigned being hurt. "What? Are you reading something better?"
"The Bear on the Bus!" the little boy announced. "It's about a bear who drives a bus. We read it every night this week so far!"
In the background, Ryan could see Will's face fall into his hand in frustration.
"Sounds pretty awesome," Ryan told him. "You go have fun with that one."
Griffin waved enthusiastically from the screen before everyone said their goodbyes and Sam wished his son a good night. When he hung up, there was quiet in the hotel room as if the two teammates were trying to recover like this seven-year-old was actually running around the room and not just on the screen.
"He's a cool kid," Ryan finally said.
"He is."
Sam took a deep breath and plugged his phone into the charger on their nightstand.
"For what it's worth, I want you to know that I've readThe Da Vinci Codeand I don't think it's boring."
Ryan laughed loudly. "Thanks, man. Makes up for your kid hurting my feelings."
Sam smiled from his spot across the room. "Get used to it. He does it to everyone."
