Page 234 of On His Team

Gianna: Leaving now.

I look at the message.

Me: Thought you were already at Hawthorne.

Gianna: I went home to shower.

I smile and put my phone back in my pocket.

Mackey hits me and says, “Good game, brother.”

“Yeah.”

He shoulders his bag and keeps walking.

Stanley comes around the other side of the bus carrying enough stuff that I don’t understand how it all belonged to him for a two-night trip.

“Is your girlfriend coming over?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Melly’s coming. Blue’s already trying to leave, which means he’s lying because Melly has his location.”

Blue, ten feet ahead of us, lifts one hand without turning around.

“Fuck off.”

Stanley looks at me. “See?”

Winning the semifinal has not made any of us normal.

It has made everything louder.

The conference championship is six days away. Michigan again. One game for the Big Ten title, and after that, Selection Sunday, regardless of whether we win or lose.

All week, people keep telling us we’re in a good position for the NCAA tournament.

Good position.

Probably in.

Should be safe.

Nobody says guaranteed.

That word doesn’t exist until your name appears on the screen.

I carry my gear into the rink, drop what needs to stay there, and drive home with Stanley talking the entire way.

Gianna is sitting on the front steps when we pull up. She stands before I’ve parked.

Stanley looks through the windshield. “She’s been here thirty seconds.”

I shut the truck off. “How do you know?”

“I saw her location.”

I turn slowly toward him.