Chapter 8 Crew
Crew
Everybody in the diner wants to give us a ride. There are even a couple of guys who are not going to Des Moines who have offered to change their route for us.
Being me is pretty great ninety-nine percent of the time.
And at the moment, my stomach full of some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had, sitting in a diner full of people who love me, on my way to see my gorgeous wife, I can’t even come up with times that fall into that other one percent.
“Okay, here’s the thing,” I tell the group that’s gathered around my booth in Daisy’s diner in Davenport, Iowa. “This is all going to come down to what kind of rides y’all have.”
They all laugh.
I grin, but I’m serious. I need comfort.
We have two and a half hours to go and then Nathan’s going to put us on a charter flight.
That is absolutely the way I am used to traveling, and I don’t want to be stuck in the back of some pick-up truck, or crammed into a Kia for the trip from Davenport to Des Moines.
“Let’s go out to the parking lot and you can show me what you’re driving,” I tell the small crowd.
It only takes me five minutes to pick the way we’re taking to Des Moines.
Rhonda and Dave have a full on camper.
It’s not like the camper that we took home for Christmas two years ago. It’s not a Christmas Vacation RV. No, this is a nice mobile home. The kind people stay in for weeks at a time at National Parks and shit. This cost some serious money.
Rhonda and Dave are on their way to Des Moines to see their grandkids for the holiday which, as Rhonda explains, also means there’s Christmas music, Christmas decorations, and Christmas cookies inside that thing.
No one else in that diner can compete.
And honestly, I think they all understand.
I climb into the RV and take a seat on the bench by the dining table. Rhonda opens a plastic container, full of frosted sugar cookies, and I take a deep breath.
“Dave, feel free to drive just under the speed limit too. No reason to rush this trip,” I say, selecting a huge snowflake cookie and a Christmas tree that has four colors of frosting and lots of candy.
That’s the kind of cookie Dani and I would make.
I grin as I bite into it. I get to see my girl in just a few hours.
God, I’ve missed her. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since I last saw her, but something about being stuck, not having a direct way to her, having obstacles thrown in our way repeatedly makes it seem like we’ve been apart longer.
Rhonda and Dave both chuckle. Rhonda goes to the back of the Winnebago, rummages around and then returns. “And if you get cold,” she starts holding up what she has in her hands.
“Yes. One thousand percent. Gimme.”
I take the bright red sweater that’s stitched with a fully decorated Christmas tree complete with real tinsel garland. There’s also a long 3-D gift box under the tree that will hang down over my crotch.The words above the tree say BIG GIFT ENERGY.
I pull it over my head and give a happy sigh. It’s actually soft inside and warm and hilarious.
Dave climbs into the driver seat and starts the engine. “Okay, where’s Nathan?” he asks.
I finish chewing the cookie in my mouth and swallow. That’s a good question. Nathan was very quiet during breakfast. I’m not even sure where he sat.
“Let me go and grab him,” I say. I’m more than happy to wear this sweater for an audience.
I pull my phone from my pocket and shoot him a quick text even as I head for the front of the diner, the Christmas package bumping gently against my dick as I walk.
Are you ready to go? I have a ride ready.
I step back through the doors of Daisy’s and everybody calls out a greeting.
Then I get the laughter and applause I really want for the sweater.
“Anybody see Nathan?” I ask with a grin, looking around. I don’t see him and he couldn’t have missed me now.
“What was he wearing again?”
“Where was he sitting?”
“I just came from the bathroom. He’s not in there.”
I frown and scan in the room more carefully, but he’s nowhere.
The nuns might have kept an eye on him, but they left about ten minutes ago. As they were leaving, they stopped by my booth and Agatha gave me a quick hug and told me to work on my wind sprints.
We also exchanged cell phone numbers because I’m not going to give up on the idea of her coming to a game as a VIP.
Just then I hear honking and everyone turns to look out the huge windows.
The nuns’ van pulls into the parking lot and right up to the curb in front of the door.
The side door slides open and Nathan climbs out.
He looks disheveled and confused. He stands on the front walk, his hair sticking up the way it does only when he’s first rolled out of bed. He’s blinking, and staring at the door to the diner as if he’s not sure what he should do.
I push open the door. “Nathan?”
He looks relieved to see me. “Hey.” He also looks slightly sheepish.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I had a headache. Still do.” He rubs his forehead. “I climbed in the van to take a nap. They got almost fifteen miles down the road before they realized I was there. I woke up and thought I was being kidnapped.”
I shouldn’t laugh. But honestly, if I don’t, Nathan will think something's wrong with me.
I chuckle as I step out of the diner with him and slap him on the back. “It’s been a hell of the last several hours hasn’t it?”
He sighs. “It really has. But I’m not still asleep and dreaming?”
I shake my head. “Sorry. But I’ve got us a ride to Des Moines.”
The nuns give us another honk, Nathan groans, I wave, and they pull away from the curb.
Then I turn Nathan to see the RV. “You ready to go?”
He groans again. “You’re kidding right?”
I clap him on the shoulder again. “All aboard.”
He finally fully focuses on me scanning me from head to toe. “What the fuck are you wearing? Were you kidnapped?”
I slide my hand over the garland and then down over the ‘package’. “Seriously? You know very well that I would beg to wear this sweater. And don’t worry, we’ve got Christmas sweaters, Christmas music, and Christmas cookies all the way to Des Moines.”
He sighs. “You got in someone’s camper just because they offered you cookies?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I can’t leave you alone for even five minutes.”
“Dude, you were the one that fell asleep in the back of an unmarked van.”
He nods.”Danielle and Michael can never leave us alone again.”
I chuckle and steer him toward the camper. “Best road trip ever.”
Ten minutes later, Rhonda not only has Nathan in a pretty boring sweatshirt that’s just two reindeer humping that says REINDEER GAMES, but she’s given him two cookies—which he ate with a happy moan after the first bite—and he’s actually smiling as she dumps ibuprofen into his hand, gives him a bottle of water, and points him to the bedroom in back, insisting he nap until we get to Des Moines.
He’s asleep in minutes.
I love giving Nathan shit. I think I might only love fucking Dani, hanging out with our kids, and playing hockey more than I love giving Nathan shit.
But he’s a great guy who I’m very happy to have as a part of my family.
He’s mellowed a little in the time he’s been with me, Dani, and Michael.
He’d have to or he’d never survive the daily headaches.
But we’ve all come together to form a really amazing unit that needs each of us to function.
And when one of us is having a bad day, the rest of us step up.
I sit up front chatting with Rhonda and Dave.
We spent most of the drive talking about their grandkids.
Which is fine by me. I’ve talked hockey with Agatha and the girls and most of Daisy’s Diner.
Rhonda and Dave aren’t big hockey fans, and that’s fine.
They remind me of Michael’s parents. They’re warm and friendly, genuine, so proud of their family they glow with it.
We’re about thirty minutes from Des Moines when I get a call from Nathan’s personal secretary, Val.
That’s happened maybe once before. We all have the numbers for all the important people in each other’s lives, and vice versa.
But there’s almost never a reason for Val to call me.
Nathan works twenty-four-seven, for one thing.
For another, it’s way more likely Val would call Dani or Michael if she needed something for Nathan.
But I love Val. She’s more like family than an employee and she’s been around our family lots of times.
“Hey, Val,” I answer. “This is a nice surprise.”
“Hey, honey. Is Nathan okay?” she asks. “He’s not answering his phone.”
“Oh, yeah. He’s got a headache and is sleeping. I made him leave his phone out here.” I pat my pocket, then pull Nathan’s phone out. There are six missed calls from Val and a few texts.
“If you all are going to start texting and calling me at four fucking a.m., then you’d better be answering when I call you back,” she says, without even a bit of bite to her tone.
“He started at four?” I ask. “Damn, sorry. You know I wouldn’t have let him do that.”
“He sounded panicked about this chartered flight situation.”
“He was,” I confirm. “But even Nathan knows he can’t book a chartered flight at four a.m.”
“Does he?” Val asks. “Really?”
I chuckle. “You’re right, he doesn’t. I guess that’s why he needs us. To keep him tethered to reality.”
“Well, you’ve got to give him a little more reality,” she says. “There are no chartered flights available out of Des Moines. I got you one out of Omaha though. Do you want me to book you a car from Des Moines to Omaha?”
“Wait.” I sit up a little straighter. “There are no chartered flights out of Des Moines? How can they not do chartered flights?”
Okay, so I’m so laid-back off the ice that sometimes Michael jokingly checks my pulse to be sure I’m alive. But, I’m a rich, professional athlete, who is in a relationship with a spoiled billionaire. I’m not used to hearing “no” or “you can’t,” I’ll admit.
“They do chartered flights,” Val says. “They just don’t have any available this morning.”
“But…did you offer them more money?”