Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
“Right this way.”
Nicole and Shealyn followed the hostess through the restaurant to a large table in the back.
Nicole was not looking forward to this dinner.
If her entire team wasn’t here, she would have made some excuse to go up to her room.
She’d been taking deep breaths off and on all night trying to tamp down the anxiety Maggie Patterson had caused.
During the game Maggie had appeared in front of them several times and obstructed their view.
She made comments during time outs while they were off the air and kept smiling at Nicole.
It was obvious she was trying to get Nicole’s attention.
At one point Nicole had asked Maggie to move.
She laughed it off and stayed out of their way for the rest of the quarter.
After they’d changed, Maggie was waiting for them and Nicole could now feel her following close behind her as they approached her team.
Adding to her anxiety was the fact that Shealyn seemed to find this amusing. Nicole planned to have a conversation with Shealyn once they’d gone up to their rooms. Her dating life was her business and Shealyn needed to accept that.
“There’s room down here,” Keith said, pointing to the end of the table.
“Hey everyone,” Shealyn greeted the group. “This is Maggie Patterson. She called the game tonight and is joining us.”
Nicole tried to ease past Shealyn so she could sit at the end of the table. The last thing she wanted was to be seated next to Maggie.
Shealyn took a step and slid into the chair on the end, leaving Nicole and Maggie to sit side-by-side on her right. Nicole narrowed her eyes at Shealyn then turned to Keith. “How did you get here before us?”
“You beautiful people have to change clothes,” Keith said.
“Yeah, but you have all the equipment.”
“We’re fast and we were hungry!” he replied with a grin.
They ordered and the sounds of various conversations filtered through the air.
Nicole reached for her phone hoping there would be a text from Ariana waiting.
When they’d exchanged texts at halftime it had given Nicole a moment of calm.
She didn’t realize just how much she looked forward to their interactions until Maggie became such a nuisance during the game.
To Nicole’s surprise Ariana seemed to ease her anxiety.
“Thanks again for letting me tag along,” Maggie said.
“You’re welcome.” Shealyn smiled.
“I love it when I have games on your network,” Maggie said.
“Why’s that?” Shealyn chuckled. “I’m sure the other networks would let you have dinner with them.”
“It’s not that. More people watch the games on your network, so there are more eyes on us.”
“More eyes?” Nicole furrowed her brow. She knew her network’s ratings for WNBA games were the best, but thought that only mattered to them and their sponsors.
“People watch the players, but there’s more to the game,” Maggie explained. “They might tune in to hear you and Shealyn, but they also see us. The officials.”
Nicole glanced at Shealyn and saw the confusion on her face as well.
“If we call a good game, people notice,” Maggie went on.
“I thought if the officials did a good job during the game then they wouldn't be noticed,” Nicole said.
“True, but sometimes things happen,” Maggie said. “Strange circumstances can lead to unusual plays. How we handle those makes a difference.”
“Okay, I get that,” Nicole said. “And since you brought it up, it took way too long for the officials to come to a decision on the challenges tonight.”
“I know,” Maggie said. “That depends on the crew chief. The final decision is up to them. I can give my opinion and we can decide as a group, but that can take time.”
“I’m afraid until you come up with a quicker way to decide challenges then Nicole and I will not be gentle with our comments on the air,” Shealyn said.
“There are times when that break for a challenge can be used in a beneficial way,” Maggie said. “If tensions are high and tempers are flaring then the review time-out can be used to calm the players down. It’s a way the officials can keep control of the game.”
“I thought you did that by calling fouls,” Keith said, leaning over to get into the conversation.
“Fouls are another way to do that,” Maggie said.
“Yeah, but only if they’re warranted,” Nicole said. She knew that some referees could be more strict than others.
“What about players that like to complain about every call you make?” Keith asked.
“There are ways officials can send messages to players by the calls we make,” Maggie said, raising a brow.
“You do that?” Nicole tilted her head.
Maggie shrugged. “We can call a game tight in the beginning to send a message on how we plan to officiate the game. Or we can call a foul on a player who needs to know we’re the ones in control of the game.”
Nicole narrowed her gaze at Maggie. Something about this conversation rubbed Nicole the wrong way.
She knew officials had to keep control of the game, but calling tacky fouls to send a message or make a point was not good sportsmanship.
Officials had to take criticism from players, coaches, management, and sometimes her and Shealyn, but it was part of their jobs.
The difference between good and subpar officials, in Nicole’s opinion, was how they reacted to it.
“What about integrity? Does that mean you’d call a foul when there isn’t one?” Nicole asked.
Maggie met her gaze and shrugged. “It’s all in how I see it.”
Nicole nodded and was grateful their food arrived thus ending this conversation. She had always been wary of Maggie and now she knew why. Nicole respected officials and oftentimes thought they received unwarranted criticism, but from what Maggie said tonight, she deserved the criticism.
Most of the time Nicole was quick to side with the officials because they usually had a better view of a play than she and Shealyn did, but Maggie’s words gave her pause.
She wasn’t naive and knew there were officials who had their favorites, but most of the league’s officials were the utmost professionals.
Nicole couldn’t wait to talk to Ariana about this. She wondered if there were officials Ariana knew to look out for or welcomed calling her games. When she finished eating, she once again reached for her phone and sighed when there was not a text from Ariana.
“Everything okay?” Shealyn asked.
Nicole looked over at her and smiled. “Yep.” She took a sip of her drink and pushed back from the table. “I’m going up to the room.”
People started to get up and gather their things.
“Thanks again for letting me have dinner with you,” Maggie said.
“Thank Shealyn,” Nicole said. “This was her party.”
Shealyn smirked and followed Nicole out of the restaurant to the elevators.
“Oh hey, where’s your game this weekend?” Maggie asked while they waited.
“We’ll be in Connecticut," Shealyn replied.
“Oh, wow, me too!” Maggie smiled. “Maybe we can do this again?”
Nicole’s phone began to vibrate in her hand and when she saw that Ariana was calling she couldn’t stop the smile that brightened her face. “I’ve got to take this,” she said to Shealyn, and turned away from the group. “Hey,” she said softly.
“Is this a bad time?” Ariana replied.
“Perfect timing,” Nicole said as the elevator doors opened. She watched Shealyn and Maggie step inside. “I’ll catch the next one.” Shealyn gave her a look and Nicole smiled.
“Do you need to go?”
“No! You have no idea how happy I am that you called right now,” Nicole said.
The smile on Ariana’s face matched the happiness in her heart. She’d debated whether to text or call Nicole but the desire to hear her voice was too great.
“I wanted to give you time for dinner, but I hoped if you weren’t busy…”
“Ari, it’s good to hear your voice.”
From time to time Ariana’s friends shortened her name, but the way Nicole said Ari made her melt a little inside. “Are you all right?”
Nicole sighed into the phone. “Everything was great up until halftime when we texted. I discovered something about your texts.”
“What’s that?”
“Your texts calm my anxiety.”
“Oh, um, that’s…nice?” Ariana wasn’t sure what Nicole meant. “Why were you anxious?”
“You’re not going to believe this,” Nicole said.
“What happened?”
“Maggie Patterson happened!” Nicole said.
“You know, Cameron and I noticed her hanging around your desk during the game. What was that about?”
“Oh my God,” Nicole groaned. “You saw her! You noticed!”
“W–well,” Ari stammered.
“Well what?”
“I’m not sure anyone else noticed,” Ariana said. “We did because we were looking for you.”
“Oh,” Nicole said softly.
“Yeah, I told you the game was kind of boring, so we were watching you and Shealyn when we could see you,” Ariana said. “I don’t know what your viewers noticed. We know where to look.”
“Oh, Ari, it was awful.”
“What was she doing? Shouldn’t she have been at the scorer’s table?”
Nicole groaned. “We went to shootaround and ran into her. While Shea was talking to a few of the players Maggie asked me out to dinner.”
“Oh.” Ariana felt the heat rush to her cheeks.
“The last thing I wanted to do was go to dinner with her,” Nicole stated.
“I turned her down, but our team already had dinner plans. Shea overheard us and invited her to join us anyway. I don’t know what she was thinking, but at one point I had to ask Maggie to move away from our desk.
Shealyn thought all of this was funny, but it could’ve been a huge mess.
Believe me, I’m talking to Shealyn as soon as I get off the phone with you.
My dating life is mine! I’m tired of her and Kate messing where they shouldn’t. This could’ve affected the broadcast.”
Ariana felt her heart lift as Nicole continued to ramble. When she finally stopped Ariana said, “I’m sorry that happened to you. But Nic, you handled it well. I’m sure no one noticed on the broadcast.”
“You’re being sweet,” Nicole said. “I’m rambling on and on because I am so irritated with Shealyn and with Maggie. Things didn’t get any better at dinner.”
“I had a bad feeling when I saw Maggie hanging around you. This is going to sound strange because I know you can take care of yourself, but Nic, I felt this need to protect you.”
“Ari.” Nicole sighed. “Let me ask, do you ever have problems with officials? I mean, do you play differently if you know certain referees are calling your game?”
“Mmm, not really,” Ariana replied. “We are aware of the officials who tend to call a tighter game than others and adjust accordingly.”
“Has an official ever called a foul on you to send a message?”
“What do you mean?” Ariana asked. “I’ve had fouls called on me that I didn’t think were fouls, but that happens to everyone.”
“Maggie mentioned controlling the game or sending messages to certain players by how they call fouls.”
“I’m not surprised,” Ariana said. “Most officials are fair and usually at the beginning of the game you find out how they’re going to call it. If they let some contact slide then you know how closely you can guard on defense. Things like that.”
“Do you know Maggie?”
“I know her to say hello or nod before a game, but that’s it,” Ariana said.
“Have you ever had problems with her officiating?”
“No, not that I can remember.”
“She said some questionable things tonight and it made me wonder,” Nicole said. “We all have favorite players, but just as I can't show partiality neither can an official.”
“Yeah, but they do,” Ariana said. “Some players get more leeway than others because in a way they’ve earned it. I’m okay with that as long as it doesn’t determine the outcome of a game. You know?”
“Yes, I know what you mean.”
“Lucky for me it doesn’t matter if I have favorite players or commentators,” Ariana said with a smile on her face. “I think you know who my favorite commenter is.”
Nicole chuckled and Ariana could hear the tension was gone from her voice. “Do you mean Shealyn?”
Ariana laughed. “She’s not bad, but her partner is so much better.”
“Thank you,” Nicole said. “You have no idea how much I needed to hear that tonight. I’m used to things going wrong during a broadcast and adjusting, but I’ve never had anything happen like tonight.”
“No one noticed but you and Shealyn.”
“You are really good for my ego, Ariana Villa,” Nicole said.
Ariana chuckled. “Now you know how I feel when you say something nice about me.”
“I call it like I see it.”
“And I call it like I hear it.”
Nicole’s throaty laugh through the phone caused a rush of heat to flow through Ariana’s body. This was a welcome warmth, unlike the pang of jealousy from earlier. It had been a long time since Ariana had felt either of those emotions, much less because of the same woman.