Chapter 8
Connor
The Connors once again gathered in their coach’s office.
“Well, boys, I see you’ve put in some work. Bonding seems to be working. What do you think?”
Hazy shrugged. “I guess, yeah. Hard to tell. We should do more, just in case.” He winked at Connor, and Connor glared back.
Lover voiced his agreement. “We should definitely do more. It seemed to work. We’re almost friends now.”
Connor moved his glare to Lover. The little shits weren’t subtle.
They were right, though. They were on the right track.
In practices they were more in sync. The magic Connor had with his previous linemates was starting to break through, little pieces at a time.
“It wouldn’t hurt to have a few more sessions.
” He crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair, and refused to look at his teammates.
The manager clapped once and rubbed his hands together. “Great! Then I guess I have good news and bad news instead of only bad news.”
Lover threw his head back and moaned like a little kid. “I hate when the good news comes with bad news. Why can’t it all be good news?”
“Because that’s not how life works.” Connor responded and shifted his attention to their coach. “What’s the good news?”
“You guys are going to meet with the group bonding coach at least three more times.”
“Hell yeah! I bet she’ll have so much fun stuff planned.” Hazy said, doing a mini celebration in his seat. “What’s the bad news though?”
Coach furrowed his brow, his face scrunched in confusion. “Wait. You’re actually excited? You’re not being sarcastic about it helping?”
Lover shook his head. “No. Daisy is cool. She’s helping.”
Connor had to agree. “No sarcasm. And she seems to prioritize the fun aspect of it. It’s not a chore.”
Still hung up on the bad part, Hazy twirled his fingers in a circle indicating they should move on with the conversation. “Yeah. Daisy is great. We’ll do more sessions. What’s the bad news?”
The manager waved away his concern. “Your next appointment with her is going to be an overnight trip, and it’s scheduled for the long weekend. You won’t get as much of a break.”
Connor had plans with Dylan. But this close to the deadline, performing poorly, and on an expiring contract, he needed to keep his mouth shut and do what he was told. It would hurt to cancel on Dylan, but it would be devastating to move away from him.
So when Hazy said, “I didn’t have plans anyway,” Connor nodded in agreement.
“No problem,” he mumbled and stood, ready to be done for the day.
That evening he brought pizza to Sarah’s house.
This was the best part of his week. Every Friday he grabbed a pepperoni pizza from a different local pizzeria and spent the evening with Sarah and Dylan.
Over several years they had tried every pizza joint within a fifteen-mile radius of both her place and Connor’s.
Now they rotated between four different restaurants.
One place had great New York-style pizza, another’s deep dish was incredible, and yet another had the best stuffed crust. And sometimes you wanted a good old chain restaurant.
That night he carried a large deep-dish pizza into the apartment and set it on the counter.
When he’d opened the door, Dylan paused his game and followed him to the kitchen, eager to have a hug as soon as Connor’s hands were free.
“Uncle Bean! Are you going to play the kitchen game with me again?”
He hugged the small boy, cherishing every second. Time had flown by fast since Dylan was a baby, and the days of bear hugs and tickles were rapidly approaching their end. He wouldn’t miss a single moment if he could help it. Connor gave Dylan his best loopy grin.
“You bet I will. We have to eat dinner first, though. Do you think we can get your mom to play?”
Dylan shrugged and reached for the plates on the table, but Connor caught his hand before he could touch them. “Ah-ah. Go wash your hands first.”
The kitchen faucet washed away any grime on Dylan’s hands while Sarah greeted Connor with a hug.
“Hey! You brought the pizza! I’m starving.” She grabbed a plate from the stack and loaded it with pizza and garlic bread.
“Yeah, I had an early lunch today, so I needed to eat sooner. Glad it works for both of us.”
Connor helped Dylan load a plate with pizza from the center of the pie to avoid the crust. You would think the crust was made of spiders with how vehemently Dylan disliked it. When they couldn’t get the pizza cut into squares, Connor ate Dylan’s crust.
They sat in front of the TV and queued up a superhero movie.
Connor couldn’t pay attention, though. He watched Dylan pick the pepperoni off his pizza and set them aside to eat at the end.
It was silly, the amount of courage he had to work up to tell Dylan of his change in plans.
Never, not once, had Connor ever canceled on Dylan.
He always, always, always showed up. Thinking about disappointing him made Connor nauseous.
This seven-year-old had no idea the power he held over Connor.
When they finished their dinner and movie Sarah directed Dylan to get ready for bed before they played a few rounds of games. Dylan hurried to his room.
Sarah gathered the dishes from the coffee table and set about loading the dishwasher.
“What’s got you so down today?”
Connor swallowed the lump forming in his throat. “I can’t take Dylan camping over the long weekend like I planned.”
Sarah pursed her lips and crossed her arms. “Yeesh, I wouldn’t want to break that to him either.”
“I would never cancel if it weren’t important.” His voice almost cracked. Tears prickled in his eyes. His emotions were stupid. They could go camping any weekend. Maybe in the summer. When it got warm.
“What’s so important you’re going to break our boy’s heart?”
“God, Sarah, I feel bad enough. You don’t have to say it like that. I have to go on an overnight trip for our group bonding.”
Sarah’s expression morphed to delight. “Are you going to be spending an overnight trip with Daisy then?”
His sadness shifted to suspicion. “Maybe. They could be giving us a new person. Not really safe to have a woman do an overnight trip alone with three strange men. Why?”
“I hope it’s Daisy; she seems nice. Dylan loved her.”
Connor frowned at his sister. “When did you meet Daisy?”
“At the open practice the other day.”
He hadn’t seen Daisy when he’d spotted Dylan. His frown deepened as he remembered that day. He could only picture Dylan playing his video game.
“Daisy was at practice?”
“Yeah. She sat right behind us on the bleachers. Had a friend with her. She was real cagey about if she knew you until I told her I’m your sister.”
“Hmm. I didn’t see her. I wonder why she was there.”
“I don’t know. Her friend took a lot of notes, though. They both seemed excited when you scored a goal.”
“Interesting.”
“I guess.” Her features went blank as footsteps approached from the hallway. She lowered her voice to a soft whisper and leaned into Connor. “Tell him you have to do something for Daisy. He’ll understand.”
Dylan skipped toward them. “Are you guys ready for games now?”
Sarah patted the counter twice and said, “Sure are! Did you brush your teeth?”
Dylan nodded and opened his mouth wide for his mom to inspect. “Looks good. I’ll get the game started.”
She left Dylan and Connor standing in the kitchen. Now or never. “Hey, bud.” Connor sat on one of the hard kitchen chairs and patted his leg, inviting Dylan to sit on his lap. It was something they didn’t do often anymore, but for serious moments, Connor needed the contact. “I need to talk to you.”
Dylan climbed onto his uncle’s lap and laid his head on his shoulder.
“What’s wrong, Uncle Bean?”
“How do you know something’s wrong?” Connor squeezed the boy tight.
“You’re being weird.”
“How am I being weird?”
“You just are.”
“You’re kind of right. I’m bummed out. I can’t take you camping like we had planned. And I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to be sad.”
Dylan looped his arms around Connor’s neck and squeezed him in an esophagus-crushing hug.
“Oh. I guess I’m a little sad. But can we go a different time?”
“Yeah, bud. We can go a different time.”
“Why can’t we go?”
Connor was relieved Sarah had prepped him for this question. “Your mom told me you met Daisy, right?”
Dylan’s melancholy left the room at the mention of Daisy. He grinned and kicked his feet. “Yes! I like her. She’s pretty.”
“She is pretty. And she’s helping my team with some stuff. It’s important, and she needs me this weekend.”
Dylan slid off Connor’s lap and led the way to the living room, where Sarah handed them each a controller, and they sat side by side on the couch, feet resting on the coffee table.
“Good. She likes you. She said you’re her favorite Connor.”
Connor almost choked on his surprise. “I doubt she said that.”
Sarah laughed. “Well, she didn’t say those exact words. But yeah. She likes you.”
“You two are delusional.”
“No,” Dylan insisted, “she said you’re the real Connor.” Dylan slapped a hand over his mouth. “Ah crap. But she said not to tell you!”
“Language!” Sarah and Connor reminded him in unison.
Connor would never admit it, but the conversation he had with Sarah and Dylan about Daisy threw him off kilter.
Never in his life had he stressed about what to wear. Packing for his overnight trip was agonizing. He wanted to seem relaxed, but not like a slob. And not like he was trying too hard. And he wanted to actually not try too hard. But he second-guessed every single item.
For about thirty seconds he debated calling Hazy and Lover.
They were young. They did the whole going out and hooking up thing.
But if he gave them any indication of his interest in Daisy, they’d run with it.
They were already running with it, and all he’d done was speak two words to her. He could figure it out himself. Maybe.
After two hours of staring into his closet, he gave in and called Casey and Evan.
He propped his phone on his dresser to see them on FaceTime while he packed.
Casey held his toddler in one arm, pulling his phone out of her reach every few seconds.
“Connor, hey! How’s it going?”
Warmth filled Connor at the sight. “I wouldn’t say it’s great, but you guys are on fire! Here, let me add Evan.”
“Oh, no need,” Casey said. “He’s right here.”
Casey pulled Evan into the frame, and Evan waved. “Hey man, what’s up?”
Connor’s heart hurt at the sight of them together. He rubbed his chest, trying to soothe the ache. How much was he missing by staying here? Casey’s kids were growing like weeds. Evan was engaged. Being separated was inevitable, but the reality was worse than he’d ever imagined.
He worked to clear the lump in his throat. “I have fifteen minutes before I have to leave, and I waited too long and now I’m panicking. I’m going on a weekend trip to a cabin in the woods. But we might also go out. I don’t know the details. What do I pack?”
“Bro, that’s easy. Pack what you would pack for an away game. It’s everything you could need.” Evan always chose the simplest solution. Connor followed the advice by shoving his toiletries and a pair of jeans into his bag.
“Wait,” Casey said. “Are you taking a woman on a weekend trip? When did you meet a woman?”
Connor hesitated a few beats too long. He was going on a trip with Daisy. But it was a work thing. But she was still a woman. Who he was interested in. How much should he tell them? He wished he could transfer the whole situation into their brains so they could tell him what to do.
On his phone screen Evan started shaking Casey’s shoulders and jumping up and down.
“Ayyy, our boy met a woman!” To Connor he asked, “How’d you meet her? Is she hot?”
“Her name is Daisy, but this isn’t a romantic getaway. It’s a work thing.”
Connor’s phone timer interrupted their call, warning him he had ten minutes before Daisy picked him up. He needed to get them back on track.
“Why is your new woman going on your work trip?”
Connor shouldn’t have called them. He’d never be ready in time. “I will tell you everything later, but right now I need help packing.”
Casey said to take whatever looked hottest on him.
Solid advice if Connor knew what the hell that meant. He sucked at fashion. “Fuck. Is this how women feel? How do they function?”
“Hey, Cora! Connor is having a fashion emergency.” Evan shouted. A few seconds later, Casey’s wife snatched his phone from his hands.
“I’m so excited. I’ve been dying to dress you for years.”
“I’ll explain later, but I’ve got five minutes, and I need to pack and get dressed. What do I look hottest in?”
Cora didn’t hesitate. “If you want to get laid, any of your suits will do, but the real magic is a Henley with jeans that show off your ass, or gray sweatpants with a tight t-shirt. Ooo, or a shirt you cut down the sides so it’s barely a shirt anymore. That’s hot.”
“I’m not trying to get laid. But how do I know if my jeans show off my ass?”
She rolled her eyes. “Any of your jeans will work. Don’t overthink it. You’re hot as fuck.”
“Hey!” Casey objected, still within earshot.
“We’re married. I obviously think you’re hot. Connor can be hot too.”
Connor rushed around his room gathering the clothes Cora told him to pack.
“Thank you,” he told his friends, “I have to go.”
“Love you!” All three of them said.
“Love you, too.”
Connor ended the call and hastily put on a pair of pants as a car horn blared outside his house.