The cracks in the screen have formed what looks like an intricate spider web.
“You can’t make it work for the next thirty days?”
He uses a sarcastic tone.
“Very funny.”
“I’m not laughing.”
“Me either. Your life over the next thirty days is in this phone.”
“I’m sure you synced it to a calendar on your laptop.”
“Seriously!? I need my phone. I can’t carry around my laptop everywhere.”
“All right, already, I’ll get you a new one,” he says dismissively. “It’s insured.”
“Dang nabbit, I can’t open the calendar.” I try pressing the home button several times. “I can’t open any apps.”
I know that I must sound like a crazy person.
“IsaidI’ll get you a new one,” he repeats more emphatically as he jogs toward the locker rooms. “Stop spazzing the fuck out. And don’t say dang nabbit ever again.”
“I want it today!” I holler back.
He throws up a thumbs-up signal and continues his retreat.
“And a case!”
He throws up another okay sign.
“Hey, Coop!” Jim calls out after him. “You ready to give me that exclusive yet?”
Coop stops dead in his tracks in the middle of the field with his back still to us.
“What are you doing?” I angrily whisper to Jim.
“Something my father taught me to do—just ask.”
Chapter Thirteen
URSULA
“You wait until he’s halfway to the locker room to ask him for an interview?”
Coop turns around and cocks his head to one side. He starts walking in long, purposeful steps back toward where I’m seated.
“That was not the right way to ask him,” I say through gritted teeth.
I don’t need any drama these next thirty days. It will take me months to change the narrative in the news if Coop ends up threatening Jim.
“Don’t worry, Urs.” Jim pats my arm in a patronizing manner. “I got this.”
“Who are you?” Coop demands to know as he approaches Jim.
Everyone is staring at us. I see a few spectator phones in the air.
“They’re taping us,” I whisper to Coop.
