“Oh. I don’t know how much luck was actually involved.”
“What do you mean?”
“Basically that I found out after the fact that he’d practically been running a political campaign for the team to draft me.”
Peyton’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow, really?”
I nodded, still chuckling. “I mean, here he was, thiseighteen-year-old rookie, bending the GM’s ear like, ‘dude, you’ve gotta draft this kid.’ I guess it got to the point the GM would just sort of groan whenever he saw him.”
“But he listened to him.”
“I think he listened to the scouts more than anything,” I said with a laugh. “But… yeah, he did tell us that Leif really put me on their radar.” I rolled my eyes. “Leif said that entitled him to half my salary for the first season.”
“I mean, that seems reasonable to me,” Peyton said, eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Pfft. Whatever.”
He just chuckled.
“There was another funny incident when he got married.” I couldn’t help smiling at the memory. “I was his best man, and I kept threatening to make my speechreallyembarrassing and inappropriate.”
“Of course you did.”
“Right? But then I actually wrote one, and it was bad—like,allthe inside jokes from major juniors and the Whiskey Rebels, every embarrassing story I knew, plus at least half a dozen I’d made up. I printed it out on blue paper and showed it to him, and he just sort of rolled his eyes, crumpled it up, and tossed it back at me.” I laughed. “Then at the reception, I pull out this wrinkled piece of blue paper.”
Peyton snorted. “Did he recognize it?”
“Ooh, yeah. The look of horror on his face was absolutely priceless. Like, he was pretty pale to begin with, and he was suddenly whiter than Rachel’s dress.”
“Oh, shit. Did you actually read that speech?”
“Not the evil one, no. But I’d printed my real speech on the same type of blue paper, then wrinkled it up just to mess with his head.”
“That’s fucked up,” he said with a laugh.
“I know, right? It was funny as hell, though.”
“Did his wife think so?”
“Once she found out why he panicked?” I snickered. “Oh, yeah. She thought it washilarious.”
Peyton laughed. “She sounds like a spitfire from what I’ve heard.”
“Oh my God, she so is.” Another story came back to me, and I couldn’t help grinning. “So, I was dating a guy my—second year with Pittsburgh? Third?” I shook my head. “I don’t remember. Anyway, I’d been with him for a couple of months. Everything seemed fine, right? And like always, Leif and I would drive in to practices and games and stuff together. This one night, we’re on our way home from a game, and he just pulls over—right there on the side of I-79 in a not-very-inconspicuous car—and tells me he needs to talk to me about my boyfriend.”
Peyton’s eyebrows were nearly in his hair. “Yeah? What was it about?”
“Well, it turns out there was a player on the farm team who’d been called up recently. Leif didn’t tell me who it was, but I could put two and two together, since there were only three guys who’d come up recently. Anyway, the kid had come to dinner with a bunch of us one night, and my boyfriend was with me. The next day, the kid pulled Leif aside and said he was afraid to tell me, but he’d hooked up with my boyfriend a few nights earlier.”
“No shit?” Peyton’s jaw went slack.
“No shit.” I rolled my eyes. “Leif told him he’d pass it on to me—that way I’d know. The kid was just terrified to tell me because he was afraid I’d be angry with him. I think he was also staying really tightlipped about his sexuality; Leifsaid he’d obviously been struggling hard to tell him, so he didn’t want anyone else to know.”
“Wow. He really looked out for the young guys, didn’t he?”
“Oh, absolutely. And he also came prepared that night in case I didn’t believe him.”
“Yeah? How so?”
