Pulling into Alka’s driveway, I stare up at the sky for a minute. It’s always so clear at night. I can see stars for days.
It’s strange just walking inside their house. In reality, I haven’t known Alka for long, so letting myself in feels intrusive and awkward. Taking a breath, I gently push open their front door and am greeted by all three men turning their attention and smiles on me.
“Hey,” Alka says as he continues to chop whatever he’s chopping. Eggplant, maybe.
“Hi,” I answer and step inside, closing the door behind me.
“Practice okay?”
I nod. “Yeah. Boys are looking good.”
He smiles. “Ready for tomorrow’s game?”
“I think they are. I’m going to change.” Alka nods and I head toward the bedrooms. I appreciate that the two guest rooms are on the opposite side of the house as the primary suite. I would imagine three men together are loud.
When I return, Alka’s wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. “Want to help me at the grill?” he asks.
I give him a nod and he hands me a large tray of various meats. I study it, noting that there’s enough here for my entire team, as I follow him out and he carries an equally large tray of vegetables.
The star of their backyard is the enormous outdoor kitchen with a grill that could fit an entire hog. To my knowledge they haven’t had a pig roast, but they totally could. I’m pretty sure you could frame up some spits or whatever the bars are to hold the pig up.
The grill is already heated, so I set the tray on the counter and watch as he adds one piece of meat at a time. There’s a handful of different proteins and cuts that he arranges over the different levels of fire. He hands me a brush and points to which ones get the wet sauce as he focuses on the vegetables now.
“Are you feeding an army?” I ask.
Alka chuckles. “No. But we don’t like to spend a lot of time cooking during the week so usually, whichever night is light on activities, we load up all the cooking duties for the week then and split it up into different containers we can pick at until the weekend arrives.”
“You take turns cooking?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “We cook together.” When I give him a pointed look that they’re not out here, too, Alka chuckles. “They’re making salads inside. Besides, I wanted to ask how you’re doing without putting you on the spot in front of Roux and Oscar.”
“Ah.” Honestly, I figured as much. I think about the long hug I shared with Lemon and… “I feel okay,” I say. “I feel like this is going to be long, but not for the reasons one would assume in a divorce.”
“Oh?”
I nod absently. She’s not going to take everything I try to give her. Which means we really need to sell it prior and that way I can give it to her in money instead. Though I don’t think she’ll quietly take that, either.
“Want to talk about it?”
Sighing, I shake my head. “No. But thanks.”
Alka nods. “I won’t pretend to know what you’re going through, but I’m here if you need someone to listen.”
“I appreciate it. I just don’t think I’m ready to talk about it yet.” Talking about it would mean admitting a lot of shit. Like the fact that I’ve been having an affair. With Lemon. And quite frankly, I’m not entirely sure that either of us—hell, any of us, if I include Jessica—is ready for the questions that will come along with it.
“I’ve been thinking,” Alka says, and I glance at him. “The dodgeball tournament and the auction were hugely successful. Not just in the money they brought in, but also in getting our teams together. RDU has always boasted a community on our campus and while our teams have gotten along, I think they’ve made friends now. I see them mixing all the time.”
I smile. “I’ve noticed too. It’s really great.”
“I know we have the community baby picture contest, but I’ve been wondering what else we can do to get them trulyinteracting again. There’s one thing that all eight teams have in common and that’s competition. They’re competitors at heart. While on the outside it might have appeared that there couldn’t be any competition with the auction, I heard banter among them as to who was going to get the most bids. Whose date was going to be the best. Who’d be on stage the longest. It was fun for them. I’d love to think of another event to keep that relationship growing.”
“I agree, but honestly, none of those ideas were mine. I have zero suggestions.”
Alka laughs. “Oh, I know. I’m in the same boat. Roux might have some ideas, though. I’d love to collaborate on something.”
“Are you leaning toward anything?” I ask.
He snorts. “Nada. If we hadn’t just had the festival and there wasn’t another one just around the corner, I was thinking something like that. Christmas is coming. Winter, though we get pretty mild winters. It feels like there should besomethingwe can do that’s inclusive of all the teams, inviting and intriguing to the rest of the school and community, that they’ll want to get involved and give us more money.”
