“Okay, fine. Roux stays on for a couple practices as if he’s still part of the team before giving them whatever reason, or none at all, as to why he’s quitting. Alka then resumes his coaching job.”
“This seems a little underhanded coming from our Director of HR,” President Killington says.
“I have eight brothers and sisters,” Celia says as she sits back and straightens her shirt sleeves. “Sometimes, if you want to make a message clear, you need to play low ball. That’s the language they understand.”
Dean Cooke looks delighted when he turns his eyes to us.
“Will thislow ballplan make you uncomfortable, Mr. Kipler?” the second HR lady asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know? I think it’ll be fine.”
“Good. Then we have a plan,” Celia says.
Second HR lady sighs. “Very well. President?”
President Killington gives us a roguish smile. “You have my support in this. It’s a fine line we’re walking between what we should be conveying to the school and the lesson we want to teach those who’ve been causing issues. Given the notion that we’d likely be none the wiser of this relationship without the incredibly unprofessional outburst that forced it all to come to light, I think this is a balancing act that we’re going to sustain for the next week or so. Don’t get carried away, Coach.”
Alka inclines his head again. “I really appreciate your understanding and support in this,” he says. “I’d also like to apologize for it getting so dramatically out of hand. They say honesty is the best policy, but I’m not sure that’s true in everysituation. At least in this one, it was nothing but a snake in the bed.”
The IT guy snorts, but he tries to cover it with a cough. The HR lady rolls her eyes.
This worked out okay. I’ll miss soccer, but I’m very happy that neither of us were punished. I’ll take that as a win.
CHAPTER 36
OSCAR
Five months later
That’s it,” Alka says as he follows their progress down the field. He stops and watches as his team passes the ball. It barely skirts around one of the opposite team’s players before Reeve grabs it and passes it away again.
There’s more teamwork in the first five minutes than there was the entirety of the scrimmage I watched against Martinville. It’s a relief.
We’re playing Gold Mountain University in our second official game of the season. I have to say, I’m surprised that the team has their shit together. On the other hand, I’m not surprised because Alka is a fantastic coach.
I hold my breath when our number six stops the ball. He waits for the opponent streaking toward him to catch up before kicking it backward as he shuffles out of the way of the oncoming player. He skids while our six kicks the ball.
Their goalie stops it, though barely. He jumps for it, dinging the ball with his hand. It changes direction and hits the goal post. It’s only luck that it bounces out and not in.
“So close,” Ruby says from beside me.
Smiling, I wrap my arm around his waist and kiss his cheek. It was difficult for him and Alka to accept the school’s decision. Alka and Harper removed three additional players from the team who’d been hateful and disrespectful, even if not to the same extreme that Jeff Doherty had.
Theydidn’tdo it in front of the rest of the team as someone from the meeting suggested. However, there was full disclosure as to who left and why. This included the fact that Greer decided to try blackmail and was expelled from RDU indefinitely. That’s not the kind of person they want on campus.
Ruby said practices had been weird. Before their removals, Jeff had outright ignored Ruby as if he didn’t exist and Greer wasn’t as chatty with him as he’d once been, though he wasn’t an outright dick like Jeff had been. He just wasn’t friendly anymore. They were acquaintances. Teammates. Not friends. Something that truly bothered Ruby.
Once they were back to practice after the couple weeks off and the removal of the five players, it felt like everyone tried to overcompensate. They simply couldn’t put aside the knowledge that their former teammates had been removed for excluding Ruby, and it led to them passing to him even when he wasn’t open. Honestly, I didn’t think it was that difficult to figure out. If Roux’s open, pass it to him. If he’s not, then don’t. You don’t have to play soccer for ten years to know that. Maybe that’s just me simplifying soccer.
It was uncomfortable. I think the plan had been for Ruby to make a little announcement as to why he was leaving the team, but he decided not to say anything at all. Like it or not, he was the problem even though he shouldn’t have been.
Both Alka and Ruby said that the team calmed down after the players were removed, and while Ruby stayed for three more practices, he was glad to leave for good. He said that while no one outright said anything to him or even looked at him in a different way, there was tension in the air every time he walked in.
Alka waited the rest of that week after Ruby left before taking over his duties again. From what Harper said, he was far harsher than he ever was in the past. I attended a few practices, just to see, and yep, that wasn’t the man I’d seen coach in the ten years I’ve known him.
It resulted in a long discussion when he got home. I understood he was angry and hurt, but if he was going to coach, he needed to remember that it’s not supposed to be hell. He disagreed, saying if he was going to be coaching uncivilized asshole children, that was how they were going to be treated.
Ruby and I decided to let him do what he felt needed to be done. Five months later, he’s still not the coach he was before he told his team about him and Ruby. I’ve never known my husband to have regrets, but I think he seriously regrets that decision. Especially because he feels guilty every single day because Ruby isn’t on the team when he did nothing to deserve leaving it.
