“Did he hallucinate this time?” Stolly asked. He grimaced. “Fuck, that was scary. I didn’t know how to help him.”
“None of us did,” I said. “So it’s a very good thing our team doctor’s a leading expert on head trauma.”
“That makes two concussions in his career,” Coach Kramer said. “That I know of. How worried are we?”
Coach Whittaker smoothed a hand over his trousers. “Concerned enough to have had a conversation. He said he didn’t hallucinate the last time.”
“And you believe him?” Maxim asked.
Coach hesitated. “I’m not sure…”
“That’s why you’re here,” I realized. “You know something about Cruz that we don’t, and you think it’s important we know.”
He didn’t say anything, but with Coach that was basically an admission.
“Well, hell,” Naese muttered. “That makes the situation even stickier.”
“And more important to sort out,” I said.
“Vivian’s a nurse,” Maxim said. “She can keep an eye on Cruz’s noggin.”
“Which leads back to our original plan,” I said smoothly. “And not telling our wives so we can finally get credit for one of these marriages.”
“Hold on, we gotta get them together first,” Coach Kramer said.
“And make sure they fit,” Maxim said.
“I told you, they fit,” Naese grumbled.
“Be that as it may, I don’t like the idea of lying, even by omission, to Millie,” Stolly said. “She deserves my respect.”
“Which you give her every day,” Maxim rumbled with a smirk. Millie and Maxim’s wife, Ida Jane, were close, so those two had become closer as well.
“Are we sure this’ll work?” Coach Kramer asked. “I don’t want my first time matchmaking to crash and burn. Because then it’ll be my last, and worse, I’ll never hear the end of it.”
There were grumbles and nods. I gritted my teeth at their insecure need for a sure thing. Life wasn’t a sure thing. But I did know deep in my bones that Cruz was the best of us, and he deserved to be happy as much as any of the guys in this room.
“We’re not going to fail,” I said with a confidence I was no longer feeling. “Look. We all agreed that we need to show our wives we can be just as effective at love and romance as they are. And each of you has mentioned that their bragging is getting out of control.”
“It’s the gloating,” Coach Kramer said on a sigh. “Can’t stand that shit.”
“The tone of their victory,” Stolly grumbled in agreement.
There were many nods and shifting once again. The ladies’ crowing was a live nerve.
“So we move forward with the game plan, which includes not telling the wives, unless one of them asks us straight out,” I said with a glance over at Coach for support.
He’d crossed his arms over his powerful chest and stretched out his legs, stacking his argyle-clad ankles. “Don’t look at me. I don’t like the idea of keeping something from Paloma any more than Kramer wants to keep something from Naomi.”
“But…but…we agreed we were going to be the ones to set up Cruz,” I said. A flutter of something like betrayal stirred in my gut.
“Oh, we will,” Maxim said, leaning forward. “Naese said she’s perfect for Cruz. I looked her up, and she is. Really pretty in that kid-next-door way. She walks dogs in her free time.” He shook his head. “And she knits. On purpose.”
I tucked my lips into my mouth, amused as always that Maxim got most but not quite all of the American idiom correct.
“She has the faintest of freckles on her nose,” Naese said, wiggling his fingers over his own. “They’re adorable. She’s basically his every fantasy.” He leaned back, a cat-with-cream grin spreading on his face. “And he talks about her all. The. Time.”
“But if Hana asked you if you were actively working to set Cruz up, would you tell her?” Coach Kramer asked.
