“Hi.” I also waved. “Thanks for being here.”
“Vice-skip, Perry Hasting.”
“Hello.” Perry smiled.
“Second, Evan Baily.”
“Hi there!” He grinned and, like it always did, my stomach flipped over. “This is so awesome. I’m excited to be here. I can’t even believe it. I mean, I haven’t made all the greatest choices in life but saying yes to Alan was maybe the best?—”
Carol moved his elbow to bump against Evan’s, and my boy blushed and clamped his mouth shut. The man was absolutely adorable.
Carol smiled at him as the rep moved on and he turned to the press and waved when he was introduced.
“Oui, hello. Bonjour,” he said.
Mikko hadn’t wanted to be out there with us, and I didn’t blame the very shy man for that decision.
After the intros, we had a chance to each give a statement before the questions started.
Michael opted to hang back and let the players talk.
“Like Evan said,” I began, “we are all so excited to be here, to be in this position and have the chance to represent Canada. I know no matter which way things go this weekend, we’ll be sending a group of very, very good curlers to Milano Cortina.”
Perry nodded in agreement. “If you had asked me a little over a year ago if I would have had this opportunity, I never would have believed it. I’m a bit speechless, actually.”
“Same,” Evan said, cheeks still pink, hands clasped in his lap, and then he looked at Carol.
Carol’s eyes got a bit wide when Evan didn’t say anything else but he took his turn speaking in French, I guessed saying something along the same lines.
“And what about you, Robbie?” the rep asked. “How do you feel about this?”
“I’m thrilled,” he said. “That I can be a part of this in any small way is amazing. My job is to give the rest of the team the confidence to focus on their own game, knowing they have backup. I can step in and keep up with the team if I have to but even if I don’t ever play, I can give them the support of that peace of mind.”
“That’s a wonderful way to look at your position. I’m going to turn this over to the press, now, so please ready your questions.”
This was going to be where things got really dicey. What they asked and how we answered would set the tone for the forthcoming contest between us and the Pickering team.
So of course, the first thing anyone asked had nothing to do with curling.
“Rumours have been flying about how close you’ve become as a team. Care to address any of those stories?” a reporter asked.
Before I could think what to say, Evan almost levitated out of his chair. “Sure. I will.”
Perry’s head whipped around, but Evan, now that all the attention was riveted on him, seemed to settle in his skin.
“It’s like Perry said,” Evan began. “If you would have asked me a little over a year ago if I would be sitting here, on an international stage talking to the world about a real chance tomaybe go to the Olympics as a competing athlete, I would have laughed my as—sorry!—face off.” He turned pink and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Sorry. Face,” he said again. “Sorry about that.” He glanced up at the array of cameras. “Sorry, J. Keepin’ it PG for the girls.” He waved a small wave. “J—Jacob—is my older brother. He and his two daughters are my only blood family. And his wife, Emileigh.” He waved again. “Hi, Em. She’s not blood—shi—right. Obviously. Whoo. This is harder than I thought.”
At which point, Perry reached under the table and brought their clasped hands up to rest in full view between them.
Evan smiled wide at him then over at me.
My stupid heart somersaulted and I nodded.
“Okay.” Evan turned back to the cameras. “Where was I? Right. We lost our parents when I was in high school and J got me through some very hard times. I was a mess.”
“As anyone might be, who loses both his parents at the age of sixteen,” Michael interjected.
