He told the whole story, no stops or starts, nothing excluded except for Charlie and Ben’s relationship to Phil.Under the table, Phil let their knees brush together.
The room went quiet with rapt attention, save for the occasional muttered curse word about Trout.
“So I’m hoping the police will do something about Trout and Van Giesing,” Ben finished.“But either way, I can quit effective immediately.”
“No way,” Breezy said.
“Are you insane, man?”Hayes said.“He just told us he’s never even played hockey.”
“I told you I played for a semester in college,” Ben said mildly.
Phil tried and failed to hide a grimace.College hockey on Brigham Young’s intramural team did not count.
Breezy shook his head calmly.“We’re losing Pulvermacher.We’re losing Trout.The team will get sold, maybe even moved.We’re only barely hanging on to third place in the Pacific right now, and we could drop down at any point in March.If we get a new coach who starts having us learn a new system, new methods, there’s no way we make it this year.”
Tom and Jax traded a look that said they agreed but were hesitant to say as much.
“We’ve been doing okay with Phil coaching,” Howie said.“Sorry, Coach Morris.Sinclair.”
Ben waved him off.
“I can’t randomly switch jobs in the middle of the season,” Phil pointed out, but he gave Howie an encouraging smile.After being scratched every other game for no good reason since January, Howie could have been far more vengeful than he was.
“You can keep coaching while Sinclair pretends to, though,” Tom said.“Breezy’s right.We’re about to lose a lot of stability.New owners and new coaches mean shake-ups.”
Noise broke out in the room, guys talking about their contract length, whether they could be traded unasked, what their top-ten lists looked like.
“Hey!”Phil yelled.“No one’s getting traded yet.We’ve got a lot of season to play, and you suckers had better make it to playoffs.I want my last game to be a good one.”
“So you’ll keep telling Morris how to coach?”Jax asked.“Sorry—Sinclair.”
Ben waved a hand.“Call me Ben.”
Phil looked at Ben.“Would you be okay with sticking the season out?”
“If everyone knows I know nothing, sure.And if we get a better system for road trips and Charlie.”
Phil nodded, considering.“I can usually stay home for those, if you’ve got a full coaching staff otherwise.But what if I’m back in the lineup?”
“By playoffs, I’d be able to take Charlie along, at least for the games after the school year ends.”
“Is that a plan we can all stick to though?”Phil looked around the room doubtfully.“Then no one in here can let on what you know, not to wives, girlfriends, anyone.Especially the media.If and when Trout and Van Giesing do get caught, we’re all going to be under heavy scrutiny.Covering for our head coach, who isn’t even a coach, might not be a good look.”
Hayes shrugged.“Way I see it, if Coach Morris retires at the end of the season with no one the wiser, it looks better for us.”
“Um,” Ben said.“I am a journalist.”
“So?”
“So, I will be writing about what happened here.Not least so Pulvermacher gets some public scrutiny too.Otherwise, he fucks off to Arizona and runs a new team where he gets to ignore anything shady going on until it might detriment him.”
“And be a homophobic dickhead,” Jax added.
“And that.”
Hayes sighed, aggrieved.“I know you’ve found yourself with this shelter project bullshit, dude, but is homophobia really the point right now?”
Ben stared at him, unblinking.“I’m gay.”
