Hayes’s jaw snapped shut, and he looked away.
“You never know,” Phil tried.“Having articles written about what’s happening might do more to make us look good than if no one ever finds out.”
“Would a new coach be so bad?”Luca ventured.“No offense.”
“None taken.”
“I think,” Tom said slowly, “we should wait out what happens with Trout and the police.Worst comes to worst, he isn’t arrested, and Ben can’t publish his articles.Trout keeps his job, and with Ben gone, a new head coach wouldn’t know what’s going on.At least Ben and Phil have been doing their best for the team.”
Ben winced guiltily.
Phil kicked him under the table.“You have.”
“My best is not good enough,” Ben muttered.
“Cap makes a good point,” Vanderbilt said.It was the first he’d spoken, and Phil breathed an internal sigh of relief he chose to support Tom.“We don’t know how this will shake out and the most important thing we can do is protect our playoff chances.The better we are as a team the better our chances of a new GM keeping us or at least trading us well.”
“And you’re sure a decent coach wouldn’t be better for that?”Ben asked.
Jax wobbled his head from side to side.“In the long term, sure, we definitely need a good coach.No offense.”
“You can all stop apologizing,” Ben said wearily.“I’m not offended.I know I’m a terrible coach.”
“Right.Sorry.As I was saying, long-term we do need a coach who knows what he’s about.But it’s already mid-February.We only have two months left of the regular season, and getting a new coach now would mean reshuffling the lines again, maybe even finding a whole new strategy as a team.I vote we stick to the status quo and make the best of this year, then start fresh next season.”
Phil caught the look on Tom’s face just then, pride and joy writ large across the smile dimpling his cheeks as he watched Jax taking his leadership role on the team seriously and indicating he intended to stay.
Now that things with Ben were settled, he could admit to himself how happy he was for his friend without any of the envy that had dogged him before.
The team took a vote on the issue, and after a bit of judicious elbowing, Phil could describe the results as begrudgingly unanimous.They would stick with Ben until they knew what would happen to Trout and Van Giesing, take their best shot at a playoff spot, and hope the results would see them through until next season.
Tom swore everyone to secrecy, and then the team filtered out in pairs and threes and fours.Most everyone was carefully not talking about what had happened, instead loudly discussing league rankings or video games.The Europeans might have immediately begun gossiping about what they’d seen and heard, but at least not too many people in Minnesota spoke Swedish or Russian.
Phil let out a long breath when the door closed behind the last of them, leaving him and Ben alone with Tom and Jax.
“Are we even now?”Tom asked Phil immediately.
“Even?”
“I didn’t tell you about my…thing; you didn’t tell me about this.”
Phil considered.“Your thing lasted fourteen years, Tom.This was a couple months.”
“A couple months that could impact the rest of my career.”
“Fair.”
“So.Even?”
Phil sighed heavily.“No, I have to tell you the rest as well.”He gave Tom and Jax the rough rundown of Ben’s family situation, Charlie, and, finally, their courthouse visit last week.Ben interjected occasionally, but otherwise seemed content to let them talk, slumped in his chair.
Jax barked a laugh when Phil finished.“Mazel tov.I guess now we know why you were so confused in December, huh?”
“Yup.”
Tom stood up from the bed and came over to the table.Phil also stood up, not sure if he should be ready to be kicked out of the room or punched in the face.
Instead, Tom hugged him tight.
