Nico turned to his teammate with an arched brow. “I never would have guessed.”
“There’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said by better orators than me,” Cooper said. “I’m not going to stand here today and say something poetic. In fact, I might say something dumb. I have a tendency to do that as many of you are aware, which is why sometimes I don’t talk at all.”
Echoes of restrained laughter filled the room.
“When I first met Luke, we were two dumb college kids with the same dream. The last time I saw Luke, we were two dumb football players with that same dream, a dream that was cut short.”
Nico turned to Matteo beside him. “You told me Callahan was distant, that you could never quite reach him.”
“I don’t recall saying that,” Matteo said with a shake of his head, all the while his eyes remained fixed on Cooper. “It sounds like something I would say, though.”
“What did you mean?”
Matteo shrugged. “He’s not a social butterfly. Doesn’t have the battery for it.”
Nico could tell Matteo was able to multi-task by listening to both Cooper’s speech and Nico, but Nico himself was too focused on getting answers from his friend. Cooper’s speech faded into the background.
“What was Luke like?”
Matteo turned to him. “The exact opposite. Loved everyone and everyone loved him. Callahan was the muscle of the team and Luke was the heart. The two of them played together in college and miraculously got drafted onto the same team. That was his best friend. He’d die for him, but the rest of us? We were just teammates. Doesn’t mean he’s a bad dude.”
“He’s kind of a dick,” Nico pointed out a thought that he instantly wished remained in his head.
“That’s because he’s not trying to be your friend.”
“What?”
Does he know?
Matteo narrowed his eyes at Nico. “He’s your coach.”
“Right, right.” Nico breathed a sigh of relief, but then his thoughts… Elsewhere. “He seems to be in great physical shape. Do you think I should be worried about him stealing my job?”
“If you asked me that question six weeks ago, I would’ve said you should absolutely be terrified.” Matteo patted Nico on the shoulder with a smile. “Playing the way you’ve been playing the last few weeks? I think your position is pretty damn safe.”
“Yeah…”
Soft music played overhead as couples scattered around the dancefloor.
Cooper and Stassi inched toward each other and found an opening amongst the crowd. He took her by one hand and pulled her close to him. The heat of the bourbon boiled in his gut, giving him the courage to finally face her. Maybe his mother was right about something. Maybe he should have started drinking the hard shit a long time ago.
“Time for our obligatory dance, I suppose,” he said.
“You make it sound painful.”
Cooper took hold of her waist with one hand and the two of them turned in slow circles. “Permission to be honest?”
“Permission granted.”
Cooper tongued the inside of his cheek, contemplating how to breach the subject. She came to a stop, signaling she was tired of waiting.
“You’ve been distant,” Cooper said.
“And you’ve been hiding from the world.” She massaged his shoulder with one hand before picking back up the slow pace of the dance. “We just grieve differently.”
“I can’t shake this feeling that…” He gritted his teeth, knowing he couldn’t say the words. “I don’t know.”
She nodded silently. “You know I don’t blame you, right?
