Also at the table was Hank the Crank, who’d been with the camp as long as Gabriel could remember. He wore overalls and had sunburned skin and a nose like a large turnip. He raised his coffee at Gabriel in greeting.
“There you are,” Gabriel’s mother said. “I hope you drove safe.”
He sat next to her. “I did, I promise. Sorry I’m late. What did I miss?”
His parents exchanged a grim look.
“Richie quit,” Don Ackermann said.
“What?” Gabriel cried. Richie Groevengood had been the head coach for the boys at Orion’s Belt for two decades. He was as much a part of the camp as the cabins themselves. “Hequit? Now? The first session starts next week. Counselors get hereFriday.”
“We know,” Laurel said. “He got another job offer in Traverse City, and said that it was too good to turn down the money.”
“Jesus,” Gabriel said, earning a disapproving look from both parents. His parents were Christians and took their religion seriously. They were fine with having a gay son, but they drew the line at taking the Lord’s name in vain.
“Sorry,” he said. “What are we going to do?”
“Well,” Don said. “Stu Chaudhry has agreed to be an interim coach until we can find someone else who can be a full-time replacement, but I’m a little worried about finding someone this close to the start of camp. I can’t do it.”
Unfortunately, he couldn’t, though Gabriel knew that his father wanted to. Don Ackermann was a hockey fanatic and had played for years before he became the co-owner and director of Orion’s Belt Hockey Camp with Laurel, thirty years ago.
“Who’s that?” Gabriel said. “Stu Chaudhry, I don’t know him.”
“Gym teacher at Orion High,” Laurel said. “He started after you left.”
“Does he even know how to play hockey?” Gabriel asked.
“As much as any gym teacher,” Don said.
Gabriel looked to Hank the Crank. “What about you?” he said. “You’ve been here forever. Could you coach?”
Hank the Crank grunted, and that was his only response. He wasn’t a man of many words—his surly exterior had earned him his nickname decades ago.
Laurel patted Gabriel’s arm. “We’ll figure it out, honey. We just all might need to pick up some slack until we find someone, and you’ll need to show Stu the ropes when he gets here, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind.”
He could tell that his parents were more concerned than they were letting on. Last year, Gabriel had taken a more official position at the camp, basically running the boys’ half of it when his father had been sick. He knew what their budget was, and he knew what they paid their staff. It was good. Competitive. And Richie was like family at the camp. Whatever he’d been offered in Traverse City had to have beenverygood for him to abandon Orion’s Belt at the eleventh hour.
“I’ll show him around when he gets here,” Gabriel said. “And I’ll see if I know anyone who could fill in as coach. Shoot, I’m sorry about this.”
Don, ever the optimist, just shrugged. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”
Gabriel nodded, trying to hide his uneasiness. Orion’s Belt was an institution in northern Michigan, but Gabriel had heard the whisperings that it was avintageinstitution. That it was outdated. They weren’t what they once were, and with the increasing popularity of club hockey and more expensive training programs, they were getting fewer and fewer campers each year. Their budget was nice, but it was tightening. If they lost their coach the week before camp started, how badwerethings?
He had a dark feeling that there was a lot here he didn’t know, and that made him nervous.
Chapter 3
Drew
Drew, who was used to flying on private planes,or at least in comfortable and expensive classes on commercial flights, was more than a little horrified by the traveling experience of getting from Boston to Orion, Michigan.
Estelle had arranged it all. First, a flight from Boston to O’Hare in Chicago, then from O’Hare to Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, then a small plane from Grand Rapids up to Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Michigan. The little airport in northern Michigan had a sort of charm to it, which was mostly lost on Drew. He was too focused on not being recognized, which had been his main goal whenever he was in public, since the end of the NHL playoff season.
He wanted to get away from all the frustration and pain of his normal life. Estelle had had questions about his sudden need for anonymity and solitude, but she hadn’t pressed him after he indicated that he wanted to keep his reasons to himself. She was good like that and said that she could figure out a way to keep his presence in Orion hidden from the media. It would be up to him, though, to maintain his anonymity when he was there.
Estelle had rented a house for him near the Lake (Drew had already learned thatLakeshould be capitalized when referring to Lake Michigan). It was owned by a wealthy couple in their eighties who had once used it as a summer house but now preferred to live in Florida. They used it now as a source of passive income, renting it to summer vacationers. Estelle said they were lucky to get it so last-minute.
