Almost close enough to taste it. But there’s still work to be done.
I pull out my phone and start drafting a list for me to prioritize at the office tomorrow. I need to keep my brain busy, because when I don’t I think about Elliot, and the last thing I need is to be getting hard at forty thousand feet.
I barely notice when my assistant coach gets up from the seat beside me. I don’t look up when they return to the seat a minute later.
“Hey, Coach.”
When I look to my left I realize it’s not Don, but Austin sitting beside me. He, like several of his teammates, is sporting Mickey Mouse ears, a clear dig at Florida.
“Crawford. Everything okay?” I checked in on him before and after the game today. He seemed to be feeling fine and given the two goals he scored us in tonight’s game, there’s nothing wrong with his performance.
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.” His oversized mouse ears wobble as he nods. He removes them from his head with a sheepish smile when he sees me looking at them.
“Good.”
He glances around us before lowering his voice. “I guess I just…I mean…it’s like…”
Jesus. It’s like he’s a nervous teen trying to ask me to the prom.
“I just wanted to say thank you.”
“Alright.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah. So…thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
He grins. “Cool.” He moves to stand, and I raise my hand to stop him.
“What exactly are you thanking me for?”
He takes a shaky breath and gives an uncertain laugh. “Do you remember when you called me into your office a couple months ago?”
When I thought you were flirting with the girl I liked and I dragged you away like a jealous idiot?“Sure.”
“You said something to me that day. ‘We’re all invincible until we’re not.’ It stuck. When it comes to my game, I’ve always played it kind of fast and loose. Out-skate and out-play. Leave it all on the ice, you know?”
I do know. That was exactly how I played when I was younger.
“And I don’t plan on changing that, but it made me think about being more careful. Maybe playing smarter and not taking unnecessary chances.”
I nod.
Austin looks at me earnestly. “I’d been given those Kevlar socks a couple years ago. That last game? When I went down? That was only the third time I wore them. If I hadn’t put them on…” He swallows hard.
“But you did. You deserve all the credit for that.”
“But you got me thinking about the big picture. Anyway, I just want you to know that I appreciate you looking out for me. I know I can be a pain in your ass sometimes.”
I level him with a stare and ask, “Sometimes?”
He laughs at that. “Most times,” he admits as he stands. “So I guess, thank you for that too.”
“Get some rest, Crawford.”
