Page 38 of Home of the Brave

“Yes.” She stepped forward. “I have proof. This was the original piece I submitted.” She tried to hand me her phone, but I ignored it.

“You can’t take responsibility even after all these years?”

“Josh, no. I swear––”

“It’s one thing to say you were inexperienced and desperate, willing to step on others to further your career—I could almost understand that pressure. But to straight out deny it? Come on.”

“I didn’t!” She held up her phone again as if it would say she’s innocent on the screen. “My boss didn’t like what I wrote. He said it was boring and unprovocative. He rewrote almost every word of the entire series but left my name on it since it was supposed to be written by the rookies’ peer. We were the same age, and they thought it would be an interesting angle.”

She waited for me to respond, but I still wasn’t sure I believed her.

“This,” she waved her phone, “was what I submitted. You can see the timestamps and the email conversation between me and him.” She stepped closer. “Please, just look.”

I had no reason to, but I caved and took her phone. She’d highlighted the three paragraphs about me. They were complimentary, talking about how I was a young star with serious potential, especially since I was being mentored by Olli Letang.

I scrolled through the email exchange, and she was telling the truth. Her boss didn’t like it and ignored her refusal to make the edits. She even asked for her name to be taken off.

Huh.

She was being honest.

She hadn’t written it.

That single paragraph haunted me for years. It infused so much doubt, fueling my darkest fears.

And it was slander written by a man who hadn’t even seen me play? Random words that I was slowly realizing were generalized and vague. Things you could say about any new player who wasn’t performing as expected. It only hurt so much because they hit my exact insecurities.

I handed it back to her, and her eyes locked on mine. “I’m sorry, Josh. A few of the other players that were spotlighted called me out back then, and I apologized and explained as much as I could without getting myself or my boss in trouble. I hoped no one else read or cared about it. That if you did see it, you blew it off as some garbage by a new journalist.”

What was I supposed to say? She had proof, but it didn’t make the years of resentment suddenly disappear.

“Maybe I should have gone above him. Told his bosses what he was doing, but it was my first job. I didn’t know if it would all come back on me. If he’d get revenge and never give me an assignment again. Fire me. I––”

“I get it.” I mostly needed her to stop rambling. I was still processing, and she obviously felt horrible.

“There’s no good way to make it up to you, but I want to try.” She bent her knees, picking up the box again. “I’ve got snacks.”

She grinned as she handed it over to me before flipping open the top to reveal applesauce pouches, chocolate milk, protein shakes, and a variety of protein bars. “And these.” She grabbed the bags and lifted one arm, “Apples, bananas, and oranges in here.” Then her right arm. “Crackers, pretzels, and PB and J’s in here.”

I nodded, unsure what to say. “Thank you, but you’ve seen the locker rooms and media rooms. They keep us pretty stocked.”

She passed the bags off to me. “But you like the cinnamon applesauce and lactose-free milk.” She pointed to the box. “None of the protein bars have coconut, and all the fruit is organic. The crackers are low sodium, the pretzels are honey mustard flavor, and I put in grape jelly since I only saw strawberry and raspberry here.”

I took a closer look and realized she was right. These weren’t the basic items most facilities provided; these were specific to me. My favorites, with my dislikes avoided.

“How did you know?” I didn’t remember our first interview word for word, but I didn’t think we spoke about food, at least not to this degree.

“Research,” she smiled.

I narrowed my eyes. “You researched me?”

“Yes, it would have been really nice if you could have gone into your preferences at one time, but I pieced it all together.”

“I’ve mentioned all this before?”

“Yeah, either on social media or in past interviews.”

“And you watched all of those, then went and bought my favorites?”