Chapter 7 - The Team Never Asked Me To Leave
Dana Whitaker did not offer me coffee.
That was how I knew the meeting was serious.
She closed her office door and pointed to a chair.
I stayed standing.
“Marcus says you have an offer.”
Dana looked annoyed.
“Marcus says too much.”
“So there is one?”
“There is interest.”
“That's not what he said.”
“I know.”
She sat behind her desk.
“Caleb, have you requested a trade?”
“No.”
“Have you authorized Marcus to tell teams you want one?”
I hesitated.
Dana noticed.
“That's not a legal question.”
“I told him to explore.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Before or after you moved into the Mercer?”
“Same night.”
She nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
“What?”
“Now the calls make sense.”
I frowned.
“You didn't know?”
“I knew Marcus said you were open.”
“Why didn't you ask me?”
“I did.”
“When?”
“Last Thursday after practice.”
I remembered.
Dana had asked:
Everything good?
I had said:
Marcus has it handled.
I almost sat down from the embarrassment of it.
Dana watched my face.
“Yes.”
I took the chair.
“Did you tell Nora nobody here wanted me gone?”
“I told Nora no one in this organization had initiated a trade conversation.”
“Are you trying to move me?”
“No.”
“Would you?”
“If the right offer appeared, I'm paid to consider it.”
Fair.
Uncomfortable, but fair.
“Did one?”
“Possibly.”
“From where?”
“Not until I know whether you want to hear it.”
I stared at her.
People usually gave me information before asking what I wanted.
Maybe because I trained them to.
Dana continued.
“Nora came here because she was worried about Ethan.”
Not my career.
Ethan.
“What did she say?”
“That he thought you were moving without them.”
My chest tightened.
“Why would he think that?”
Dana gave me a look.
“You've been living in a hotel while your agent sends your wife real-estate listings.”
I looked away.
“She also asked whether the hotel was team mandated.”
“What?”
“She wanted to know whether we had asked you to stay there for security, media, anything official.”
“No.”
“I told her that.”
I rubbed my jaw.
“Why would she think that?”
“Because apparently that's what Ethan thought.”
I stared.
Dana said:
“Did you tell him the team put you there?”
“No.”
“Did Marcus?”
I stood.
“I don't know.”
Dana leaned back.
“Before you go make another phone call, I have something else.”
I waited.
“Nora did not ask me to block a trade.”
Marcus had implied she was interfering.
“She said if you wanted to leave, she wanted that to be your decision.”
I didn't answer.
Dana continued:
“But she asked me not to let anyone use Ethan as evidence that your family supported it.”
That sentence sat heavier than the offer.
I asked:
“Why?”
Dana looked toward the practice court beyond the glass.
“Because Ethan told her he hated basketball.”
I stiffened.
“He quit.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“His youth coach called our foundation because they thought something had happened.”
“What happened?”
Dana looked back at me.
“You'll have to ask him.”
I was getting tired of being told to ask my own family questions I should have asked already.
She stood.
“Caleb, the team isn't pushing you out.”
I nodded.
“Marcus didn't invent every problem either.”
“I know.”
“And Nora didn't tell me you were the villain.”
I looked at her.
“What did she say?”
Dana hesitated.
Then:
“She said she couldn't tell anymore whether you were choosing basketball over home or using basketball because you didn't know how to be home when nobody needed you to win something.”
I stared.
That sounded like Nora.
Not Marcus.
Not a rewritten version.
Dana opened the office door.
“One more thing.”
I stopped.
“The team Ethan quit?”
“Yes.”
“He didn't quit three weeks ago.”
I frowned.
“He stopped showing up three weeks ago.”
“What's the difference?”
“He told his coach he wanted to quit two months ago.”
Two months.
May you like
Nora had known for three weeks.
My son had been hiding it from both of us long before that.
