He had had way more fun with Caleb than at dinner, that was for sure.
“If you’ll come this way, I’ll show you where the meeting room is back here, which is where most of your meals will be taking place when you’re working here at the arena.”
He followed along with everyone else, and they met up with a couple of tour groups, one of them speaking Swedish, he thought. Maybe.
The other group was speaking Italian, so at least he had a chance there of understanding what they were saying.
After the tour, they were all going to have to go to lunch together, and he didn’t really want to do that. He had left Caleb in his bed at the hotel this morning, and he hadn’t wanted to do that either. What he craved now was to go back, crawl into that bed, and make nice with Caleb again. Maybe grab some food and share it.
He’d asked Caleb to come to breakfast, but Caleb had just waved him off and told Hawk he wanted to go back to sleep. If that was okay, since he had the extra key to the room, that didn’t bother Hawk at all.
He let his mind wander to Caleb while the tour guide was babbling on about how they were going to eat in here and it would be set up like a cafeteria line, blah blah blah. He and Caleb had been on point last night, the two of them vibing like they had back in Korea.
Caleb’s soreness worried him a little bit though because wear and tear could be harsh if it came on as young as they were, and he’d seen it in some of his fellow players.
Hawk had some hardcore osteoarthritis in his knee, but that was to be expected when it was wired together like it was. Caleb seemed so young and healthy otherwise.
“Hey, are you with us, Puck?” Casey asked, elbowing him. She could body check with the best of them.
“Hmm? Sorry. I keep zoning out.” He was bored out of his mind. And he really didn’t think they needed all this information.
“Oh my god, could they not just send a memo?” she agreed, pitching her voice low. “Where did you disappear to last night? You left me with those clowns. You suck.”
“I was meeting up with a friend I saw at a cafe yesterday morning. I haven’t seen him in years, so we caught up.”
“Huh.” She pursed her lips. “Did you have a hookup? That’s what Malia says.”
His cheeks went super-hot. “Your wife is mean.”
“She is. It’s what I love most about her.” She waggled one gingery eyebrow.
“You’re a freak.” He winked to ease the sting of that.
Their other two colleagues joined them, all of them heading to lunch, and he chafed at having to waste the time schmoozing.
These days he was less socially awkward and more just downright grumpy.
As they were standing in line at the restaurant, his phone buzzed, and he opened it to see a selfie of Caleb standing next to a coffee shop he knew was near his hotel.
Then he got,
wanna do lunch?
“Guys, I’m sorry. One of the podcasters I’m also working with would like me to come meet someone and do a quick interview. Casey, did you want to come? She’s a female player.” The least he could do was get Casey out of this mess too.
“That would be awesome. I love up-and-coming players. You two have fun.” She grabbed his arm and hustled him away.
She waited until they were back out on the street before laughing like a loon. “Oh, you wonderful man. Thank you. I love those two, but they’re totally humorless and dry.”
“That’s why we’re the color commentators.”
“Oh, good one. I’m going to have lunch with my wife.”
“And I’m going to meet someone too.” He winked at her, because she’d kind of guessed about him hooking up, hadn’t she?
“Good for you. Let me know if you want to go to supperwith me and the wife at some point. I’d love to meet whoever has you so interested.”
“I’ll ask him.”