Page 116 of Cross-Checked

“I told you she wouldn’t mind.” His voice comes from the other side of the door as he pushes it open and strides right past her. “Morgan,” he says, nodding at her as he comes around my desk and bends to plant a kiss on the top of my head.

Across the room, Colleen shuts the door.

“Have you seen this news?” he asks, holding his phone out to me. On the screen is a headline from Boston’s sports news network.

NHL Commissioner Refuses Jones’s Withdrawal from GM of the Year Award

My breath catches, and I have to clear my throat. “What the hell is this?”

“Apparently, you and Connelly are both still in the running for the award.”

“I don’t understand how that’s even possible. I withdrew.”

“Can you voluntarily withdraw?” Morgan asks, arching an eyebrow as she looks at us.

“If I don’t think I deserve the award, why couldn’t I?”

“Do youthink you don’t deserve it?” McCabe asks. “After everything you’ve done this season, do you really believe that us being together means you don’t deserve that award?”

I glance down at my lap, then look up at him. “No.”

“Well, apparently, the other GMs and the league officials agree with you,” he says.

“Take this for the immense compliment it is,” Morgan says. “And we probably need to respond on social media. I’ll work on that today.”

“We’re not responding publicly until I understand how this happened,” I tell her, shaking my head. I’m so caught off guard, I don’t even know how to react.

“What do you mean?” McCabe asks as he comes around to the far side of my desk and takes the seat next to Morgan.

That’s when my phone rings, and the name of the Commissioner of the NHL appears on my screen. All three of us sit there, staring at my phone buzzing where it lies face up on my desk. Morgan’s eyes are huge, because although this job is the first she’s had in the sports industry, her dad is a big hockey agent and even she knows who Timothy O’Leary is.

“You going to get that?” McCabe asks, amusement in his tone.

I grab for the phone, standing as I walk over to the wall of windows overlooking the rink. Practice is over, but there are kids’ lessons going on right now, and I watch them as I answer.

“AJ!” Tim’s greeting is friendly and full of excitement. “I suspect you’ve heard the news?”

“Yeah, and I’m pretty shocked. How exactly did this happen?”

“Well, none of us on the committee felt like youdidn’tdeserve the nomination. So even though you thought you could withdraw yourself from contention, we don’t accept your withdrawal.”

“Does Joey Connelly have something to do with this?” What I’m really wondering is if Joey doesn’t want to win this year by default, just because the other two nominees withdrew.

“All I’m going to say about that is that he’s one of your staunchest supporters.”

My chest aches with the realization that my mentor, the man who first hired me as a scout, then promoted me to being his assistant GM, before ultimately pushing me to move forward in my career, is proud of me.

“This really isn’t just because he doesn’t want to win by default?”

Tim’s deep, low chuckle fills the line before he assures me. “I can’t tell you anything that Joey told me in confidence. So I will just say, he doesn’t question whether you deserve this. And you shouldn’t either.”

The stands are completely packed before Game 4, our second home game in the finals, and I know the fans are all hoping for a win tonight. Being down 2-1, after losing Game 3 at home two nights ago, puts our team in a less than ideal position. I’m hoping to check in on Wilcott’s pre-game pep talk before the guys hit the ice.

But as I round the corner into the hallway leading to the locker rooms, I almost run into Chet. There’s no one else around to hear him ranting as he holds his phone in front of his mouth.

“You need to fucking handle it. What do you expect me to do from Boston?”

“I’m not asking you to handle anything,” the woman’s voice is quiet, and the hurt is evident in her tone. I can’t help but wonder why he thinks this is an appropriate conversation to have on speakerphone. “I just wanted a little support from my husband.”

---