Page 9 of Personal Foul
Turning, I see Coach Carr standing outside the doorway leading into the gym. Although I haven’t worked with him outside of the All-Star game, his no-nonsense attitude and reputation for focusing on the game is well known around the league.
He nods his head back, signaling for me to come down and talk to him.
“All right, I’ll see ya in the gym in a few.”
“You bet, man. Good luck.”
Stalking down the hall, I adjust my gym bag on my shoulder, anticipating how this conversation is going to go. I haven’t bothered to search to see what is out there, however, judging by the brief text this morning from Kristen, my assistant, I know it can’t be good.
“Hey, Coach.”
“Rush, good to see you. Come on in here and have a seat.”
He’s sitting behind a large desk, papers strewn all over, and three different to-go cups of coffee placed in the midst of it all as if he were so busy he couldn’t even be bothered to toss them out.
Setting my bag on the floor next to the chair, I take a seat, and fold my hands in my lap, waiting to see how this conversation is going to go.
Wild seemed confident it wasn’t going to be a problem and considering how often I’ve heard about him testing the limits, I imagine he’d be the one to properly warn me.
“I’m sure you know why I’ve called you in here, so I will cut to the chase.”
I let out a slow but heavy breath.
“Now, I need you to know the Miami Blaze organization, we don’t condone violence of any kind.”
“I understand.” I nod, ready to justify my actions when he interjects.
“But this is also personal to me. Before I get into everything, I want to personally thank you for what you did yesterday.”
Thank me?
“I’m sorry?” I say, tilting my head in confusion.
“Thank you, son. When Sydney told me what happened, my heart damn near dropped to my ass.”
I can’t help but laugh at his analogy, letting him continue.
“She’s strong and can hold her own with the best of ‘em, but when I heard about what happened and how you stepped in to help her, to save her from what could’ve been much worse. I don’t ...I can’t imagine what I’d do if anything serious happened to my daughter. Thank you, Colson. I mean it, seriously, thank you.”
What?
Sydney is who? Did he say Sydney was his daughter?
Holy. Shit.
How could I not have realized this sooner? What the hell did I go and get myself into?
“She’s not here today, she had some things to tend to, but I’m sure you’ll be seeing her around. She took over as Executive Assistant of Operations.”
As if I could not have dug myself into a deeper hole by messing around with my coach's daughter, come to find out she’s also working for the Miami Blaze.
I told myself I needed to focus on playing and winning basketball games, but somehow, I went and made this even more complicated.
“Is that right? I didn’t know Sydney was working here.” I catch myself from using her nickname, not wanting to give off any clue we’re on more than friendly terms.
“Yeah, she graduated with a degree in business from the University of North Carolina a few months ago. She grew up watching and learning from me, so when she told me she was thinking about applying, I was excited to know she’d be finally coming back home to Miami.”
We hadn’t gotten too personal about our jobs, me wanting to take advantage of the opportunity of spending time with someone who seemingly was unaware of who I was, and if I had to guess, she was likely thinking the same thing.
