Divisions (Dev and Lee) by Kyell Gold Read Free Book Online Page B

Chevali’s defense is that good?”
    “Not to hear Strike tell it. He said they needed to bench the quarterback because he was making bad decisions.”
    Father snorts. “Did you get to go to the game?”
    “Oh yeah. I still have some connections from my time at the Dragons. They weren’t great seats, but I got to see the game and get beer spilled on me.”
    “So you don’t sit with the players’ wives?”
    I laugh. “Most of the wives don’t go to road games, unless it’s the playoffs. Some of the guys have a different girl in every town, from what Dev tells me.”
    He’s halfway through his soup and I’ve barely started. So I ask him about some of the plays in the game, and about the Dragons game that weekend, while I finish my soup.
    I’m just licking the spoon clean when my phone rings. I take it out. “Sorry,” I say. “In case it’s Dev.” Father nods while I look at the number. “Oh. Aunt Carolyn.” I frown. “Little early for her to call.”
    He holds up a paw as I move to put the phone away. “Go ahead and take it. She’s probably worried.”
    “All right.” So I pick it up and say hi.
    “Happy Thanksgiving,” she says, and then waits.
    “I’m with Father,” I say. “He just told me.”
    “Okay, good. Listen, if you need to talk to someone, just call me. I can’t believe you were just here and we didn’t know a thing about it. Damn that Eileen. I gave her hell.”
    I smile at Father. “I can’t imagine that did any good.”
    “It did me good. If I thought I could change her mind, I’d still be on the phone with her. Look, I’ll let you and Bren get back to dinner. Just wanted to reach out.”
    “Thanks. I’m okay, really.”
    The waiter comes by to clear the plates and looks down his muzzle at me. “Sir, the club has a strict policy against cell phones in the public areas.”
    “Sorry.” I say a quick good-bye and hang up.
    “So you had a good time in Port City.” Father picks up the conversation.
    I nod. “Dev was out late celebrating. Last time they had eight wins was in the nineties.”
    “You didn’t go out with him?”
    “Not on the team-only things.” I shrug. “Like I said. The wives don’t go along. I don’t want to get in the way.”
    “Did you get to know any of the players?”
    I feel like I’m being interviewed, but I don’t know what I’d ask him about other than the divorce, so in a way it’s sort of a relief. “I’ve met some of his teammates back in Chevali. Gerrard Marvell is a nice guy, and Fisher Kingston’s been a good friend to Dev. His wife’s nice, too. Gena. And Charm is great.”
    “The kicker.” Father nods. “The one with the ‘guffaw.’”
    “That’s him.” I chuckle. “So those guys are pretty cool. I haven’t met most of the offensive players yet, but maybe once I’m down there…”
    My cell phone goes off again. Father grimaces. “Relatives will probably be calling you all night.”
    “I’ll shut my phone off.” But when I pull the phone up, the number calling is Dev’s. “Oh, hang on.” I bring the phone to my ear. “Hey, handsome.”
    He laughs. “Hi, fox. How’s Thanksgiving dinner?”
    “It’s fine. I’ll tell you more later. What’s up?”
    The waiter sees me and starts across the room. I pretend not to notice. Dev says, “You know how you were supposed to come up here tomorrow?”
    Ah, shit, they decided not to invite me. I can’t say I’m surprised, but I am a little disappointed. The waiter stands at the side of our table and clears his throat. “Yeah?” I say.
    “Could you come up tonight?”
    “What? Why?”
    The waiter points to the phone. Part of me is amused that he is so insistently polite in the face of my rudeness. I hold up a paw as Dev answers. “Uncle Roger’s leaving first thing in the morning and he wants to meet you. Once he started in, Aunt Mariya and Aunt Ania did too. Then Auntie Za started in, and, yeah, that was that. So I said I’d call. It’s okay if you