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“Eh, you know, happy to get a night off,” she winked.
“I bet,” he indulged her. “What’re they now? Six, seven?”
She bumped him. “Four.”
Her twin boys were the adorable terrors George had hoped would placate his parents’ disappointment their first born was gay and thus, in their minds, unlikely to have kids of his own, to have the white wedding they seemed to envision as the crowning glory on top of his incredible success. Oh, they were nice about it. But Joq didn’t miss the shared looks, the flashes of grief whenever they visited; as if Joq’s presence in George’s home confirmed, again and again, some immeasurable loss.
“He’s looking good,” Cara said and smiled over at the bar.
Joq looked at George. He was with one of his assistants and Scotty. A fellow player, now retired, Scotty and George came into the league together, played their whole careers together, and retired together. George was holding his beer loosely, grinning as he listened to Scotty talk and gesticulate wildly. He was probably telling an embellished fishing story that occurred near his property in Far North Queensland.
“He is,” Joq confirmed.
He glanced over at Finn again. He didn’t know why. Finn wasn’t doing anything special—playing a game of pool with Lacy. Or, well, trying to. Lacy was wasted, which was pretty standard. George always said the only reason Lacy managed to avoid getting pulled up for it was it never affected his game, his training, or his attitude—on the face of it, he was a model player, so, what could you do?
Joq watched now as Lacy said something that made Finn’s eyes widen. Finn shook his head, and Lacy skulked off to the bathroom.
“George said you’ve been good for Finn too?”
Joq turned to look down at her. “Really?”
“Something about a dinner,” she shrugged and flagged down a waiter with a tray of prawn cocktails. Joq shook his head vehemently. Disgusting.
“Yeah, thought he could use a proper welcome,” Joq managed to get out. He focused on Finn again because it seemed like Cara was waiting for him to do so.
Finn was lining up a pool cue, rocking it back and forth between his fingers on the table, his eyes focused, his body a long line of muscle bent over the table.
“George was worried about him, having to deal with that injury and then leaving his mum and sister.”
Finn struck the balls and leaned back as one almost went down a pocket before ricocheting out. Lacy reappeared behind him, sniffing so obviously Joq wondered why he didn’t just do the coke on the bar. He watched as Lacy took the pool cue from Finn and bumped him aside.
“Yeah, George loves to worry,” he smiled at her.
She tilted her head. “I never thought he’d be that kinda coach though.”
“Hmmm,” Joq was looking back at the game. Lacy was refusing to let Finn take his shot after he’d shanked it so badly, he was lucky he hadn’t ripped the table. He saw George come over and grab the pool cue out of his hand from behind.
He didn’t hand it to Finn. Lacy complained half-heartedly, but stepped aside when George stepped up and smirked at Finn.
“You know, these are his men. These are men,” she went on, laughing.
Joq wanted to look at her, but he was rivetted by George lining up a shot; he looked completely focused on the play, and yet, something about the way his body angled towards Finn—this play was for him.
“And I’m not saying Finn’s not a man. He is. Have you seen his social media? I’m a married woman, but damn,” Cara reached for a glass of champagne from another waiter walking by.
“I’ve seen it,” Joq nodded, eyes on the pool table.
“But the way George carried on about him since he got drafted,” she took a long sip.
George struck the white ball and sunk two in opposite corner pockets, the cracking sound loud from the other side of the room.
“You’d think Finn had been drafted to go to war,” she huffed a short laugh.
George stretched to his full height and strolled past Finn, smiling indulgently before he lined up for his next shot. Finn’s lips were twisted to the side in a playful smile, his lips moving as he muttered something. George snorted with laughter. He pushed his hair back off his face as he rounded the end of the table.
“It was nice though, seeing how much he cared.”
George lined up the next shot. Glanced up at Finn. He winked and took the shot without dropping eye contact.
