Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115838 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“Nah,” he replies, running his hands through his salt-and-pepper hair. “You’ve been working too hard with the defensive line, and they are up twelve percent since last year.”
“Yeah.” I ignore the rest of what he says. I get up after putting on my sneakers and head toward Martin’s corner office. I knock on the closed door, the whole time I’m trying to calm the fuck out of my beating heart and tell myself it’ll be okay.
“Come in!” I hear Martin shout and open the door. My eyes go to him behind his desk, with his hands folded on top of it, and then he looks over to one of the chairs in front of his desk where Ken, the general manager, sits. Yup, definitely getting fired, I think to myself. “Sit down,” he states, pointing to the empty chair beside Ken.
I step in and try not to yack all over the carpeted floor as I sit down in the chair and rub my hands on my track pants. “Nervous?” Ken asks me.
“A little.” I put my hands on the armrests and try to act calm and collected, when inside it’s like a tsunami about to hit land. “Feels like I’m a junior again, and I’m about to be cut from the team.”
They both laugh. “You aren’t getting cut from the team,” Martin reassures me softly and then looks at me. “It’s actually the opposite.” He stops talking and then looks over at Ken to take the lead.
“Martin and I have been talking,” he starts, “or better yet, Martin has let me know this will be his last year with us.” My eyes go from Ken to Martin, who shrugs. “He came to me at the beginning of the year and told me he was ready to retire, and I told him to hold off and see how he would feel.” My mouth opens in shock. “Needless to say, he is still on the road to retirement.” Ken looks at Martin. “Fishing and doing nothing sounds boring as hell.”
“Sounds magical to me,” Martin retorts.
“Anyway,” Ken continues, “we’ve been watching you for the last year.” I look back at Ken, not sure where the fuck this is going.
“You’re fucking good,” Martin praises. “You have a great handle on plays. You’re proactive and sense what is going to go down on the ice and call some fantastic plays.”
“Thank you,” I reply. “That means a lot coming from you.”
He smiles. “I want you to take over for me.” The minute he says the words my back sinks even deeper into the chair.
“I’m sorry, what?” I shake my head, not sure I heard the correct words.
“You’re going to be the new coach for the Warriors next season,” Ken clarifies, slapping me on the shoulder. “We’re about to make history with you being the youngest head coach.”
“I don’t know.” I shake my head, the disbelief filling my thoughts. “I don’t think I can.”
“You can,” Martin assures me. “We think you’re the coach that can build something amazing here and continue the legacy for a long time to come. You won’t need my help, but I’ll be a phone call away.”
“This is…” I try to think of the words. “It’s like a dream come true.”
“We’d like to announce it to the team today,” Martin says. “Some of the sports reporters have been sniffing around, since they know my contract is up at the end of this year.”
“Are you sure about this?” I look over at Martin, who leans back in his chair.
“It’s time. My daughter just gave birth to her second kid, so it’ll be nice to help take the first one to school. I can tell you one thing; it’ll be a fucking joy to not travel so fucking much.”
I laugh at him. “I don’t know what to say,” I respond honestly. “I’m fucking honored to be taking over the team.” I look at Ken, I just hope I don’t fucking suck at it. I want to say but instead I say, “I won’t let you down.”
“Trust me, if you aren’t up to par,” he replies, laughing, “you’ll know.”
“It’s a learning curve,” Martin notes. “There are going to be some hiccups because, let’s face it, you can’t win them all. The wins will be big, but the losses…” He points at me. “No one is going to remember the wins when you lose.” I nod at him. “I wanted to tell you first and then slowly work down with the other assistant. I am going to break the news to Cam,” he tells me. “You want to be here when we do?”
“He should be,” Ken advises. “We have to be united in this.”
“I don’t want him to feel blindsided,” I tell the room, “by having me in here. Like I knew things were going to happen and didn’t tell him.”