“Hear that?” Simon asked Dec. “He’s blaming you for being stuck in Perth.”
Dec laughed shakily. “Shut up.”
“I mean it,” Micah said. “The way I was going last year, I would never have been drafted if you hadn’t helped me. If GetOut hadn’t helped me. I kind of wish you guys were still here.” He realised how perilously close he came to spilling his secrets, and how he wasn’t coping at all. But he clammed up.
“I’m still here when you need me.” Dec smiled at him through the camera.
“Thank you. And thank you too, Simon.”
“Finally! I was wondering when I was going to get some gratitude.”
“Just say thank you,” Dec admonished him.
“Thank you.” Micah could have sworn there was now a glint in Simon’s eyes as well.
“I knew you could do it,” Dec said. “The problem was getting you to think you could do it.”
And the problem now is getting me to think I can keep on doing it. “Anyway, how much longer are you guys going to be in Albany?”
“Well, I have to get back to work on Saturday,” Dec said.
“Good. Because I asked if they could set aside tickets for you.”
“I’ll be watching you anyway,” Dec said. “I’m going to be onfield reporting for the game.”
“I’d love to go,” Simon said. “Can Fran snag the other ticket? She’d want to support you too.”
“That would be great. How’s Albany, anyway?”
“It’s fantastic!” Simon truly was enthused. “I seriously think it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to.”
“He’s trying to convince me to buy a property here for when we retire,” Dec said.
“Imagine it,” Simon got a faraway look in his eyes. “An old farmstead house overlooking King George Sound. We could sit on our veranda in the morning and watch the whales surface as we drink our coffee.”
“That’s a very romantic vision you have there, Simon,” Micah said.
“But it’s a nice one.” Dec was probably already researching property values and how they might change in the next thirty years.
“And did you make all the decisions you have to?”
“We think so.” But Dec didn’t elaborate. And Simon looked a little furtive as well.
Micah decided not to push for information, but with promises to see each other on Saturday they signed off.
And before he could start feeling alone again, he decided to call his parents now they would be home from work and let them know the good news as well.
JUST AS he was getting ready for bed, a text came through on his mobile.
Hey, guess who’s going to be in Melbourne this weekend?
Kyle. Micah tried not to get too ahead of himself with excitement at the fact he was texting him of his own accord again. I dunno. Superman?
Almost. Yours truly.
Micah snorted. Good to see some things never change.
What, you mean my healthy sense of ego?
Yeah. Healthy.
Anyway, I’m going to be in Melbourne. Was wondering if you would be, if you were playing.
Micah’s fingers sped across the screen. I’d be there anyway, even if I wasn’t playing.
Oh, of course.
But I AM playing.
A cheesy emoticon of streamers appeared onscreen. Congratulations!
Thanks.
Do you think you’d have any time free to maybe go for a coffee and catch up?
Seeing Kyle again would almost be worth missing his first game.
Almost.
I’m sure I could fit you in.
Oh crap! He didn’t mean it to sound like a double entendre. What the fuck would Kyle be thinking?
Or maybe he was hoping the same thing?
Time seemed to stretch before him as he waited for his screen to light up again.
Finally!
Cool. Speak to you before then.
That was it? Cool?
Maybe Kyle was freaking out, thinking Micah was going to jump his bones the minute he saw him. Or maybe he wanted him to. Which was the better option?
At least he was distracted from stressing about the game. Now he was stressing about Kyle instead.
Okay, okay. He was stressing about both.
THE LIGHTS of Melbourne twinkled below him, and Micah had never seen anything so beautiful. Melbourne was home, and he could never think of it as anything else. It was a physical pain that continued to hurt, even here at the beginning of his visit with all the time stretching out ahead of him. He didn’t even want to imagine how much worse it would be when he was back on the plane with Melbourne once again in the rearview mirror. Do planes even have rearview mirrors?
As he had family in Melbourne, Micah had permission to stay with them rather than at the hotel with the other players. He was also granted an extra night’s stay, and he would be returning to Perth by himself. He was surprised they trusted him enough to do it without a chaperone—because it was tempting enough to fantasise about going off the grid and never going back.
But for now he should just enjoy it. He said good-bye to the rest of the boys and walked through security to the waiting area, and in a sea of expectant faces, found his family. They all looked happy to see him, but he would take the bet he looked happier. Micah had to restrain himself from running over and throwing himself bodily at them—instead, settling for heartfelt hugs and manly slaps on the back from his father.
Joanne was already crying.
“Mum, I’m back, not leaving.”
It didn’t seem to matter to her. “Yeah, and you’ll be gone in a couple of days again.”
“Awkward,” Alex drawled.
“You’re telling me,” Micah said, hugging his brother again.
“Oh, man, you’re being just as bad.”
“I’ve missed you, you little freak,” Micah told him.
Alex smiled, as if he had doubted it. “Really?”
“Of course. Did you miss me?”
Alex harrumphed to himself.
“You liar,” his father admonished him. “He practically has a shrine of you in his bedroom.”
“A shrine?” Micah asked. “Ugh, kinda creepy, Alex.”
“A poster!” Alex cried. “Just one bloody poster!”
Rick and Joanne laughed. It was obviously an ongoing joke between the three of them, and it gave them a shared history Micah wasn’t a part of. He tried to keep the smile plastered on his face.