“Sure,” Daniel said, and followed him through the house. It wasn’t a long tour—the house was three bedrooms but on the small side. Micah didn’t need much room. Daniel spent about four minutes trying to coax Cousteau out from under the guest bed, and Micah remembered Daniel saying he had five dogs. He tried to imagine Cousteau around five dogs, then told himself if he was going to start fantasizing, stick to Daniel in the shower and not future living arrangements.
Micah knew he had a crush, but geez, this was intense.
“The one thing I did was set up a pretty sweet backyard,” Micah said, once they’d returned to the kitchen. He opened the back door and waved to show Daniel he should go first.
The back of his house had a small narrow yard that Micah had transformed into an outdoor space he’d actually use. The tiled area was entirely encompassed by an iron canopy, with swathes of netting that could be lowered and zipped to keep the bugs away. He had a table and chairs and a comfortable lounger under the canopy, and off to the side on a bricked area was a grill and a tall bar with stools.
He’d put up hot chili pepper lights intermixed with white ones, and there were some tiki torches ringing the area. “Voila,” he said, smiling.
“Aw, man, this is great!” Daniel, who Micah assumed lived in a fancy house in Coral Gables given his job, probably had a pool and a way fancier outdoor space. But he looked as impressed as Micah’s other friends had when he’d finished it and invited them over for a party.
“Right? Thanks, I’m really proud of how it came out. I laid this tile myself!” Micah wiggled his eyebrows. “And damn good, too. Look, it can’t even get up.”
“Your jokes are still bad,” Daniel said, smirking as he took a long sip of his beer.
“Guilty.” Micah snorted. “Have a seat, I thought we’d eat out here.”
“I can help you,” Daniel said immediately, because of course he did. “And I’m starving, so that means we’ll eat faster if I don’t have to wait on you.” He grinned.
Micah’s stomach did six somersaults, and he smiled back. “Sure thing.”
It was amazing, Micah thought, how comfortable they were together. They brought out the food, and Micah lit the torches even though there weren’t many bugs. “I’ll have to take the netting down for hurricane season, but usually I’m safe from the storms blowing over the canopy. It’s always a gamble, though.”
“Let me know if you need to store it anywhere, I’ve definitely got room.” Daniel shook his head. “I’ll have to show you sometime! You can come swimming. Bring Cousteau.”
Micah snorted. “He’ll love that, you know how cats are about water.”
“Yeah. Kinda like our captain is, with me.” Daniel sighed.
“Is that getting any better? I meant to ask you today, I just got caught up in our beach adventures.”
“No, it’s fine, I had a great time and honestly, it was nice to not think about work for a bit. And I guess it’s a little better? We sort of had it out, actually. He really is frustrated by the team, and I can’t blame him. It’s hard to deal with all the losses.”
Micah had listened to the announcers during the intermission, and a lot of them had talked about Daniel and how he must feel, going from the Stanley Cup–winning team to one that was dead last in the standings. He didn’t want to mention those, though—he was sure Daniel heard it enough.
“What happens—” Micah bit his lip. “Uh.”
“What? Look, you can ask, I won’t take it personally,” Daniel assured him, eating another bite of pasta. Micah had doubled the recipe, thinking he’d have enough for them to have dinner and leftovers for the week, but he’d underestimated a hockey player’s appetite. “I’m used to it by now, believe me.”
“I guess I don’t know how it works, I mean, if you keep losing, does something happen?” Micah flushed. “That sounds mean, doesn’t it.”
“Nah.” Daniel shrugged. “It depends on management, mostly. They could make some trades before the deadline, which will be in February. After that, you have to stick with your roster for the rest of the season. The next deadline is in July, and sometimes GMs will do entire roster changes—they call that a fire sale, usually—or make trades at the draft to do a rebuilding year with a younger team. But it’s hard to know, really, especially this early.”
Micah nodded. This all sounded complicated, but most of all, it sounded uncertain. Did he really want to try and start something with someone who might end up traded in a matter of months? “I can’t imagine being told you have to pick up and move again so soon.”
“I have a no-trade clause,” Daniel added. “Not that it means I couldn’t agree to one, but I’ve got enough seniority that they’d have to ask me first. Not the same with some of the younger players, but sometimes it’s easier for them. Not always, though.”
Micah did feel a little better about that. Still nervous, because for all his angsting, Daniel might not be into anything other than just friendship. “The kids like it here?”
“Oh yeah, they love it,” Daniel enthused, face lighting up as it always did when he talked about his kids. “And Tabby really likes her job, so that’s great. Even if I end up playing somewhere else, they won’t move again.”
He nodded. “You sure the two of you...” Micah really didn’t know how to ask. “You get along so well.”
“Yeah. To be honest, a lot of people were confused when we got divorced, for exactly that reason. But...she wanted more, you know? We’re great friends and co-parents, and I know people have strong relationships with that as the foundation, but she was pretty insistent that the love and romance part was important to her.”
But not for Daniel? Micah finished up his last coconut shrimp and washed it down with the remainder of his wheat beer—he’d politely declined another Michelob Ultra—as he realized he was going to have to own up to his statement at the aquarium and actually bring this up with Daniel. “Want to help me bring this stuff in?”
Once they had the food inside and put away, Micah put on some coffee, and while it was brewing he said, “So, I—there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
Daniel was standing way too close, one hand on the counter and a small smile on his face. He had to know that Micah was into him, right? Daniel was smart. “Yeah?” His voice was a little husky.
Micah took a deep breath. “I’m really glad you’re back. It’s been...awesome, hanging out again. Even if now I’m spending time watching a sport that I barely have any idea what is going on beyond shoot puck at net.”