The Goalie Bet novel · Chapter 4 of 32

Chapter 4: The Coordinator

The email came at 7:12 in the morning.

Subject line: Meeting today, 9:00, please confirm.

I read it standing in my kitchen with the kettle going.

I confirmed before I'd finished reading the second paragraph.

I got to the athletics building at 8:40 and sat in the hall outside the office.

There was a bench with a wobble in one leg.

A custodian came by with a cart and I moved my feet.

At 8:58 Logan came around the corner.

He was in a gray hoodie with the hood down and he looked like he hadn't slept either.

"What are you doing here?" I said.

"Wade told me."

"Wade told you what?"

"That there's a meeting."

"You can't be here."

"I'm not going in. I'm sitting here."

"Logan."

"Dana."

He sat down on the other end of the bench.

The door opened and the coordinator looked out at both of us.

She's in her fifties, glasses on a chain, a cardigan over a blouse.

"Ms. Kline. Just you."

I went in. She closed the door behind me.

The office was small and warm and had a ficus in the corner.

She sat behind the desk and folded her hands.

"I received an email last night," she said.

"I know."

"From Ms. Mercer."

"I know."

She turned her monitor a little so she could read it.

"She's attached screenshots of a document in the shared placement drive. A draft withdrawal from your placement."

"That draft is mine."

"Did you write it?"

"I did."

"Did you send it?"

"No."

She looked at me over the top of her glasses.

"Why would you draft a withdrawal and not send it?"

I'd thought about the answer on the drive over.

"Because I wasn't going to quit," I said. "I wanted to write it down so I could look at it and decide it was stupid."

"That's not an answer a person gives if they're lying."

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