Page 80 of Man Advantage

“The other ones felt weird.” Charlotte grabbed the lunch bag and peered inside. “Did you put in the chocolate pudding?”

“Your dad said no.”

She swung toward Ford. “Why?”

“Because you traded your sandwich for somebody’s cookies yesterday.”

Charlotte looked at Nadine, clearly searching for a more reasonable parent. Nadine picked up the backpack and held it out.

“I’m on his side.”

“Everybody’s on his side.”

Cole caught the backpack before Charlotte could miss the strap and helped settle it on her shoulders. “Not always. Just about pudding.”

She grumbled all the way to the door. Nadine followed, then paused beside Ford and squeezed his arm.

“Send me the information,” she said quietly.

“I will.”

Cole watched Ford stand in the doorway until Nadine’s car backed out of the drive. When he turned around, the fear was still visible, but it no longer seemed to surprise him when someone offered to carry part of it.

Cole had spent the last half of practice watching Ford pace behind the glass. Nobody else would have noticed anything different. Ford had still stopped to correct Halsey’s angle during a drill and argued with one of the assistants about a missed call in the previous night’s game. Cole knew every trip to the end of the corridor had been another attempt to outrun what they had agreed to do when practice ended.

By the time Cole showered and dressed, Ford was waiting near his stall. Deluca stood at the front of the locker room while the last few players pulled on jackets and finished packing their bags.

“Hold up before you go,” Deluca said.

Conversation faded. Cole rose from the bench, and Ford moved to his side. They had told Deluca in his office before practice. He had asked whether Charlotte knew and whether either of them expected the relationship to affect the team. Once they answered, he had thanked them for trusting him and asked how they wanted to handle the locker room.

Ford had said he wanted to tell them himself.

Now the entire team was looking at them, and Cole understood how much easier that answer had been with only three people in the room.

Ford’s arm brushed his. “Cole and I are together. We’ve been together for a while. Charlotte and Nadine know. We kept it private because I asked him to, and I don’t want to do that anymore.”

“We decided to keep it private,” Cole said. Ford looked at him, but Cole kept his attention on the room. “We’re deciding something different now.”

For a moment, nobody spoke. Halsey sat two stalls away with his elbows on his knees, likely trying hard not to look relieved. Across the room, Leo smiled at Cole before shifting his attention to Ford.

Riggs was the first to stand. “Thanks for telling us. I’m happy for you.”

He crossed the aisle and hugged Ford, then Cole. A few teammates offered congratulations. One of the defensemen asked how long they had been together, while the others returned to packing their bags.

Ford stayed beside Cole through all of it. His face had gone red, but he answered the questions he wanted to answer and let Cole handle the rest.

Deluca raised his voice over the room. “Their personal lives stay out of the press unless they decide otherwise.”

Ford’s laughter faded. Cole felt him draw a deeper breath before he answered. “Nobody has to cover for us. We’re not making an announcement, but we’re done treating it like something that has to be hidden.”

The room quieted again, though not with the terrible silence Ford had feared. Riggs nodded. Leo’s smile widened. One of the defensemen said, “Understood,” and the conversations picked up where they had left off.

Cole rested a hand against Ford’s back. The contact was small enough that no one reacted. Ford did. He leaned into Cole’s palm for a moment before turning to face him.

“You okay?” Cole asked.

Ford looked around the locker room. Riggs had returned to packing his bag. Leo had cornered Deluca to ask something about the next road game. The ordinary noise of the room had already returned.