Trade Deadline - Avon Gale Page 0,97
videos about conspiracy theories or obscure mathematical concepts by the time the Venom had lost in the conference final.
“These are delicious,” Daniel said, eating another one of the crab puff things. “I can have this and regular beer, now. All the time, even!”
“Yet another benefit of retirement,” Micah joked. He was looking forward to seeing Daniel coach games, and he had to admit that he wouldn’t miss the breathless feeling of fear every time someone slammed him into the boards or knocked him upside the head with the stick. Now he just had to go to parties with awkward kids and their star-struck parents at Daniel’s house. Their house. It was still taking some getting used to, remembering Micah and Cousteau lived there now, too.
“Yo, Dolphin!”
Blinking, Micah turned around and saw the towering, suited and still-bearded form of Trevor Morley standing amidst the donors and holding a Miller Lite. “Uh. Danny? Did you bring Morley as your plus-one, ’cause I kinda thought I might take you home with me.”
It wasn’t just a plus-one, though. Morley was accompanied by Tristan Holt, Ryu Mori, Emmitt Armstrong and Sebastian Cruz, Tristan’s boyfriend. Micah blinked. “You brought a plus...five?”
“Yeah,” Daniel said, wide eyed. “Technically, a plus eight, if you count Tabby and the kids. Is that a problem?”
“Uh.” Micah blinked. “No? But, I mean, catering’s gonna kill me. Your hockey guys eat enough food for like, sixty more people.”
“I made them eat before they got here,” Daniel said, proving he was already a coach in mind and spirit.
The guests didn’t seem to really pay attention, although Nathaniel and Gretchen seemed overjoyed to see their father’s friends and former teammates, and Camila, the fundraising director, did sidle up to Micah a few minutes later and say, “Since your boyfriend brought all these sports people, does that mean I can hit them up for donations to the outreach program?”
No wonder they’d hired her. Micah grinned. “Have at it, they make enough for a pretty substantial recurring donation. Enough where they can get invited next year.”
Camila was most certainly good at her job, because it didn’t take her long at all to have Daniel’s friends signing up for monthly sustaining donations.
“No, for serious, though,” Morley was saying to Camila, with a charming smile. “You should call this like, the Megalodon Tier. Then I bet you’d get a lot more people to join.” He paused. “You guys don’t have any of those, do you?”
“Megalodons?” Camila cleared her throat. “I’m no marine biologist, but I’m pretty sure they’re extinct.”
“Yeah, they are,” Micah huffed. “Only gonna see that one and the three-headed shark on B-movies, Morley.” He couldn’t help but smile, though. Morley was fun at parties, even if he did think a sixty-ton shark was real.
“If we ever find one and need to rehab it,” Camila said, sliding her arm into Morley’s, “you’re going to be the first person I call to secure the funding.”
“Sweet! Name it after me, that’d be rad.”
Micah shook his head, and turned to find Daniel was over talking to Cody. Whatever they were whispering about, they stopped as he approached. He was curious why Daniel’s friends from the Venom were here, but they were mingling and it looked like there were one or two hockey fans among the guests, as he saw them posing for a few pictures. That might have also been his own friends, who were delighted to meet Daniel’s crew even if Micah’s friends looked hilariously short in comparison.
The gala was one of those appetizers-and-drinks affairs, which meant that most people would head off before too long. It wasn’t meant to be too fancy, as the aquarium preferred to keep the parties less expensive and not blow the budget on thanking donors. Micah was glad about that. When he’d first started working at the aquarium, their galas were dreary affairs at a downtown hotel with rubbery chicken and a silent auction, and one memorable year, a live auction with a D-list celebrity who drank too much wine and auctioned off a vacation package to Estes Park for sixty-five dollars.
This was way better, and scheduling it around a turtle release was a great idea. People liked wandering to the tents for food and drinks, and then into the aquarium itself to see the animals and listen to some of the staff talk enthusiastically about them. Silver was in his element, swimming in his enclosure both indoors and outdoors. There were ball-shaped lanterns made out of dolphin-safe recycled plastic, with solar lights inside