The subtext is clear. As a coach, Sarah's situation withwhoever she's involved with is far more complicated than mine with Alder.
"So I'm not getting canned for admitting I have a personal relationship with a player?"
"No. But there will be guidelines. Boundaries." She straightens as a knock sounds on the door. "And I think you're about to hear about those now."
The door opens to reveal Melissa Chen. "Dr. Sinclair? Mr. Sutton and Coach Thompson would like to speak with you in the main conference room."
Sarah encourages me as I stand: "Remember what I said last night. Balance is hard, but not impossible."
The walk to the conference room feels like the longest of my life, each step carrying me toward what I assume will be a professional reckoning. To my surprise, when I enter, both Sutton and Thompson stand to greet me, their expressions not nearly as severe as I expected.
"Dr. Sinclair," Sutton says, gesturing to a chair. "Thank you for speaking with us."
I sit, hands folded in my lap to hide their slight tremor. "Of course."
"I want to start by saying your mouthguard presentation was excellent," Sutton begins. "The board is extremely enthusiastic about implementing the program."
"Thank you," I say cautiously, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Thompson leans forward. "We also appreciate your honesty out there. Handling personal questions in a professional setting is never easy."
Sutton nods in agreement. "As mentioned, we've evaluated our organizational policies with legal counsel. Your... situation with Alder Stag has highlighted areas that need updating."
He slides a folder across the table to me. Inside are several documents, topped by what appears to be a formal disclosure form.
"Tim Stag has been particularly vocal about modernizing our approach," Thompson explains. "He's been quite insistent on these revisions, meeting with player advocates and industry experts."
“Mental health and well-being weren’t always part of the conversation.” Sutton sucks on his teeth as I open the folder.
I scan the documents, my heart rate gradually slowing as I realize this isn't a termination meeting.
"If you choose to pursue a personal relationship with a player," Thompson says carefully, "these are the professional boundaries we'd expect: disclosure, recusal from certain medical decisions, and regular check-ins with HR."
"We're not in the business of controlling our employees' personal lives," Sutton adds. "But we do need to ensure that professional integrity is maintained."
I look up from the papers, hardly daring to believe what I'm hearing. "So I'm not being fired?"
Thompson laughs at that. "Fired? We just announced your mouthguard program to the media. The timing would be terrible."
"Not to mention," Sutton adds, more seriously, "we value your contributions, Dr. Sinclair. Trust me, it’s not easy to find a dentist who can handle the mouth trauma we see out here. And Alder Stag is one of our most valuable players, and he was right about one thing—he plays better when he's whole."
The meeting concludes with specifics about the mouthguard program implementation and a timeline for the policy revisions. As I turn to leave, the door opens, revealing Tim Stag himself in an impeccably tailored suit, tablet in hand, and an uncharacteristic grin spreading across his usually serious face.
"Charles, you might want to see this," he says, stridinginto the room and placing the tablet on the conference table. "Public response is... significant."
Sutton frowns, pulling the tablet closer. "What are we looking at here?"
"Social media reaction to the press conference. The clip of Alder and Dr. Sinclair has gone viral. Over two million views in the last forty minutes alone." Tim swipes to another screen. I can see the strong family resemblance to Alder and smile despite the gravity of the situation. "And this is the Fury's website traffic. It's crashed twice already."
Thompson leans in to look. "Is this bad press? Do we need to issue a statement?"
Tim's smile widens. "Quite the opposite. The fans are overwhelmingly supportive. Hashtag 'FuryLove' is trending nationally, with all the Pride flag emojis. Some industrious fan has begun 3D printing fake teeth with little A’s and L’s on them.”
Sutton scrolls through the tablet, eyebrows climbing higher. "This is... unexpected."
"There's more." Tim pulls his phone from his pocket. "The switchboard is being flooded with calls. The email server crashed about ten minutes ago. Most are variations on the same theme—don't stand in the way of the dentist and the defender."
I feel my face heating as I realize they're discussing public reaction to my relationship with Alder.
