The Fear Is Paralyzing

The Pittsburgh Penguins were getting antsy as they sat in their team meeting room, wondering why they were all being summoned there on their day off. They had just gotten back from a four game road trip, and they were supposed to have today off, be able to sleep in and relax and do whatever they wanted to do. Instead, they were all getting phone calls from their owner, Mario Lemieux, telling them to get into the arena at eleven that morning.

“Why are we here?” James Neal asked, obviously a little irritated that he was having to take time from his off day when he could be napping to come in for some kind of meeting that no one really knew what it was about. Everyone was asking the same question. James looked at Sidney Crosby. “C’mon Mr. Captain! What’s this all about? Don’t you know?”

Sidney shook his head. “I wish I did,” he muttered, obviously as tired as everyone else. They hadn’t gotten in the previous night until three-thirty in the morning so everyone was exhausted, half of the team not sleeping at all on the plane, instead playing video games.

“Couldn’t they have at least waited until this afternoon?” Matt Cooke questioned, while everyone else seemed to agree with him.

“No, this couldn’t wait,” the words of Mario filled the room, and everyone quickly became silent, waiting on their owner to talk. He walked to the front of the room, as everyone’s eyes stayed on him, waiting on him to make the announcement. The president, general manager, and head coach walked in the room behind Mario, and they all knew something major was about to be announced. “As you all know, with Mitchell passing away, we all knew there were going to be some shake-ups coming up,” he began.

The team did know this. Mitchell Layman was part owner of the team with Mario. Even though Mario was the more visible, hands-on one of the two of them, it was actually Mitchell who was the majority owner, owning 55 percent of the team. However, Mitchell had died of heart disease just two weeks before, though it had not been announced what was going to happen to his share of the team. Most people had speculated that he would just turn it all over to Mario, allowing him to have full ownership of the team, but nothing had made that official just yet.

“It’s finally been revealed what Mitchell wanted to be done with his part of the team,” Mario continued, and everyone held their breath. With the tone in Mario’s voice, it didn’t seem that he had been left with the team. Besides, he wouldn’t feel the need to call everyone so early in the morning after a road trip to tell them that he would take over as full owner of the team. But, what did it mean then? Had Mitchell handed it over to someone else? Had he given it to some company that would want to move the team?

Everyone stared at Mario, his pause seeming to last minutes instead of the mere seconds it actually was. “He has left his part of the team to his next of kin,” he stated. “Quinn Layman will be here tomorrow to meet the team.”

The entire team started chattering, half of them not even hearing Mario’s last statement. “What does this mean?” some people were asking, while others were saying, “Why didn’t he just leave the team to Mario?”

Sidney was the one to speak up above the rest of the group, focusing back in on Mario. “Have you met Quinn? Is he a good guy? Who is it? Mitchell’s son? Did Mitchell even have kids?” He was asking the questions that everyone was wondering right now. They didn’t know too much about Mitchell, not like they did about Mario. Mitchell was somewhat of a mystery to them when it came to his personal life. He was a great owner, showing up to their games and fighting for what he knew was best for the team, but when it came to knowing him personally, no one on the team really did know him.

“I have not met Quinn,” Mario admitted. “But, I’ll get the chance when you all do tomorrow when she comes to visit,” he said, making sure everyone knew that Quinn was a woman. He really didn’t need to spring that kind of surprise on the team when she came in the following day. “And, she is Mitchell’s daughter.”

“Mitchell had a daughter?” That was the question that rang throughout the room, all of the guys surprised.

“She gonna be new owner?” Evgeni Malkin’s voice rang out.

Mario nodded his head. “Yes, she’ll be the new partial owner. She’ll take over all of Mitchell’s stakes,” he explained, while the rest of the team continued to speak at once, all of them in surprise by the new announcement.

“I don’t see this turning out very well,” Jordan Staal said. “Unless she’s hot. Then this will be good,” he said with a smirk on his face, causing his teammate, Kris Letang, who was sitting next to him to roll his eyes at him. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t like to see some hot girl coming to every game, coming into the locker room afterwards, going on road trips with us,” Jordan countered.

“Staal! That’s enough!” Mario’s voice boomed, and he instantly quieted up. “She is your new owner. Do not speak about her like that.” Jordan’s head sunk in embarrassment, while everyone laughed at him getting in trouble from the big boss. “Now, as I was saying, she will be here tomorrow to meet with the team. You will meet her after practice, and I expect you to all be respectful of her,” Mario concluded, his eyes looking right at Jordan.

“Yes, sir,” Jordan nodded his head, knowing his teammates weren’t going to let him live this down anytime soon.

***

Quinn Layman walked inside her mother and step-father’s house, unable to believe that she still took part in the family’s weekly dinners, even though she was twenty-five years old. What was even more unbelievable was that her parents were able to get her two older step-brothers to take part in it, even Noah, who was now married and had a daughter himself.

“Quinn,” Corinne’s voice rang out as she saw her daughter walk inside. “Come in here,” she called out from the kitchen, and Quinn did as she was told.

“Hey Mom,” Quinn smiled, walking over to give her mom a hug. She saw Noah and Dean already sitting at the table, Dean talking about whatever quick money scheme he had come up with this week. Though the two of them were brothers, they were nothing like each other. Noah was a hot, young lawyer who had successfully made a name for himself. Dean, on the other hand, used their father’s, Garret Myrick, name in order to get ahead in life and make money. If he applied himself like his older brother did, there was no doubt in Quinn’s mind that he would be rich on his own, but Dean preferred to take the easy way out in life.

“Why don’t you go ahead and set the table,” Corinne suggested to Quinn, who simply nodded her head. She was twenty-five years old, living on her own after just obtaining her MBA, and she still was subjected to doing chores when she came home.

“Where’s Riley and Claire?” Quinn asked Noah, referring to his wife and daughter. While they didn’t come to dinner every week, they were there a lot, and they helped Quinn get through the night, having two other people on her side. And, Quinn knew she needed the support tonight when she dropped a bomb on her family.

“Claire took Riley to a movie,” Noah explained. “But, they’ll probably be back next week,” he added as Quinn finished setting the table. Corinne brought the food over, and she called her husband, who had been upstairs, into the dining room so they could all begin their dinner.

Quinn looked around the table at her family, who were all in the middle of a conversation about Noah’s newest case. Quinn sat quietly, which while it wasn’t completely abnormal, it still wasn’t how she usually was, not that anyone really noticed at the time.

Her mind was racing as she thought back to just two weeks ago having sat in the same exact seat telling her mother that she had just found out that her biological father had died. It hadn’t taken much for her to find out the news, as it was all over the television in Pittsburgh since he had been the majority owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But, for some reason, her mother hadn’t found out, and Quinn had been the one to break the news to her.

Now, it was time for Quinn to break some more news to her family, and this time she couldn’t decide if it was good or bad. She bit the inside of her cheek, as she tried to find the right time to bring the subject up, though she knew there was never going to be a right time. So, when there was a lull in the conversation, Quinn cleared her throat, putting all the attention on her. “Um, I’ve got something to tell you guys,” she said almost hesitantly.

“What is it?” Garrett asked, and Quinn could feel everyone’s eyes on her.

“Well, I was told today what Mitch left for me,” she said.

“He leave you some money?” Dean asked, and Quinn knew that had Mitch left her some money, Dean would have tried to figure out a way to get his hands on it one way or another.

“No,” Quinn shook her head. “He left me the Penguins,” she said in a rush.

Everyone stared at her for a moment, a little confused, most of them thinking she was talking about the animal instead of the team. Dean was the first one to have everything click, though, as his eyes widened. “The Penguins?” he questioned. “He left you the Penguins? As in the hockey team? How can he leave you a hockey team?”

“Easily,” Garrett answered for her. “He owned the Penguins, and as the owner, in his will, he can give the team to anybody he wants. I’m surprised he left them to you, Quinn, no offense. It’s just I would have assumed that he would have left them to someone high up in the system, or even the other owner.”

Quinn couldn’t argue with him. Ever since she had found out that she was now the owner of the Penguins, she wondered why it was her. She was the last person that should own a hockey team. She knew absolutely nothing about the sport, let alone how to run a team. She thought of all the possibilities she had, whether she wanted to just give up the team completely, either by selling them or by just handing the team over, or whether she wanted to continue be the owner but be a silent one.

“What are you going to do, Quinn? Corinne spoke up. “You’re not capable of having a hockey team.” While Quinn agreed with the statement, it still hurt to hear it coming from her mother. Corinne had always made Quinn not feel good enough or up to her standards when she was growing up, and little comments like that continued to hurt her self esteem.

“I don’t know,” Quinn replied. “I just thought I should tell you guys about it.”

“You know, if you want, I can take a look at the documents and let you know what they say, what your options are,” Noah spoke up.

Quinn nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that. Thanks,” she smiled at him.

They continued talking for a little bit longer before Corinne started cleaning up the plates, and everybody began dispersing. “Hey, Noah,” Quinn called out, and Noah turned around to look at her. “I’m supposed to meet the team tomorrow. Do you think it’s a good idea for me to go in? I mean if I’m going to give the team up, should I even meet them?”

“You’re going to give it up?” he asked.

“Well, yeah,” Quinn said. “I mean, it’s not like I can keep the team. I know nothing about owning a team or what it takes to do it! Why, you think I should keep them?” she asked, looking up at him. She always valued his opinion, and now was no exception.

“I’m going to support you no matter what. I just know that you don’t give yourself enough credit in life, and I don’t think you’d be a bad owner. So, if you want to keep the team, I’m going to support that. If you’d prefer to give them up, I’ll support you then, too.”

Quinn couldn’t help but smile at him. “Thanks, Noah,” she told him.

“No problem,” he replied. “I’ll call you tomorrow to try to get those documents so I can take a look at them. I’m going to head home right now, I’ve got to be in court early tomorrow,” he told her, giving her a hug goodbye.

Quinn started to grab her things to go, too, but she was stopped by Dean just before she reached the front door. “I heard you and Noah talking,” he began, and Quinn wished that she had gotten out the door before he could have stopped her. Dean had never been keen on Quinn joining their family, and the two of them didn’t get along well most of the time, though they had learned to be civil towards one another at family dinners. “You’re thinking about giving up the team?” he asked.

Quinn sighed. “Yeah,” she nodded her head. “And, let me guess, you think that’s a stupid idea?”

Dean surprised her by shaking his head. “No, actually I don’t. I think we both know you’re not into hockey or running a team. The best thing would be to give it up.”

“Wow, thanks for supporting me,” Quinn told him.

“I think you should give the team to me,” Dean said, and Quinn resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “And before you start arguing with me, hear me out. I’d be a good replacement. I mean, I do have a degree in sports management. I know how a team is supposed to be run, and I could do a good job,” he pleaded his case.

“Let me think about it,” Quinn said, though she had no intention of actually considering him for the job.

“Seriously, Quinn, you know it’s a good idea,” he continued as Quinn made a run for the door. “Just think about it!” he yelled after her as she shut the door behind her.