After the afternoon ended with players good naturedly jostling each other in the aftermath of strenuous field practice; after the orchestrated squishing sound of 40 players untaping; after Griff had showered at home in the Huygens cottage, the quiet was unsettling. That Caydance was spending the next few nights in her studio in San Francisco was not something that a year ago would have bothered Griff as much as it did now.

They had set aside a late night hour to talk on the phone, but the phone rang just as he had decided to call her earlier (as soon as he drank the last bottle of Rocky Mountain Steeplejack Special, opened a bag of potato chips, made and ate two ham and cheese sandwiches, and rummaged in the freezer for an Its It ice cream bar).

The caller was not Caydance.

"Robbie and I have ordered steak and chips delivered from the Faculty Club, and I have a refrigerator full of Maui Lager," said Defense coach, Kekoa Alualu. "Want to join us?"