She smiled. “How’s the team?”
“Talented. Undisciplined in manageable ways. Young in inconvenient ways.”
“That sounds like every team you’ve ever described.”
“Some more than others.”
She twirled pasta around her fork. “Anyone stand out?”
I should have said Roman, because he was the spine of the room. Or Lowell, because his development mattered. Or Milo, because if someone didn’t keep him from accidentally becoming a PR incident, Tessa might quit and take the organization’s common sense with her.
Instead, I said, “Holloway.”
Olivia nodded. “The star.”
“One of them.”
“I’ve seen his face everywhere. Vanessa follows me, I think. Or maybe I follow her. We met at that charity thing in Miami, didn’t we?”
“Probably.”
“He’s the one everyone says is brilliant and difficult?”
My fork scraped the plate. “People overuse difficult when they don’t want to be specific.”
She looked at me then, mildly surprised.
I took a drink of water.
“What is he specifically?” she asked.
“Fast. Impatient. Better when instruction is direct. Gets ahead of the play because he sees it early. If you correct the behavior instead of making a character judgment, he responds.”
Olivia’s mouth curved a little. “That was a scouting report.”
“It’s my job.”
“I know.” She wasn’t teasing now, not exactly. “You sound invested.”
I set my glass down. “He matters to the team.”
“So do they all.”
“Yes.”
She waited, giving me room to say more.
I didn’t know what more there was. That Jace had started listening with an immediacy I could feel in the room. That I was aware of his effort in a way I should have spread evenly acrosstwenty-three players. That when he got something right, I had to be careful with my approval because he absorbed it like it cost him something.
None of that belonged at dinner with my wife.
“He’s been mishandled,” I said finally. “I’m trying not to repeat that.”
Olivia’s expression softened. “That sounds like you.”
It should have comforted me.
We watched television after dinner, some crime show Olivia liked where everyone was too attractive to work that many homicide cases. She leaned against the far end of the couch, feet tucked under her, laptop open even though she claimed she wasn’t working. I sat with Tiny’s head on my knee and answered an email from my assistant coach.
