“And?”
“I could drive out.”
“You could.”
“I have no reason to be there. It’s Finn’s visit, not mine.”
“I know.”
“He might not want to see me.”
“He might not.” Claire’s voice was even. “But you’ll never know if you don’t show up.”
A pause. Then: “Did you end it, or did it end?”
Long silence. “He ended it.”
“Why?”
“Because I gave him a reason to.”
The line held.
“I’m not saying this to make it worse. I’m saying it because you get it now. You didn’t before. That matters.”
“Okay,” Evan said.
“Okay you’ll go, or okay you heard me?”
“Both.”
A noise from her end. Not quite a laugh. “Good. One more thing.”
“What.”
“What are you planning to wear?”
Evan blinked. “What?”
“To Chicago. What are you wearing.”
“I haven’t thought about it.”
“Are you going to wear a blazer?”
The closet was across the room. Fifteen years of professional armor hanging in a row.
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t wear the blazer. Not any of them. You’re not going as the Director of Hockey Operations. You’re going as you. Wear a shirt, Evan.”
“Which one?”
“Any of them. Just not a blazer.”
Evan looked at the bedroom entrance. Then he said, before he’d decided to say it: “You’re going to want to meet him.”
Silence.
