“He’s very…focused on publicity. No, not publicity. Attention. He hates when people don’t pay attention to him. As a kid, it always made things…worse.”
He’s squeezing me tighter now, and I take that as a sign not to ask about that ominousthings. Instead, I squeeze him back, wrapping my body around him as tightly as I can.
“But, I mean…as a kid I couldn’t leave. Couldn’t choosenotto interact with him. I can do that now, right?”
“Yeah, you can do that now.”
He pulls his phone from my hands.
“Can you show me how?”
I pull up his dad’s profile, deleting his texts as I do. Then, I hand the phone back to Ethan, pointing out the button. I can’t help but think this is something he’ll want to do himself. He takes a deep breath and does it, seeming shocked when nothing happens afterward. After a few moments, he goes back to his texts and pulls up his thread with Jack.
Ethan Tremblay 11:21 PM
Hey, just a heads up - I’ve blocked my dad.
I know that might be tough for you to deal with.
I’m sorry.
Jack Kinkaid 11:24 PM
Long time coming, honestly.
We can talk about it more next week – I’m flying into Minneapolis for a bit.
Ethan Tremblay 11:25 PM
Everything ok?
Did the front office reach out?
Jack Kinkaid 11:26 PM
Only to say how proud they are of your leadership.
Just thought you could use some backup.
Plus we need to decide on some sponsorships.
Ethan relaxes a bit at this, although I can tell he’s still worried that Jack has a motivation for coming that he’s not sharing.
“Ethan, he probably just wants you hawking every rainbow-colored product from here to Provincetown.”
“When you put it like that, I hope itisbecause they want to trade me.”
“Is that…likely? I thought you had a full no-move clause?”
“I do. But there are…ways. They switch my d-partner, make me pair with Koskinen. Or they just start to scratch me altogether. It becomes a stalemate, and eventually I feel like I have to give them a shortlist.”
He shrugs his shoulders, and I know he’s run through this scenario in his head before.
“Ok. And then what?”
Sometimes the only way to tackle our fearsisto tackle them, to really think about what the true worst case is.
And Ethandoesthink. He sits with it for a minute, and I can tell he’s playing through the possibilities in his head.
