“Thanks. It's very...masculine.”
He raises an eyebrow at me.
“Look...I don't know how to say this, but...this vibe is not really what I'm looking for.”
Herolls his eyesat me, like a fucking teenager.
“Um, yeah, dude. I am fully aware of that. Trust me.”
It feels like he should be more offended at my critique of his home, but instead he seems...resigned? Ethan grabs his keys and coat, and we descend in the elevator to the underground parking.
“This would be nice, though. No shoveling, no finding a spot.”
“Yeah, it's awesome in the winter.”
We find his Range Rover in its designated spot and jump in. As he pulls out, he heads toward Nicollet.
“Honestly, we could walk where we're going, but a couple of NHL guys are gonna draw some attention walking down Grant Street.”
I nod. It's been something I've had to get used to here. In the Twin Cities, hockeymatters– and our privacy doesn't. I've gotten recognized all over town already, and it feels like we're hardly ever here.
“So if you're not looking for a place like mine, whatareyou looking for in a place?”
“A bed. A microwave. A bed that doesn't look directly at the microwave.”
He snorts as he hits Grant and turns.
“Aren't you heading the wrong way?” I ask, noticing he's heading west, away from the arena.
“We're not looking in St. Paul.”
“Okay, so, I know that I said I didn't have a lot of preferences, and I don't, but 'close to the arena' is probably one of them.”
“Where we're going is a straight shot on I-94 to the arena, justtwenty minutes away. It's nice and close without beingtooclose, you know? When you're a professional athlete in season, it's easy to stick within a five-minute orbit of the arena. But I think you'll find it's better for you in the long run to get some distance from it.”
“Oh yeah? Is that what you do?”
“I didn't used to. But yeah, I do now. Or at least I try.”
We're still in a built-up area, but the high-rises of downtown have transitioned to low, brick and limestone buildings.
He pulls onto a small side street and almost immediately into a parking garage.
“Not quite as convenient as the one attached to my building, but I checked it out and you can reserve a spot in this garage for a pretty reasonable monthly fee. Plus, I think you'll find this neighborhood has a little more...personality than mine.”
We walk out of the pedestrian exit and almost the first thing I see is a pride flag. Actually, three pride flags.
“Ethan Tremblay, did you bring me to agayborhood? Does Minneapolis evenhavea gayborhood?”
The tips of his ears flush red.
“Welcome to Loring Park. Believe it or not, there are more than two of us.”
Maybe I'm the one who needs to be a little more open-minded. As we walk down the street, I can still see the high-rises of downtown in the distance. Here, the buildings are shorter, more historic. The earthy colors of brick and limestone drown out the metal and glass to the East. Most of the homes still look like they must have when they were built over a hundred years ago; a few have some pretty obvious updates.
“One of the nice things about Loring Park is that you've got a lot of choices – new and old, big and small. Lots of rentals, which is good on your rookie contract. But when you're making the real money, there are also some amazing houses to pick from.”
We come up to an intersection and he points to the West. “Just a block or two that way is the park. It's a great place to run, and if youget a dog or whatever you could take him there for walks. Lake of the Isles and Lake Bde Maka Ska aren't far past that.”
