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Give it a rest

Hal

Why aren’t you answering my question

You didn’t fix it did you

Grant

You know that’s not how he wanted his first game to go

Hal

And yet

He looked pretty bad after you talked to him

Because it’s still weird

Grant

I told him not to beat himself up

You give the pep talk next time if you don’t like the results

Hal

No

Fix it tomorrow

Take him to lunch

Let him see you’re only human

I don’t want him thinking he’s a screw-up going into the next game

Grant

Do I have a choice

Hal

Nah

Now get some sleep

You lived up to your name tonight

Thanks for keeping us in the game

That’s why Hal was captain. He was not only right about Remy, but he had a plan for fixing it. And Jed also knew, even if he didn’t want to admit it, that Hal was right about doing it as soon as possible.

So Jed would be a model team player and take Remy to grab a burrito bowl after practice the next day, and make sure the kid was getting set up okay with Moreau and McBride.

Not a kid, Jed’s unhelpful inner voice reminded him. It doesn’t fucking matter, Jed replied to himself.

What mattered was Remy learning as soon as possible to treat Jed as just another teammate. If Jed didn’t screw it up, one lunch was all it would take for that to happen, and then his job would be done.