“I would normally never say anything, but my little sister’s birthday is coming up, and she’s a huge,hugeGrayling,” Marissa says shyly. “Do you think I could have an autograph? I don’t want to over-step…”
You cut her off with a smile. “What’s her name?”
“My sister?” Marissa asks. “Lily. Lily Crocker.”
There’s a spiral-bound notebook on the table that you’ve been using to scribble notes between phone calls, and you push it in her direction. “Give me Lily’s contact information,” you say. “Address and phone number. I’ll have my merch team send her a special birthday package and sign a card for her myself. Make sure you put down what size she prefers in shirts and hoodies.”
Marissa’s eyes light up. “Oh my god… are you serious? She’ll absolutely lose her mind.”
“Yeah, definitely,” you say.
When Marissa leaves, you have already sent the email ordering Lily several hundred dollars in gifts from your online store. You’ve set a memo in your phone to remind you to get your hands on a birthday card.
That evening, following the doctors’ orders, you and Kai take a walk. It requires waiting until the sun goes down, not only because Florida in September reallyisa hellhole, but also because of the sunlight that not even Kai’s sunglasses can block out, and three members of security following you guys at adiscreet distance, but you are just happy to be breathing fresh air.
You are wearing an enormous hat and sunglasses. Kai is a little harder to disguise, given that his tall, muscle-bound build definitely does not blend into a crowd, but he’s dressed down in cargo shorts and a backwards baseball cap.
The two of you stick to the side streets, avoiding the traffic and crowds on Biscayne Boulevard. It’s a couple of blocks from the ocean, but the scent of salt hangs heavy in the air, which is sweltering and humid even at eight at night. Brett, Juarez, and Jordan hang back. Walking hand-in-hand with Kai, it’s almost enough to be able to sink into the fantasy that this is all normal. That you are the kind of person who can just stroll with your lover in public without inciting a riot.
“Anything new on your house in New York?” Kai asks, out of nowhere.
At first, you don’t hear him. You are absently counting things, which is something you do subconsciously when you zone out: swaying palm trees on the shaded sidewalk, luxury cars in a sandy lot, stories on a soaring condo tower.
“Ster?” Kai presses.
“I didn’t… what do you mean?” you ask suspiciously, snapping back to reality.
“The mob and the rock-throwing. Did they charge the assholes?”
You blink rapidly. “How did you hear about that?”
He gazes down at you and furrows his brow. “They didn’t take away my access to the internet when I was out of town at thatsecond preseason game. Don’t know why I read about it on Google News and didn’t hear it from you, though.”
“It’s fine. It’s not worth talking about.”
Most people who interact with you would respect that for the warning that it is, but Kai doesn’t seem to care. “You sure about that?” he asks.
“Cal has it under control. It’sfine,” you repeat, sharper than you really should.
“You ever think about the future?” he asks, apropos of nothing.
It’s a merciful change of topic, however random. “All the time,” you answer honestly.
“What does that look like for you?”
“In what sense?”
Kai shrugs. “I want to be in Canton one day. It’s not as easy for defense as it is for QBs and running backs. When I was in high school, I wanted to play college ball. When I got to college, I wanted the Association. Now, I want the Hall of Fame.”
Ah.Goals.This is actually something you could talk about for hours. You have whole spreadsheets of goals broken down into short-term, medium-term, and long-term, and you’ve mentally assessed the probability of each one happening. You could tell Kai about your hopes thatGoldengets back to number one, or how you’d like to direct a movie one day. But, instead, you choose a big one. One that’s in line with what he just shared.
“I want an EGOT,” you tell him.
He looks confused. “The guy fromGhostbusters?”
“No, that’s Egon. An EGOT. It’s an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. Someone who’s won all of them.”
“I see.” Kai tilts his face towards the moon, which is rising overhead. “You’ve got some of those already, right?”
