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“Jenny won’t let this happen to her handpicked coach,” Danny said. “I thought about going to her first. I decided to go to him instead. Told him that either he quits or I go public. He asked if there was a third option. I told him to ask my sister—she knows everything.”
“That would be the option of her giving up control of the team,” his mother said. She sipped more tea. It was a habit her “holistic adviser” had convinced her would extend her longevity, even though all her children were convinced she was going to outlive the earth. “Is there any point in me asking if these allegations against the coach are true?”
“Doesn’t matter whether they are or they’re not,” Danny said. “If they get out there, he’s through. That’s how it works with MeToo. And he’s already got that assault rap on his résumé.”
“I worry that we keep underestimating Jenny. Because it turns out that she has even more of her sonofabitch father in her than she ever let on.”
It almost made him laugh.
“Don’t you mean she’s got more of you in her, Mother?”
“Oh, spare me,” she said dismissively, always her default tone with him. “Are we going to start up with all that old happy horseshit about how I was your father’s Nancy Reagan? That is, as they say, such false news.”
He could have corrected her, but doing that always pissed her off even more.
“All I know,” she continued, “is that your plan better work. Things can’t continue this way for the family.” She shook her head. “Your sonofabitch of a father is gone now, but I’m somehow still cleaning up his messes.”
“Sonofabitch? Is the mourning period officially over?”
“There was never going to be a period of mourning once he married that whore,” she said.
Danny let that one hang in the air for a moment.Whore.He’d heard worse about Rachel, too.
Much worse.
“I did exactly what John Gallo instructed me to do,” Danny said. “I raised the stakes a little more by showing I’m willing to take down the coach right along with her.”
“How long did you give him to make up his mind?”
“I told him he had a couple of days,” Danny said. “But I can’t believe it will take that long to resolve itself. She won’t let him take the fall for her.”
“Even if it means giving up the team?”
“If she doesn’t, she watches Ryan Morrissey sail off to Weinstein Island,” Danny said.
“Where?”
“It’s like the lost island of Atlantis. Named after the movie guy. It’s the place well-known men get exiled to after they get accused of forcing themselves on women.”
They sat in silence. The housekeeper brought a fresh pot of tea. She asked if Danny wanted more coffee. He said he was fine. Mostly he wanted to leave. He never wanted to be here, at least not for very long. But then Danny wasn’t sure he’deverwanted to be here.
“Are you sure you didn’t know what was in that will?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Sometimes I wonder if you’re still playing us all off against each other,” Danny said, “the same as he always did.”
“To what end?”
“You tell me.”
“Don’t you give me that shit!”she snapped. “I’m doing what I’ve always done, which means protecting this family.”
“Aren’t Jenny and Thomas part of the family, too?” Danny said.
“Not if they won’t get out of the way.”
She took her lace napkin out of her lap and placed it next to her plate. He was being dismissed.
