Page 21 of The Charlie Method

I try to change the subject. “How’s Kelsey?”

Kelsey is my stepmother. They got married when I was four, so technically, she’s the only mother I’ve ever known. I don’t remember anything before her. Dad does keep pictures of Mom on the mantel, so when we get photographed for interviews, it shows that he has feelings. That he desperately loved his first wife. I’m sure he did. Although according to my grandfather, theirs was more of a beneficial marriage than one based on love. Mom came from another political dynasty and some nice money. Combined fortunes and all.

Kelsey doesn’t have the fortune, but she has the connections. She was a law student when they met and now practices criminal law in DC.

Truth be told, I like my stepmother. She’s cool. Warm. What she sees in my father, I’ll never know.

“She’s excited to have you home for Thanksgiving,” he says. “All your cousins are coming too. It’s perfect. We haven’t had a good photo of the whole clan for a while.”

Nothing like a photo op to make Thanksgiving magical and unforgettable.

I take a sip of my coffee. I could just blurt out,what the hell do you want?But Dad doesn’t like to be interrogated. He likes holding the seat of power. If I asked him, he would just stall. Give me a lecture about how he wants to see me and then take an even more roundabout way to get to the real reason he’s here. So it’s best to pretend I don’t know he has an ulterior motive. Then he’ll just reveal it faster.

“One of the reasons I wanted to see you—” he starts.

See? Wait, and he shall deliver.

“—is to pick your brain about this UCS mess.”

“What about it? It’s not my school.”

“No, but it’s your sport.”

“What the hell does that mean? A bunch of hockey players allegedly haze someone to their death, so that means I’m culpable too?”

“Lower your voice.”

I roll my eyes. “Contrary to what you believe, no one is eavesdropping on us or recording this conversation. Nobody in Hastings gives a shit. And Briar Hockey has nothing to do with UCS.”

“No. But this isn’t the first time an NCAA hockey team has gotten a bad rep for unruly behavior.”

“Have you met Coach Jensen? That man runs a tight ship. Briar players don’t fuck around.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is the point?”

I’m starting to get aggravated. Why can’t he just be a normal dad who wants a pleasant visit with his son? A dad who asks how my game went this weekend, if I think we might make it to the postseason, if I’m dating anyone.

He notes my expression, and his lips tighten as he visibly grits his teeth. “William. No man is an island.”

He’s throwing rote phrases at me now? Deep Thoughts with William Larsen Senior?

“What the hell are you talking about?” I grumble.

“It means that it’s not only what I do that reflects on me. What my son does reflects on me. My son plays hockey. And my son goes to college. In a vacuum, that might be innocuous. However, at the moment, a college hockey program has been implicated in a hazing scandal that ended with a kid plummeting off a roof. And naturally, the vultures in DC have questions now. First and foremost: Congressman, what does your son think about it?”

“What do they care what I think?”

“Because they care about me.”

Me, me, me, me, me. That’s what it always boils down to, isn’t it?

“So you think this’ll reflect poorly on you because I play hockey? Come on, Dad. Nobody cares.”

“I truly don’t know why you’re being combative right now. One would think we’d be on the same page in our condemnation of the Sacramento program.”

“Is that what you need? Like, seriously, get to the point. Do you want me to give a statement condemning it? Because, sure, I’ll do it. I shall condemn.”

---