Page 158 of Goaltender Interference

Gavin cracked a smile. “Seems like that might take a while. This team is …”

“Not full of the brightest bulbs?” Connor joked.

“Well, I wasn’t gonna say that.”

“No, but I will. Myself included.”

Gavin’s grin widened. “I appreciate the honesty.”

“Anyway, Jesse and I arenotgonna make a public announcement. We’ll let people assume whatever they want when they see the two of us out together with the kids.”

“Works for me.” Gavin smiled. “Though I must admit, from a PR angle, it wouldn’t be bad if you went the public route. It would be a nice redemption story for Jesse.”

Connor nodded. Jesse had spoken to his agent, Mac Sanders, and he’d been lobbying for them to go that route. Connor wouldn’t be surprised if the team’s PR director quickly hopped on board.

“Jesse and I can discuss it more,” Connor said. “But it wouldn’t be the first choice for either of us. We’ve both seen what a circus it can be.”

Gavin nodded. “Not a problem. I’ll support whichever direction you decide to go.”

“Thank you.”

Connor hesitated, unsure if there was more they needed to discuss or not.

Gavin, who had been drumming his fingers on his desk, gave him a tense smile. “So, if you have a few more moments, I'd like to address the awkward situation you ended up in the middle of the other day. With my brother.”

“Oh.” Connor shifted awkwardly in his chair. “Already forgotten. It's none of my business.” Though again, considering everything they’d already talked about …

“I appreciate you saying that. But hewillbe around the team on a regular basis going forward and I don't want this lingering over us.”

“Okay.”

“Thad … uh, how much do you know about his past?” Gavin asked.

“Uhh. Very little. Just that he was a promising prospect, got himself in some trouble, and never made it beyond junior hockey because of it.”

“Right. Well that's the basics, I suppose. He—he got caught up in some stuff with people who weren't great influences, unfortunately.”

Connor nodded. “I've seen that happen to guys.”

“We have a—a complicated relationship, my brother and I.”

“I get it. If anyone knows that family is complicated …” Connor spread his hands, gesturing to himself.

Gavin cracked a smile. “Indeed. But Thad … well, this goes beyond the typical family dynamics.”

“Right, yeah. Of course.”

“He served his time and it’s taken him some time to get his life on track again but he seems to have done that recently. I'd like to—to give him a second chance. It can be difficult with his record, though, thank God it wasn’t a felony.”

“Of course.”

“When he came by and asked for the job, I thought about how well things were going with Jesse and, well, I thought I'd take a page out of your book and keep him close.” Gavin let out an awkward laugh. “Obviously, uh, now that I know you and Jesse aredating, that puts a different spin on things, but the general idea still works, I think.”

“Yeah, having your brother around the team could be good for him,” Connor agreed.

“Right. I’m hopeful. And I'm not asking you to keep tabs on him or anything. That's certainly not part of your role here. But if you could … generally keep an eye out for anything around here that seemsamiss, I'd appreciate it.”

“Sure,” Connor said slowly.

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