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“So.”

“You can go.”

“Yeah.”

“You want to?”

“I wanted the phone to ring.”

“It did.”

“Yeah.”

He waits.

I pick at a loose thread near my knee.

“I want the first day.”

“What?”

“New room. New guys. First draw. I want to know I can walk into another building at thirty-eight and still be the smartest center on the sheet.”

“You probably can.”

“I know.”

That comes out fast enough to make him laugh.

Then it’s quiet again.

“I don’t want the rest of it.”

“What’s the rest?”

I look at my left hand.

“Another year bargaining with this. The shoulder. Minutes. Another doctor telling me what it costs and me deciding I can pay it because I always have.” I rub both hands over my face. “And right now the main reason I want Kansas City is San Antonio told me no.”

Mack looks at me.

“That’s a shitty reason to move my life,” I say.

“Yeah.”

“I could spend a year proving Silas wrong.”

“You could.”

“That sounds exactly like something I’d do.”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck you.”

“You brought it up.”

I laugh once.