“I just didn’t.” It was impossible to explain this to her without talking about his mother, and he wasn’t going there.
“Empirically you had to know – ”
He held up a hand. “We could go back and forth on this. You know my stats. I know how many players with stats as good as or better than mine never go pro, in more sports than football.”
“You were so good.”
He didn’t know why her insistence on his talent made him feel so warm and cold at the same time and thought it was a bad idea to try and analyze it right then.
“Anyway, we won the championship my senior year, and everyone started speculating that I’d go number one in the draft. I figured what the hell.” He tapped his foot. “Why not declare?”
“Then why did you withdraw?”
Could he tell the story without leaving out his mother? “I was
