In the hotel lobby, Ryan picks at the hem of his jacket and waits for Dante to return. It’s the jacket that Mr. Vasquez gave him—Rio del Oro on the back and his name, Talonovich, embroidered on the front. He likes the stitching, gold on green, and he keeps running his finger over the raised letters as if they’re written in Braille and he can read them with his fingertips alone. Talonovich. The Talon.
That’s what Becca calls him, Talon, because that’s what he went by on campus. Everyone knew him there—star of the hockey team, who didn’t know who he was? When he stepped out on the ice, the crowds cheered for him the way they do for Dante, chanting his name, psyching him for the game. And here, now, who is he here? On this trip he’s just Dante’s crippled friend, the kid in the wheelchair. He
