Chapter 11 - The Reference That Wasn’t Requested
The summer program director was named Patricia Ward.
She agreed to speak with Nicole and me by video call after we explained the dispute.
Patricia stressed that an invitation was not a promise of selection, but she also said unsolicited references were unusual at Owen's age.
The note she had received claimed Owen had a pattern of abandoning commitments when asked to accept a reduced role.
It carried Scott's professional email signature.
He hadn't been asked to provide an evaluation.
He'd sent it after learning Owen was on the candidate list.
Patricia let us submit the board's correction and Coach Bell's school evaluation.
She promised an independent assessment on the field.
Owen heard the news that evening.
He sat at the kitchen table with his bat across his knees.
"Why does he hate me this much?"
I told him I didn't think his uncle had started out hating him.
I thought Scott had become so afraid of being challenged that he was willing to hurt anyone who questioned him.
"Even me?"
"Especially you, because you're family and he thinks that means you should obey."
Owen stared at the bat.
"I used to think he liked coaching me."
I had no answer that would make that hurt smaller.
On Sunday I drove him to meet Nicole at the usual halfway point.
He asked if he could leave his baseball bag in my car.
"I don't want Mom to think I only care about baseball."
Nicole heard him and knelt beside the open passenger door.
"I know you love baseball," she said. "And I know you love me. You never had to prove one by giving up the other."
He hugged her so tightly I turned away to give them privacy.
The following Monday I forwarded Scott's unsolicited reference to Daniel Pierce.
Daniel replied that it could be relevant to retaliation concerns in the pending review.
Then I received an unexpected call from Melissa.
She sounded close to tears.
Scott had discovered she'd spoken with me.
He told her that if she didn't stand behind him, she would be responsible for destroying the team and embarrassing their children.
I asked if she felt safe.
She said she did, but she was exhausted.
"Aaron, this stopped being about baseball a long time ago."
We both knew she was right.
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Then she told me Hannah had refused to take her birthday glove out of its box since the cookout.
