David waited until Doreen announced that everyone not part of the crew or cast had to leave. Then he joined Adrienne.
“You have a sweet deal here. Doreen said I get free coffee and pastries because I’m your wife. You have to try their new carrot cake.”
David stole a bite; it might be better than Doreen’s coffee cake. He’d sent her a picture of the carrot cake he had yesterday. He was surprised at how quickly she got it on the menu.
“I hear you took my friends to lunch,” David said with a neutral expression.
Adrienne’s nose scrunched to show her annoyance.
“There’s almost as much drama in your real life as on the soap.”
“What do you mean?” David asked.
“The cast is about to lose their mind over you having a wife, girlfriend, and one on the side. I think they assume there’s more going on in your real life than there is.”
“They’re just drawing off past experiences. Throw good-looking people together for unending hours each day, and stuff happens. It’s more common than you think,” David said to explain.
“No, I get that. I do have one question about your personal life. Why aren’t you dating Cassidy?”
“Because …” David began and trailed off to allow his brain to catch up. “I don’t have a good answer to that, other than I think of her as one of my best friends.”
“That makes sense, then. I bet that someday you think of her as more and discover that you wasted all this time when the two of you could have been together.”
“Or it destroys our friendship forever,” David said to put a voice to his ultimate worry.
“That might happen, but I think you’re wrong,” Adrienne said.
“Cassidy said you were going to solve my love life and tell me who to date,” David said to change the topic.
“I just did, but if I were you, I would go out with Wren and Crystal for now. It would be casual because I don’t think either of them is what you’re looking for.”
“And what’s that?” David asked.
“You’ll know it when you see it, but I don’t get the sense that you’re ready to settle down just yet. From the drama you went through this summer, I doubt you’ll be ready to date anyone seriously for some time,” Adrienne said to offer her opinion.
He kept coming back to what the psychic had told him.
Someone would put him off marriage. That they would be
someone that he didn’t like at first. That honestly could be either Lexi or Crystal. His money was on Lexi since he’d never let Crystal fully into his life. He’d never invited her to meet his kids while Lexi was at his house in Illinois and Malibu.
“What did Tyler say?” David asked.
“I decided to have that conversation face-to-face. I know Tyler would have no objections to you being the sperm donor. I think her problem will be with you being more than that.
“If we decide to do it, I’ll set you up with a visit to a local clinic,” Adrienne said.
“Or I could fly to New York, and we do it naturally,”
David offered eagerly.
“Knowing you, it would take three or four months of
‘practice.’ I’ll make the executive decision and pull the plug on that idea right now,” Adrienne said.
Unconsciously, his eyebrows furrowed, which caused Adrienne to bark out a laugh.
“You’re such a little boy sometimes,” Adrienne teased.
David stuck his tongue out at her to show his maturity.
Their mock argument ended when they were called to makeup.
◊◊◊
After saying his goodbyes to Adrienne, David finished off his classes. He picked up information on the ones he’d be missing—Margaret Tilghman, his business class tutor, had arranged for the courses to be videoed. Then he participated in the final football practice at USC, and he’d set up another conference call with his football mentors.
Today it was only Coach Stackhouse and David on the call with Coaches Hope and Mason.
“What have you got?” Coach Stackhouse said to kick it off.
“You have your work cut out for you because they are really, really good,” Coach Mason said.
“I agree. I’ve been running some numbers, and for every trip their opponent gets inside the forty-yard line, they’re only giving up 2.9 points. That right there is why defense wins you games,” Coach Hope said.
“It’s a combination of superior coaching and talent. If I were to project right now, I would say that the Irish have three defensive linemen, a linebacker, and three defensive backs who’ll be taken in the upcoming NFL draft,” Coach Mason said.
“What I’m seeing is that they could have more individual statistics, like sacks and tackles for loss. But they’ve bought into a team-defensive approach instead of individual glory. That doesn’t mean that they don’t get into the backfield because they do. But it’s all designed to contain the offense and force the quarterback out of his comfort zone. While they aren’t picking up negative yardage plays, they’re also not giving up chunk plays that hurt them,”
Coach Hope said.
“What that means is they have enough talent and good coaching to be assignment sound,” Coach Mason said.
David let his breath out in a long hiss to show his displeasure.
“What’s that for?” Coach Stackhouse asked.
“David just recognized that finding weaknesses in the Irish defense will be tough,” Coach Mason said. “Normally, we hunt for individuals who try to do too much or are timid in certain situations. This group is all veterans who have played with each other for a number of years and have built up trust. That means they do what we coach and focus on their job. It’s the overaggressive or those that don’t commit that we focus on beating.”
“Does that mean we’ll have to put together long drives of perfect football to beat them?” Coach Stackhouse asked.
“No,” David said. “But it does mean that I can’t force it, either. Even if Notre Dame can play solid football, there will be times when we’ll have the advantage. USC is one of the few schools with the raw talent to play with them. I don’t care who we play. If Bill can reach a ball, he can catch it. If our line can manhandle their line, Marcus can run to space and gain yardage.
“It does mean that we will have to step up our game. We can’t afford stupid penalties. We can’t have John having false starts or holding, and Amari can’t drop balls that should be caught. We can’t afford to waste possessions. The offense will have to play like we did in the intra-squad game, where the defense knew the play. And our defense will have to be at the top of their game as well.”
“David’s right. If Notre Dame gets a lead, you might not be able to come back,” Coach Hope said.
David could see the deck was stacked heavily against the Trojans. But what was the saying? That’s why you played the games. Despite the odds against them, they might upset the Irish.
◊◊◊
Buses were lined up to pick the team up to take them to the airport. The team managers loaded their gear as David and his teammates stood around shooting the shit.
He was talking to Alex, Chuy, and Bill when a big hand clamped on his shoulder. He turned to see it was their starting center and team captain, Willy Powell.
“I heard you and Crystal broke up.”
He said it loud enough that several guys suddenly surrounded their group, including Matt.
“If that’s the case, why don’t you tell her she can bro-hop me,” Willy added.
The last thing Crystal was, was a jock bunny. But if Willy looked to make it to the NFL, she might check him out.