The last two earned him an eye roll.
“I don’t feel like talking about it,” David said. “Let me take a nap, and we can talk more in Malibu.”
◊◊◊
David didn’t usually have the luxury of taking naps.
“It’s time to get up, sleepyhead,” Cassidy teased.
“Shhh, sleeping,” David shot back as he gave her his irresistible, devastating grin.
“Your sexy smile won’t work on me. Wake your butt up.
We’re here,” Cassidy said as the gate slid open to let them into the Dawson compound.
He noted a drone circled the car as they drove to the back side of the garage. One of the doors opened, which Cassidy used to pull in. Before David could open his door, the back door opened, and his kids piled in. He quickly got his phone out and sent Cassidy a text.
“Welcome, little ninjas. Please go with Master Cassidy to start your training while I rest. It was hard work making sure your dad was safe with Master Cassidy driving,” S
said.
“Ow,” David exclaimed as he received a jab under the arm.
“S is right. She’s tired from driving. Before we warm up, you can tell me about your week,” Cassidy said.
David gave her a grateful look as he went to the house.
He was sweating now, trying hard to fight the waves of nausea that had suddenly reappeared. He felt like he should eat something. When he got to the kitchen, there was a ton of food, but nothing looked appetizing. David stared into the fridge until he started to feel woozy from standing.
‘Never again,’ he promised himself.
He decided on toast. He was eating that and drinking another coffee when his mom found him.
“Your brother and his family will be here for lunch. He wants to talk to you, so make time for him.”
“What does he want?”
“You’ll have to let him tell you,” his mom said, then her eyes narrowed. “Are you hungover?”
“Crystal and I had a fight,” David said and then told her everything that happened. “Do me a favor and fill everyone in so I don’t have to talk about it.”
“You might learn something from their perspectives.”
“I really won’t,” David said emphatically.
He knew he would never win this one by the look she gave him, so he went to find Cassidy and her little ninjas.
“Hold up for a second,” his mom said. “This doesn’t feel like the kind of disagreement that leads to everything blowing up. In a relationship, there will be disagreements
… some of them very hurtful and public. What you have to decide is whether Crystal is worth forgiving. I think you’ll discover that if she can forgive you, she is.”
“But I didn’t do anything wrong,” David complained.
“Didn’t you? Turn it on its head and look at her point of view. Why was she mad at you?” Carol said. “Your Grandpa Davey used to say there are three sides to an argument.
Yours, theirs, and somewhere in the middle is the truth.
What you have to do is find the middle ground.”
He didn’t need this right now, so he fled to hang out with his children.
◊◊◊
Cassidy was amazed that someone was dumb enough to get David’s kids a trampoline. The only smart thing they’d done was ring the outside with foam for when they fell off it. She and David acted as human shields to prevent them from flying too far and missing the foam.
It didn’t take long to figure out why it was purchased when it quickly wore out the munchkins. They were scattered around the backyard resting when David challenged her.
“Give it a try, or are you chicken?”
She stepped onto the trampoline and began jumping.
‘Not so bad, right?’ Cassidy thought.
She jumped several times, flying higher with each bounce. She braced herself and then made a final jump off the rounded edge of the trampoline to wow David with her skills.
“Oh, shit,” slipped through her lips.
Somewhere between the final jump and takeoff, she miscalculated the angle. Instead of going for the foam in the perfect cannonball form she’d planned, she hurtled through the air face first. Her legs and arms flailed as her body shot toward the dirt beyond the foam.
David’s grin faded as he realized what was about to happen. Boy Wonder shot in front of her to prevent the inevitable. She felt helpless as she saw the munchkins scrambling to get out of the way as she overshot the foam.
David caught her, but her momentum caused him to fall backward, just missing Allen as they crashed to the ground.
She felt her cast smack him right between the legs, sending a jolt through her arm, which hurt like crazy.
They were both rolling around on the ground in pain when Rob came running out of the house. When he saw the children were okay, he said, “I read a parenting magazine
and figured it would be one of the boys that died. I had no idea you two would be the ones who got hurt.”
“You’ve read a parenting magazine?” David asked.
With that, Rob gathered the kids and left the two of them lying in the dirt.
◊◊◊
David went with Greg to let his niece and nephews try out the trampoline. Kyle and Mac were naturals, but Nate had a death wish. It wasn’t long before he was relegated to sitting on his uncle’s lap while he watched his older siblings.
“What did you want to talk about?” David asked.
“I’ve been thinking about what I want to do when I grow up, and I’ve decided I want to work with you.”
“How would you see that working?” David asked.
Before he suggested anything, he wanted to find out what Greg was thinking.
“I thought I would return to school and get my MBA while working for you part-time. Then, after I graduate, I would have to work a certain number of years to have my MBA fees forgiven.”
“So, I would pay for you to go to school?” David asked.
“Mom and Dad only agreed to help me get my bachelor’s. I would also work for you while I went to school,” Greg said, repeating himself.
David could see his older brother was super nervous, so he smiled at Greg to help calm him down.
“I’m fine with that. I just want to know what you really want. I’ll pay for your MBA even if you don’t work for me.”
“Eventually, I want to do what Dad and Uncle John do for you.”
David thought about it for a moment and then had an idea.
“Have you ever thought about real estate?”
Greg’s nose scrunched up before saying, “I’m not sure I’d be good at sales.”
“First, if you have to sell someone to buy a house, you’re doing it wrong. Your job is to match the right house with the right buyer. When there’s a match, all you do is help them navigate the transaction and all it entails.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Greg admitted.
“Mom is down an agent since Ashley is off in Europe playing poker. At first, Ashley worried that it seemed like selling, but once she got over that, she did well enough that she could buy a Presidential Suite Condo in Beverly Hills. It was all due to the program that a classmate of mine developed to identify buyers and sellers.
“What won her over was that she could work flexible hours and make much more than getting a traditional nine-to-five job. I’m sure Mom has plenty for you to do until you get your license. At least talk to her and see if you think it would work,” David suggested.
“And if I don’t like that?” Greg asked.
“Then we can talk about some alternatives. I promise we’ll find something where you can support yourself while you go to school.”