“You both suck. Here I was going to be a good boy. Now I’m going to have to go to the dark side to find out her secret,” I warned them. Then I blurted out, “She isn’t deformed or mangled, is she?”
I was punched from both sides.
“You’ll like it, trust me,” Cassidy assured me.
April’s parents came in late. Her little sister, Jill, came to our row and made Cassidy scoot over so she could sit next to me.
I looked at my friends and threatened them.
“I can always ask Jill.”
“You do, and I’ll have Kendal take care of you when you fall asleep,” Beth warned me.
I had told her the story of Kendal supergluing her brother’s family jewels to his thigh. I just cringed and dropped it.
I was surprised when all the girls on the floor were shorter than April, but she was playing point guard. I was even more confused with her playing freshman ball. She was obviously the best player on the floor. She could score at will and had some range on her jump shot. Then it hit me: she was having fun. She wasn’t trying to run up the score, or score fifty points, because she could have. She was just playing for the fun of it.
Halfway through the second half, she saw me in the stands with Jill sitting next to me. Jill was making like I was her date and winked at her sister. April called a time-out, came up into the stands and grabbed my hand.
“Come on! I can’t trust you with my sister. She’ll take advantage of you.”
She pulled me down to the end of the players’ bench and told me to stay. She gave her sister an evil look. I found her dad in the crowd, and he just put his hands up to let me know I was on my own. Beth and Cassidy thought that it was funny when I looked up at them and Jill winked at me. She was going to be trouble when she got older.
When the game was over, I saw my favorite sports reporter, Jeff Delahey. I gave him a hard time.
“Who did you piss off?”
“It’s not what you think. My granddaughter plays on the opposing team.”
“That’s great, which one was she?”
“She was the little dynamo that had to guard April Lacier. She’s been stressing about it for the last few weeks, so I figured I should come and root her on,” Jeff told me. He then changed the topic. “How’s your new coach working out?”
I gave him a look.
“We’re off the record,” Jeff assured me.
“He’s intense. I think he’ll be good for us. I’m a little bummed he wants me to play fullback,” I said, and then smacked my forehead when I saw the look on his face.
“Are you kidding me? I’ve seen Brad Hope play quarterback. He can manage a game okay, but he’ll never play another down of football after he graduates. What’s his reasoning for your move?”
“Jeff, that just slipped out. You can’t use it,” I pleaded.
“I know, David, I just want to know as a fan. I don’t want to see some idiot derail your career.”
“I appreciate that. To be honest, I’m fine with the change. I’d have a huge bull’s-eye on me next year as our quarterback, and Lincoln’s line is all new. By the end of last season, I think the training staff was holding me together with duct tape. I can only imagine how bad it’ll be next year.”
A cute girl interrupted us. She had to be Jeff’s granddaughter. She wore a big smile on her face.
“You’re David Dawson. Can I get your autograph?”
Kendal had given me headshots that I could sign. I’d started carrying them in my backpack for times like this. I pulled out a Sharpie and signed it as she bounced up and down.
“Can you give me ones for the rest of the team?”
Jeff shook his head, letting me know to cut her off. It was good advice. If I started signing pictures, I would be there all night.
“Tell you what, I’ll have a stack sent to Jeff and he can give them to you the next time he sees you.”
That seemed to satisfy everyone. I was able to escape and catch April coming out of the locker room. I now knew how everyone felt waiting for us after a football game. I gave her a peck on the cheek as congratulations on her victory.
Beth, Cassidy and I walked April to her parents’ car and we said our goodbyes. Beth gave Cassidy and me a ride home.
Chapter 4 – Insecurity
Wednesday January 15
TONIGHT I WENT TO THE Doles’ home for my continuing cooking instructions. Greg and Angie gave me a ride. I was happy to see Kendal and Lily were there to have their weekly meeting. I noticed that Tracy was with them. That surprised me, but I didn’t comment on it.
Mary taught me how to make stuffed pork tenderloin. We used dried cranberries and walnuts for the stuffing. She had started dough for biscuits and it was rising while I worked on the rest of the meal. She also had me make a warm corn salad and a creamed sweet onion dish.
I loved my recipe app. It allowed me to take pictures of each step and make notes to help me the next time I made it. I could also categorize each dish. The app included a nice search feature and rating system, so I would know which ones were big hits.
Angie volunteered to be my sous chef. She helped with chopping and kept me organized. Mary showed us how to plate everything, and I took a picture of the final product. Angie helped me get everything on the plates, and then we served everyone.
Kendal looked at her plate and smiled.
“David, you’re going to make someone a good wife. Hurry up and turn eighteen, so you can be my live-in ... uhh ...” she said as she realized she was about to say too much.
We all laughed at her. After trying everything, Tom added, “This is almost as good as when Mary makes it.”
“Mary, I think you’ve finally gotten him trained,” I joked.
“Now that he has competition, he’s much more considerate,” Mary bantered back.
“I’ll have you know this boy is no competition,” Tom said confidently.
Mary and Tracy just arched their eyebrows at him as I grinned and shook my head.
This was nice, but I missed having dinner with Mom and Dad. Part of my reason for going to California was that I hadn’t seen my mom since the accident. I knew Mom was in the fight of her life and doing everything she could to come home. It just wasn’t the same without them there.
AFTER OUR TALK, TOM and I decided it was time for a real talk.
“I’ve been thinking about what happened at the end of the year. I think I owe you an explanation and an apology,” Tom said. “Let’s start with the apology first. What I said was hurtful and childish. I let my emotions get the better of me.
“Now, let me explain some things. I’m a father first, and as such, I’ll always look out for Tracy first. That has to be my first instinct. When I was talking to Deb Thomas, some of what she said scared me. We were talking about security and some of what can happen to people in the public eye. Up to that point, I was thinking her being with you was just a normal boyfriend/girlfriend type of relationship. I knew Tracy loved acting as your press secretary, but your career is going beyond that.
“Then she was talking about how Tracy was hurting your career. She appealed to me as a father to protect her. She told me about the paparazzi and tabloids. She said it would put tremendous pressure on her. That’s when I got worried. We both know that if everything went south, she might not be able to handle it.”
I just nodded, letting him get it all out.
“Then she talked about how much more money they could charge if your name recognition kept growing. To be honest, that really didn’t play much of a role in my decision,” Tom said, and then he got a thoughtful look. “Looking back, I probably should have waited to talk to Tracy. The dad side of me kept telling me I needed to protect her.”
“Can I ask you something?”
Tom nodded.
“Why didn’t you just talk to me? If I knew what was going on, I’d have skipped the ski trip.”