“Why didn’t she use one of your sexy pictures?” Mom asked.
“David, how come you’re not improving your grades? Are you not applying yourself?” Angie asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Angie, don’t make fun of David,” Greg scolded her.
“Thank you,” I said.
“He can’t help that he’s stupid,” Greg added.
“You leave my baby alone. He’s making straight A’s,” Mom chimed in.
I heard them coughing ‘Momma’s Boy’ and ‘Brown Nose.’ I chose to take the high road.
Mom acted like she didn’t hear them.
I FOUND TRACY BEFORE school again. She looked a little down, so I hugged her.
“Thanks, I needed that.”
“What’s up?”
“I have my interview with the detectives today.”
“It’ll be okay. Just remember we all love you. If you start to feel stressed, just stop for a minute and collect yourself. Remember, you have a lawyer with you. Let him earn his fee.”
Tom had hired a criminal lawyer to represent her. He was supposedly the best around and had assured them that she would be fine. He’d worked out a deal where she would testify against Bill. The only catch was that her statement needed to match what had been told to them via her attorney. If it didn’t, the district attorney might reconsider.
She gave me a weak smile.
“I love you, David,” she told me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
I promised to come over for dinner tonight, after baseball practice.
BASEBALL PRACTICE WAS about the same tonight. Coach and Cassidy tried to kill us, and two more quit. When we were done, we started a giant tag game. The only rule was that you had to have the ball in your glove. If you could whack the guy in the nuts, you got extra style points. Coach Hope was shaking his head at us when Jeff whacked him in the nuts.
To everyone’s surprise, he took off after me and whacked me. I was rolling on the ground when the varsity came by. I staggered up and whacked Magic. Then it devolved into whack anyone you could in the nuts. Cassidy was looking all prim and proper when Jim whacked her.
Talk about a big mistake. She hadn’t kicked anyone’s butt in like three weeks. Jim was crying like a little girl before I could drag her off him. He was just goofing, so when he rolled over on his back, I dropped her on him. Coach Hope poured a water bottle over the two of them and told us to hit the showers.
AS SOON AS TOM ANSWERED the door, Tracy was hugging and kissing me. I was pretty sure that was good news. She told me bunches of stuff in excited girl-speak. Then she ran off to talk to her mom.
“Did you get any of that?” Tom asked.
“Not really,” I confessed.
“She pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. They’re waiving all other charges and she’ll have that one on her record until she’s 18. If she stays clean, that charge will then be wiped off the books. In exchange, she has to testify against Bill.
“She talked to Tiny. He was a little pissed but is now glad he’s in the army. He might even make a career out of it. We tracked down the business owner and agreed to a settlement. Tracy will have to sell her car to pay for it.”
“Could I buy it?”
“No, I already sold it. Sorry, I forgot that you turn 16 this summer. What are you planning on buying?”
“I was thinking a used Jeep. Nothing fancy.”
“Not much back-seat room in the Jeep.”
“You know, you’re right. Maybe I should get one of those conversion vans and put a waterbed in the back.”
“The Dads Network would have you on their top 10 list.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“The top ten guys you won’t let in the door of your house. For example, Bill would qualify for the top spot: abusive, drug dealer, and rapist. You would slide into the second slot: football star and model, with a van. Dads would take one look at you and your van and send their daughters to their rooms.”
“I can see where that could come in handy. Do you have playing cards with our pictures on them?”
“Great idea, I’ll present that at our next meeting. Maybe I could bring you to the meeting as a possible example of what to look out for.”
It was obvious a tremendous weight had been lifted from the whole family. Mary even gave me her version of the mind eraser. Well, except there was no tongue. Tom was squawking by the time she was done. She just winked at him and I think he got the hint that they may have to take a nap after dinner.
Mary made a Mexican-inspired pork stew with cornbread that had Ro*Tel tomatoes mixed in to give it some zing. She’d made up the recipe. The trick was to drain the tomatoes or the mix became too wet. Of course I stole the recipe.
After dinner, we talked about how the sports stuff was coming along. Tom and my dad were scheduled to talk at the next school board meeting about improving the facilities. I showed them the recruiting websites and the reports. Tracy said she was going to talk to the cheerleaders and see if they wanted to join the workout sessions. She also thought the study groups would be helpful.
I was glad to see her focused on the cheer squad again. It really showed she was getting better.
Then I was told that Angel would be coming with me to Miami. Clare would be there from Ford. I would miss Kendal.
Friday March 7
TAMI WOKE ME UP, WANTING to chat. I logged on and saw she looked like shit.
“You sick?” I asked her.
“I’m sick of you keeping secrets. It’s driving me nuts. No one’s talking. I’m starting to worry about you. Is there something seriously wrong?”
It was all I could do to keep a smile from creeping onto my face. Tami Glade’s talents were going to be wasted with her becoming a doctor. She needed to be a private detective! She could get the scoop on anything! Especially anything that involved me. I think in the past ten years I’d only kept one secret that she hadn’t found out on her own: I’d slept with Terri in California.
The only reason she hadn’t known about that was that her little spy network was none the wiser. Of course, she wasn’t around me every day. If she had been, she would have picked up on me getting lucky. Everyone gives off clues with body language. Tami can take one look at me and know what’s going on. That’s why I always refused to play cards with her.
So, you combine a mystery that involves me with a complete lack of gossip and her head was going to explode. This was simply something that did not happen in Tami Glade’s world! She’d obviously been up all night trying to figure it out. Calling me for information was tantamount to admitting defeat, which would never happen.
“Yes, there’s something seriously wrong, but it’s not my story to tell.”
“‘Not my story to tell’?” she shot back in a snarky, mimicking way. “You need to learn the facts of life, Buster. You’re going to marry me someday. You’re not going to start keeping secrets from me. This Dawson code of conduct of not telling other people’s stories is bullshit, and you know it. You’re just teasing me, and right now that’s not a good idea.”
I raised my eyebrows. This must really be driving her insane. That sounded like a real threat, and she was close to having a meltdown. I’d seen this only two times in my life. Once, when she found out her father didn’t want anything to do with her. The second was when my drug and alcohol abuse got to the point she dumped me as a friend.
I had two choices: tell her enough to get her to back off or keep quiet and watch my friend freak out. I really had no reason for not telling her, other than it was Tracy’s life I’d be exposing. I chose option one because I knew she wouldn’t quit until I told her.