Kendal took Mom and me back to our house to grab our bags. Devin Range had chartered a flight. He, Sandy, and Devin’s fiancée were meeting us at Midway airport where there was a corporate jet terminal. Clare Thomas was meeting us in New York. Then it was off to Manchester Airport in the UK.
The drive to Chicago gave me a chance to think. The programs we had put into place at Lincoln were going great. A number of people had really blossomed. Cassidy was running the workouts and had gained a loyal following. Alan was doing a great job doing the database work, and Lily had created the websites. Tracy was working with both the athletic and counseling departments to work on getting scholarships for anyone that wanted one.
My core guys had split up into different groups. Mike, Jake and Wolf were in charge of the morning workouts. Jim, Ed and Tim made sure the study groups were all working. Jim had recruited Suzanne to help tutor the groups when they had tougher concepts. Her math skills had saved me a couple of times. Bill, Jeff and Bert had two jobs: they were in charge of recruiting new people and were our troubleshooters. If someone was having a problem, they were sent to figure out who could help.
Dad and Tom were working with Mrs. Sullivan to improve the facilities. They had gotten matching funds from the school board to expand and redo our weight room. They’d talked one of the dads, who was an architect, into putting the plans together for free. The weight rooms would be shut down for two months this summer. Tom had contacted my health club and they were offering two-month memberships to anyone from Lincoln High at a deep discount.
Wesleyan had put them in touch with the firm that constructed their field house. They also pointed out several changes they would make if they had a chance to do it over. The company was coming to May’s school board meeting to present three different plans. Mrs. Sullivan told my dad not to worry about funding. She had everyone convinced that she could pull this off. Her goal was to have something similar to Wesleyan’s facilities in place by the start of my junior year.
WHEN WE GOT TO THE Midway corporate terminal, Devin, Sandy and his fiancée were all relaxing in a lounge. I about tripped over my own feet when I saw her. Wow, just wow! Someone had bought themselves some huge boobs. She was a skinny gal who’d been poured into a pair of jeans. She had on a tight t-shirt that came to just above her belly button.
It was obvious that she didn’t have on a bra. Those babies weren’t going anywhere. God bless the doctor that made those shirt-puppies. I could see why Devin put a ring on her. Kendal gave me a hip-check before Devin saw me staring at his bride-to-be. That’s when I noticed her face. Maybe she could go back and have some work done. She wasn’t attractive at all. She had stringy blond hair and a nose that looked like she was a prizefighter.
Sandy had watched me walk up and giggled when she saw me flinch. Devin turned around when he heard my mom whack me on the back of the head. He stood a little taller, assuming I was admiring his arm-candy. I was glad he hadn’t seen me flinch.
Devin and his new girl started toward us. I kept chanting in my head ‘eye contact, eye contact.’ Before he could say anything, she came right to me and gave me a hug. Sandy had to put her hand over her face because she saw me stiffen up. Shit! She was a toucher. When she released me, she hooked my arm and led me to Devin as she caressed my bicep.
“Hi, I’m Lana Rey. You have to be David. Devin’s told me so much about you. Did you have a nice trip up?” she asked me, while completely ignoring my mom and Kendal.
I’m sure it was all staged to put Kendal in her place. Fortunately, she had an amused look on her face. I had been nervous how Kendal was going to act when she saw her replacement.
“Yes, ma’am, I did. I’d like you to meet my mom, and this is my manager, Kendal,” I said, trying to break free.
Lana was having none of that.
“This one has good manners, Devin. We may have to keep him around.”
Sandy let out a little bark of a laugh and then headed to the bathroom to keep from openly laughing at me. That looked like a good idea to me.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but we’ve been in the car for a while and I need to make a pit stop before we leave.”
Mom and Kendal each took an arm and led me to the restroom. When we got out of earshot, Mom gave me some advice.
“Be very careful with that one, David. I would suggest that you’re never alone with her. She’s trouble.”
“I agree. One of you is going to have to stick to me like glue.”
“I could be your faux girlfriend if you want,” Kendal offered.
“No, I just need to be careful.”
We took care of business and I came out to find Sandy waiting for me. We hugged each other.
“Sorry, I didn’t warn you about my brother’s new girl. She can be a bit much,” Sandy told me.
“I never dreamed she’d be your brother’s type. I always imagined him with the girl next door, not one of the Girls Gone Wild. Does he have any idea what he’s getting into?”
“Nope, but he’s having fun. I still can’t believe he gave her a ring. The good news is that when his lawyers forced him to get a prenuptial agreement, she freaked out. I think she thought she was going to marry him and then walk off with half of everything. What she didn’t know is that the company stock is tied up in our trusts, so she can’t get to it.”
We walked back and found Lana was draped all over Devin. We could hear her whispering about joining the mile-high club, so Sandy and I headed off Mom and Kendal when they came back. When we were all ready, Sandy broke up the two lovebirds and we boarded the jet.
Devin sat with me on the Chicago-to-New York leg of the trip.
“Tomorrow’s going to seem awful early for you. There’s a running club that’s taking you out first thing in the morning. The UK is six hours ahead of your time zone. We need you on set around seven. It’ll really feel like one in the morning. I’ve set up a bed in the back of the plane. I want you to try and get some sleep.”
“Do we have a full day tomorrow?” I asked Devin.
“Yes, we do. After the run, we’re going to go canoeing and fishing. In the afternoon, you’ll be putting together a campsite. We also have a female model that’ll be working with you. So there’ll be some couple’s activities too.”
While he had been talking, I had been calculating travel times in my head.
“I just realized that we’re going straight from the airport to the shoot. I needed to eat something and get plenty of fluids and then hit the sack.”
“Sorry, we added the run yesterday. I forgot to calculate the change in time and when we were arriving. If I’d been thinking, we would have left this morning.”
“You know what? This morning was all about family. We had both sides of the family in and most of our friends over for breakfast. I’ll make this work because I wouldn’t have traded that time for anything.”
Devin knew what I meant. It was just him and his sister now. He kept her close for the same reason.
Sandy surprised me again. They had ordered Chicago-style pizza to feed me. A couple of slices of that would put anyone into a coma. It was so good I didn’t mind. I finished eating, took some supplements and drank my water. The only thing that would have helped even more was a good round of sex. They had curtained off an area, and I went back and fell asleep.
Monday April 21
WE LANDED IN MANCHESTER just before five in the morning, local time. Devin had us quickly loaded into a travel van and on the road to Ambleside. The driver said it would take two hours to get there, but Devin promised a big tip if we got there sooner. We arrived in front of the hotel at six forty-five. There, everyone got out except Devin and me.
One of the highlights of a visit to the Lake District is the spectacular view as you work your way through the Langdale Valleys. People enjoyed hiking amidst some of England’s finest scenery. The Langdale Valleys are located in the heart of the Lake District National Park in the county of Cumbria, in the northwest of England. There are two valleys, the Great and Little. We were going to the Great Langdale.