◊◊◊
I entered my apartment, only to find Peggy and Little David had taken it over. She saw me the same time Duke woke from his nap.
“I wanted to talk to you,” Peggy said.
“What about?”
“I’ve been talking to your mom, but she said I had to talk to you,” she said.
“What about?” I repeated.
“It’s about the money you’re giving me through your charity. I want to earn it, not have it given to me. What I want to do is help your mom with your and Pam’s baby. She told me that she and your dad were going to take custody until you got through college. What I want to do is work as a live-in nanny.”
“I hope you still plan to go to college,” I said.
“Yes. This would be a big help to me. Your mom and dad would help when they could, and I would take care of the kids the other times. It would minimize the time they’d need to be in daycare.”
“Where would you stay?” I asked.
“The upstairs is already set up for Angie, Greg, and their kids when they stay here. Your mom suggested that I move Little David and myself upstairs. When your baby’s born, we’ll put them both in the same room for now.”
“I’ll talk to Caryn and get you on the payroll. I trust you can work this out with my mom and dad. They always tell me their house, their rules. I also expect you to get your college education,” I said.
I was surprised when she fiercely hugged me. Clearly, this meant a lot to her. Single moms struggled just to get by. When I thought about what would happen if Angie and Kyle were on their own, it was easy to put together the charity to help young mothers. Especially when they were at the point of their greatest need. That, and Peggy and I had a history together. Never would I put her out on the street if there were anything I could do to help.
I thought she’d be perfect at helping me raise my son when he was born. I’d been worried it would be too much for my mom and dad. Having Peggy help was a relief.
◊◊◊
I took a shower and got into my closet for clothes for the premiere. I grinned while picking out clothes that I knew Halle wouldn’t approve of for LA attire. My handmade leather boots with the silver zipper on the side and AGed-15 jeans would not have passed muster with her, but I put them on. The jeans had strategically placed rips to show a little skin, which meant I had to go commando. The sacrifices we had to endure for fashion. I found a Henley long-sleeved t-shirt in navy blue with orange trim and buttons that I’d hidden, so the girls hadn’t stolen it.
I was torn between wearing my new leather jacket or my letterman’s jacket. Tomorrow was for the world, but tonight was for my hometown and friends. I decided on the letterman’s jacket. I checked myself in the mirror and noted my letterman’s jacket had started to fill up with pins and patches. You received a pin every time you lettered in a sport. I had three footballs and a baseball, representing my four letters. There were also two patches that showed my state championships.
Caryn sent me a text: the limo was out front. I was the last one to get in. My parents, grandma, Peggy, and Caryn were waiting for me. My mom looked at me and rolled her eyes.
“I thought you were wearing a suit,” Caryn said.
“My peeps would call me a poser if I did that. This is for here, not LA,” I said.
“Your peeps?” Mom asked.
“Sure, why not.”
“We need to get him home before his head swells any more,” Mom told my dad.
We arrived early at Monical’s and found Greg and Angie were already there. Greg had set everything up, and the assistant manager had him cornered. Angie had a smirk on her face as her husband sacrificed himself to get us some free appetizers.
We were only there a few minutes when the place suddenly began to fill up. I was surprised I felt nervous about tonight. It was one thing to walk out on a football field with your teammates; I was about to expose myself to everyone I cared about. What if they didn’t like the movie? I didn’t understand why this felt different. After all, I’d modeled and shown my butt to the world. This just felt more personal, in some way. I expect if I hadn’t already seen the movie and gotten positive feedback, I might have become a basket case.
Then I remembered that these really were my friends. They’d support me even if I crashed and burned.
As people arrived, I made it a point to greet them and spend some time talking to each one. It was good I hadn’t dressed up because no one else had.
I took a break to grab some pizza—it was the reason I picked Monical’s, after all—when someone grabbed my butt. I turned around to find the girls from Wesleyan.
“Didn’t your mother teach you to wear underwear?” Tami asked.
“I’m wearing a thong,” I lied.
“Oh, dear God! What have they done to you in LA? Next, you’ll tell us you had your nails done,” Harper teased.
I blushed and stuffed my hands into my pockets. Our makeup girl on set had trimmed and put a clear coat on my nails. I wasn’t about to argue with her because she gave me some of the best head I’d ever had.
“Does he have eyeliner on?” Lisa asked.
“I think I have that lip gloss,” Missy teased.
It was good to see them again, and with their teasing, I began to feel better about tonight. It felt good to have friends around who treated you the same as always. I had counted on that when my uncle warned me how people would treat me differently.
It was soon time for everyone to go to the Field House. When we arrived at the high school, it was a madhouse. I was glad we had the limo and didn’t have to deal with parking. As soon as I climbed out of the limo, I was swarmed by people wishing me well.
I slowly worked my way inside. The Field House was a large building; it was big enough for half a football field for indoor workouts. At one end, they’d set up a large screen and enormous speakers. They’d brought in bleachers for the back, and then there were folding chairs for people up front. Behind the bleachers, the Booster Club had set up a concession stand as a fundraiser.
They’d also roped off a VIP section. I was happy to see the governor and his wife, and was about to go talk to them when Caryn touched my elbow.
“We’re about to get started. You need to say a few words,” she said, surprising me.
“You can’t be serious,” I said.
“Yep, and just so you don’t get too nervous, they estimate that there are only forty-five hundred people here.”
I groaned. Then I spotted Halle. I hadn’t expected her to make the trip, but she was going up on stage with me. I heard the crowd make a noise and turned to see they had projected me in my Stryker garb on the big screen. That was my signal to go on stage. I walked up to Halle and smiled.
“Come on. It’s time for you to take a bow.”
I looked over at Rita, and she winked at me. Halle seemed to be in a daze as I pulled her on stage. The next few minutes were a blur. I remember introducing Halle, and she took the mic from me. She said some nice words, and then we walked off and sat down to watch the movie.
This time I pretended that wasn’t me in it. I really enjoyed the movie when I wasn’t focused on every little thing I did. When the credits began to run, everyone clapped. In a small town, we support our own, and I could tell that people genuinely did enjoy it.
I didn’t get much time to talk to people because Caryn pulled Halle and me away to speak to the press. As we entered the Field House pressroom, we found Tracy there, holding court.
“I realize many of you are new to how we run these. We do this in an orderly fashion, or the press conference ends. If you don’t believe me, ask Jeff Delahey,” Tracy announced.
“Yep, I watched her send a reporter from ESPN packing. If you allow her to do her job, she’ll make sure everyone gets a chance to ask questions,” Jeff said.
Halle and I sat through an hour and a half of questions. I kept reminding myself that this was for my hometown, so I didn’t get irritated when asked how I felt about things. I was happy to see the governor and other dignitaries stick their heads in and take a few questions. Governor Higgins even called me a ‘state treasure.’ I thought that was over the top, but I wasn’t about to disagree with him in front of a roomful of reporters.