After he hung up, I called Tracy and told her she had to find a date for Bill, and that Ridge was in.
◊◊◊ Thursday April 28
When Peggy and I came back from our run, we found Lacy’s car in the driveway. I ran up to my apartment, got ready for school, and then went to the house. Duke had the habit of abandoning me after our run and going into the house with Peggy. He had a job to do: checking on the little ones. Mom told me he’d do that and then come down and get in bed with my parents for his morning loving.
Mom was also taking him to the hospital with her. He’d been approved as a therapy dog and seemed to love the attention he got from the patients, staff, and families. I’ve yet to meet a Lab that wasn’t an attention-hound. Being around my niece and nephews had taught Duke to be gentle. He no longer jumped up on people. Mom said that when she put Duke in his service coat, he became a different dog. With me, he still got rowdy, and we roughhoused, but when he was at work, he was the perfect gentleman. Mom had posted a video of my hound with a group of sick children during story time. They’d crawled all over him, and the worst that he did was kiss them. Yuck, dog kisses!
Lacy and Megan were feeding babies. Lacy must have wanted some grandma time.
“Morning,” I said as I walked in.
“Can you grab me a cloth diaper?” Lacy asked.
I handed her one, and she put it over her shoulder so she could burp Coby. It was funny. When he barfed on me, I was fine. Anyone else, and I started to gag.
As soon as the coffee was done, I got Megan and Lacy each a cup. Megan had brought a pan of Granny’s cinnamon rolls last night. Granny and Mary Dole had been to the restaurant with Caryn and had sent them to me. I popped them in the oven to heat, and soon the kitchen was filled with the aroma of the rolls.
“I was wondering if I could borrow your house next weekend?” I asked Lacy.
“You’re not planning a big party for Prom, are you?”
“Maybe. But that wasn’t my original intent. I have some acting and modeling friends coming into town. I was hoping they could stay at your house for a few days.”
“Pam mentioned that you arranged to get her a date with Ridge Townsend. Do I need to know anything about him?” Lacy asked.
“Only that I trust him to be with Pam.”
Megan snorted.
“I would bet that means that Pam isn’t getting lucky at Prom,” Megan observed.
I didn’t answer that. Mom, Dad, and Peggy all came down just in time for the rolls to come out of the oven. Mom put the cream cheese icing on them and got us all one. My hot water was ready, so I made myself a cup of tea. Lacy asked my mom what she thought about my request.
“Who all will be here?” she asked.
“I was thinking Ben Doman, Zak Verwood, Ryan Barlow, and John Phillips could stay at Lacy’s house since she and Pam have moved into the condo. Trip James would stay at his house, and Ridge Townsend could stay at Bill Callaway’s home. The girls—Leah Johansen, Maria Dowe, and Sarah Spence—would all stay with Grandma Dawson on the farm. My date, Kara Tasman, could stay with me,” I said.
“Or she could stay at her house. I’m sure her parents want to see her, too,” Mom said.
“Or she could do that,” I conceded.
“What do you think?” Lacy asked.
“Ben and John are fine. Ryan, I don’t know, and Zak can’t keep it in his pants,” Mom announced.
Lacy looked at me.
“He likes women, and they like him,” I said as the best defense I could come up with for him.
“Who’s his date?” Mom asked.
“Brook.”
“That’s good. She can handle him.”
“Who’s Ryan?” Lacy asked.
“He’s a model I met in New York on my Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch photo shoot. He’ll fit in with the group.”
“What about the party?” Lacy asked.
My mom’s head whipped around, and she raised her eyebrows, never a good sign.
“There’s nothing planned. Mona is having an after-party that I planned to take everyone to. If anything, it would be an after-after get-together, and hopefully would just be a handful of people.”
“There isn’t any food in the house. I would also want it cleaned afterward. You know your mom is my listing agent, and she’s a taskmaster about how she wants it to look for showings,” she said with a smile.
“I’ll talk to Caryn about it. She’ll need to do the same for your grandmother,” Mom said.
Megan looked to be taking mental notes. It was nice to have people sometimes.
◊◊◊
I guess it was no surprise when Tracy was waiting for me when Fritz dropped me off.
“Gina Tasman has agreed to be Bill’s date.”
“That works. Did Adrienne call you about dresses?” I asked.
“Tyler did. We’re going to get measured after school. You should let the other girls know.”
“No, I don’t think so,” I said with a smile, and gave Tracy all their contact information.
I was sure she wanted to talk to them all, anyway. I also told her my plan about where everyone would be staying. Tracy agreed she would speak to the girls. Caryn or Megan would contact everyone once flights and housing were in place.
◊◊◊
Tonight was our second game in the Regionals. Our game was part of a doubleheader. St. Joe would play Mt. Vernon, and we would host our hated rival, Eastside. The HSAA had decided we would host the remainder of the Regional games because our field could accommodate the most fans.
There wasn’t nearly as much interest in the Regional games. Only local media had been told the school they normally covered would be here. There would be a few professional scouts and scouts from several colleges here to watch. St. Joe had three seniors who were getting some buzz, and Mt. Vernon had an infielder who was also of interest.
I snuck into the stands behind home plate so I could check out our competition in case we won. Jeff Delahey spotted me and waved for me to sit next to him. Fritz sat down behind me. After the girls had jumped the fence, he’d been a lot more observant. I think they caught both of us by surprise. I would never have thought we would have to worry about something like that at a home game. Fritz had also made me wear my black-rimmed glasses with the bodycam. My classmates let me know I looked like a dork in them.
“How come you’re not camped out at the hospitality tent?” Jeff asked.
“Mom made cornbread and beans, and I filled up on that before coming. What did I miss?”
“They had a taco bar that wasn’t half bad.”
“It’s probably good that I didn’t go. I can eat me some tacos,” I admitted.
“Who do you like in the first game?” Jeff asked.
“I have to go with St. Joe. They may have lost their ace starter to injury, but their offense more than makes up for it. They’ve bludgeoned their opponents by more than five runs a game. St. Joe has played exceptionally well since Richards got hurt. That’s in part due to the success of unheralded pitchers like Matt Maker, who have given this rotation depth that it just didn’t have last year. Their biggest advantage, though, is their offense is just that good. I look up and down their lineup, and they’re solid with only a few holes. Their fielding could use some work. Overall, though, they’re the number one seed for a reason,” I said.
“What about Mt. Vernon?”
“They’ve gotten better as the year has gone along. They don’t quite have the firepower in their lineup, but that kid Millsap is a terror in the field and on the base paths. I would bet more than a few of the scouts are here today to see him. They also have a solid pitcher in Dennison starting tonight. The key will be how he does early. If he can get settled in, it could be a long night for St. Joe. On the other hand, if they get to him in the first, he normally falls apart. If someone would work with him on his preparation, I think he could be as good as Justin Tune was for us before he got kicked off the team.”