“Why would you want to ruin our friendship like that?” I asked half-seriously.
Tracy sighed.
“Tracy, you’re my best friend, and I care about you an awful lot, but I don’t feel that way about you anymore. I don’t say that to be mean because I would do anything for you. I hope you know that I love you like a sister.”
She began to tear up. I started to say something, but she stopped me.
“You don’t know how happy I am that I’m in your life. You stood by me when I didn’t deserve it. I hope you know that while I understand what you mean, I do love you. Even though I know we’ll probably never be more than friends, I’m okay with that. I guess I just get a little emotional knowing that my screw-ups didn’t completely destroy us. I’ll take you as my friend any day.”
We hugged it out, and she kissed my cheek.
“Tell me about my date?” I asked to change the subject.
I closed my eyes and crossed my fingers. “Supermodel … supermodel … supermodel,” I said under my breath. A boy can wish, right?
“You’re a dork,” Tracy said, giving my shoulder a shove. “I got you a date with your stalker.”
“Which one?” I asked in all seriousness.
The sad part was I’d attracted more than my share of girls who followed me around and made indecent proposals.
“Your baseball fence-jumper,” Tracy informed me.
“You mean the Lakeview coach’s daughter?”
“That’s the one.”
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” I hedged.
“I talked to her. She realizes her initial approach was … let’s just say, ill-advised.”
“Ya think?”
“She and her friends planned to give you their numbers, but in hindsight, she realized that was a bad idea. Especially after her dad was mortified by her behavior.”
“Still not convinced.”
“This is about you trusting me and expanding your horizons,” Tracy pouted.
“Would you be as excited about this if I were the one picking your dates?” I asked.
“Of course. I know you would only send me on dates with people who were right for me.”
I growled at her because she was right. And I’ll have to admit, I’d had a good time on all the dates so far, even if Tracy snuck one in for herself. She took my reaction as acceptance and skipped away from me with a smile.
◊◊◊
I found myself in a subdivision on the edge of Lakeview, located on Weldon Springs Lake. The homes were newer and upscale, which told me that baseball coaches must make good money. When we stopped, Fritz looked in the rearview mirror.
“Want me to just honk, or are you planning to go in?”
“Bite me,” I replied and bailed out before he could get out of the car.
I walked up the paved path to the front door and rang the doorbell, only to hear a running herd, along with, “I’ll get it!”
The door swung open, and two boys looked up at me. They were about ten and twelve. The boys took one look at me, turned around, and ran into the house. “He’s here!”
Tracy had finally filled me in on who my date was. Her name was Lea Swanson, and she was a senior at Lakeview High School. She hustled to the door.
“Sorry about that. My brothers are barely housebroken, and we try not to allow them around company.”
Lea invited me in, and I smelled something good.
“I talked to your friend Tracy. She’s really nice,” Lea said.
“She has her moments,” I admitted.
“Tracy said you had reservations at the Lakeview Inn for dinner. But when my mom heard you were coming, she decided to cook. I hope you don’t mind, but she wants us to have dinner with them,” Lea said.
“That would be fine,” I said as she led me into the kitchen.
I loved their kitchen. It looked out over a deck, and from the window, you could see there was a trail down to the lake. Coach Swanson was helping his wife make dinner.
“Hey, David, I heard you met my sons Ed and Sam. This is my wife Kim.”
“I hear we’re having dinner with you tonight,” I said.
“Sorry about that. I just wanted to get to know you better,” Mrs. Swanson said.
“That’s fine. I just wanted to know if it would be okay if my driver joined us.”
Now that I played that back in my head, I could see how they would do a double-take. How many teen guys had a driver?
“Uh, sure. That would be fine,” Mrs. Swanson said.
I sent Fritz a text and told him to come in. Coach Swanson met him at the door, and they were talking, so I figured everything was fine.
“Do you need any help?” I asked.
“I, uh …” Mrs. Swanson stammered.
“Looks like Coach was making a salad. I can finish that if you want.”
“Sure.”
Coach Swanson and Fritz joined us in the kitchen. I introduced Fritz to everyone while cutting up tomatoes and celery for the salad. Lea was sent to round up her brothers and to make sure they knew that we were guests and to be on their best behavior.
Mrs. Swanson had made lasagna, which was a hit with the boys. Fritz turned into a fountain of information. He kept everyone entertained, telling them stories about what he’d seen in Hollywood while working security. I was glad he didn’t go into detail about my exploits. It was fun to hear some of the funny things celebrities do when they think no one’s watching.
Everyone was excited when they found out that he also worked for Rita James. I noticed how he glossed over anything personal and in general kept to the script of her being as nice in person as she seemed in the movies.
During dinner, Lea acted nervous, so I reached down and held her hand under the table. It had the desired effect, and she smiled at me. When we were done eating, she offered to take me for a walk around the lake.
Fritz followed us out.
“Uhm … what’cha doing?” I asked.
“My job,” Fritz responded.
I looked around the upscale subdivision for any potential threats. I thought about sending him to the car, but he would just tell my mom. He gave me a smirk as if he could read my mind. I decided to ignore him.
“Sorry about that,” Lea said as we got out of sight of the house.
“That was great. I loved that we had a home-cooked meal, and I got to meet your family.”
Not my first choice for a date, but I’d had worse experiences. We walked in silence. I reached over and took Lea’s hand in mine.
“Now that you have me here, what did you want to do with me?” I asked.
Again, playing that back in my head … The poor girl blushed. I decided to have some fun with her.
“You know that people get a certain impression about me, especially about my skills in bed,” I said, and her eyes got bigger. “I’m even better than the rumors.”
We both heard Fritz try not to laugh. Lea closed her eyes and shook her head as I laughed.
“My two best friends are so jealous I’m with you right now,” she said to change the subject.
“Were they the two who jumped the fence with you?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me about yourself,” I urged.
Boy, was it a mistake to tell a teenage girl to talk about herself. I found that Lea was a good person, but there was no spark there. I decided to make the best of it, and we had a good time.
When we walked back, I told her I had to get home and into bed; tomorrow was a game day. She understood. I gave her a kiss so she could brag to her friends. I didn’t regret going on our date. Tracy was right that I needed to expand my horizons and decide what was right for me.
◊◊◊ Saturday April 30
I hadn’t planned to run this morning because we had our game against St. Joe today. That meant I could sleep in, or so I thought. I heard the door open, and Duke bolted to go outside. Peggy told him to hurry up, and for some reason, he minded her.
“What are you still doing in bed? Aren’t you running today?”
“I have a game today and don’t want to tire out my legs.”