“I’ll let the ‘old guy’ comment slide. Are these really Cuban cigars?” Moose asked.
“Yep. I even was able to go to the factory and watch them make some of them. They’re all hand-rolled, and I was told these are the ones that are sought after. I hope you enjoy them.”
“Careful, he’s softening us up for something,” Coach Haskins said.
“Well, I’ve been thinking …”
“Nothing good ever comes from that,” Moose interrupted.
“… that I normally have a personal coach when I go to football camps like the Elite 11. I don’t have anyone going with me to the Under-18 baseball tryouts. I was wondering if I could talk one—or better yet, both—of you into coming with me to North Carolina next week,” I said.
“You paying for the trip?” Moose asked.
“And extra for food and incidentals,” I threw in.
“I haven’t had a vacation in years,” Moose admitted. “I’m in.”
“What if you end up getting through to the next round?” Coach Haskins asked.
“I’d do the same again. And if I go to Monterrey, Mexico, I’d ask you to come along.”
They both smiled at me.
“Set it up,” Coach Haskins said.
The two men had spent a lot of one-on-one time with me, and I couldn’t think of anyone else that I would want there. That is, except for Juan Revilla, the Cubs hitting coach. Well, there was one more: Coach Herndon, our pitching coach.
“Do you think Coach Herndon would want to come?” I asked.
“He just might. I’ll call him and see,” Moose said.
They ran my butt off doing outfield drills. They could tell that I’d been working out, so I told them about Cassidy and Coach Conde. Overall, it was a good workout, and it started to get my head back into baseball.
◊◊◊
Paul had taken the Jeep today so Mom could take Coby and Little David to daycare. She picked up Kyle, Mac, and Nate, along with the boys, for dinner at Granny’s West. That was a lot of car seats. We pulled up in time to help unload all the little rug-rats. It was good that the restaurant was kid-friendly.
“Unca David, Unca David!” Kyle and Mac chanted to be let out first.
Nate was closest to me.
“No!” Mac howled.
I stuck my tongue out at her.
“Mmmm! I’m telling,” Kyle threatened.
“You two know better. Wait your turn.”
I hugged Nate and gave him a kiss on his cheek. He was at the stage where he knew ten times more than he could verbalize, and it frustrated him. He did seem happy that he was gotten out first. At that age, they liked to be made special.
“Are you Uncle David’s good boy? I bet you are,” I said, tickling his tummy.
That produced a screech that about deafened me. Mom gave me a raised-eyebrow look while she dealt with Coby and Little David. I shrugged and put Nate into his stroller, then turned to his siblings.
“Okay, you two, I’m going to set you free, but you have to stay with me. We’re going to go eat, and I don’t need you bothering the other people.”
They agreed, and we all made it into the lobby. Jan was the hostess tonight, and I appreciated that she grabbed Kyle and Mac’s hands to guide them to a back-corner table. If I thought two in our house was a lot, having all five little ones was crazy. We soon had everyone in a high chair.
Mom bailed on me and went back to work for a little while, leaving me with all the babies. I’d gotten Greg’s crew sippy cups of juice and pulled out a toy for Little David. Coby needed to be held.
Our server was pregnant; I would have to ask Angie if we’d started to give girls jobs through the charity. She brought out apple slices for Kyle and Mac, who devoured them. Nate wasn’t a fan, so I gave his to his brother and sister.
Peggy had gone to Greg and Angie’s after her classes, so they all came in together. They had big smiles on their faces when they saw I was in a public place with five children under the age of three. We were lucky that no one complained about the noise they made. Angie and Peggy took over childcare as I took Coby around the restaurant to thank everyone for coming tonight and introduce them to my son. My dad had told me that my granddad had started me off doing this when I was Coby’s age.
I’d expected it was just going to be my family for dinner, but it looked like Mom had let everyone know. Pam and Lacy arrived first, and Coby got some grandma time. Yuri and his mom followed Brook and her family. Tracy showed up about the time Caryn, Megan, and my parents arrived.
It was Little David’s turn to fuss, and Peggy brought him to me to do my magic.
“What’s the matter, Big Guy?” I asked.
There was something about my deep voice that would settle him down. I suspect it broke his concentration on being unhappy. I bounced him around and talked to him while everyone got settled.
“David, have you heard anything more about Trip?” Lacy asked.
I looked at Paul. That reminded me: where had he gone when it was time to take care of babies?
“They’re getting a specialist to look at the injury to his shoulder,” Paul shared. “The docs are worried he might have nerve damage. As far as his prognosis goes, they expect he’ll be fine.”
I told everyone the highlights of my trip to Cuba and making the movie, leaving out the part where Laurent had his accident. At the end of the night, Pam told me she would come over and help me put Coby to bed. Brook said she was seeing me on Wednesday. I gave her a funny look.
“You’re having dinner at your farm tomorrow, and the Pearsons are coming over,” Brook explained.
Sometimes it frustrated me that my women planned my life, but in this instance, I was okay with it. I wanted to see Zoe, Pam, and Brook.
◊◊◊
Tracy joined Pam when she came over. Tracy came up to my apartment while Pam spent time with our son. Mom said Pam had been doing that several times a week. I was pleased that Pam spent as much time with Little David as she did with Coby. It was hard to separate the two boys when they were both there together. Peggy also needed some time on her own. She spent it studying or hanging out with my parents.
Tracy sat next to me on the couch, and I put my arm around her.
“How have you been?” I asked.
“Well, I’ve been contemplating my future. I graduate in December, and then it’s off to college. I don’t even know where you’ll be going.”
“Well, that’s two of us,” I admitted.
“If you had to pick right this second, where would you go?” she asked.
“The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. They have a campus in Beijing.”
Tracy blinked at me a few times and then cocked her head.
“When do you plan to tell your mom this? Because I want to be there when you do.”
I rubbed my chin.
“Yeah, that might not be a good idea. Maybe their San Francisco or Philadelphia campuses,” I reasoned.
“Do you even have the grades to get into Wharton?”
“Straight ‘A’s. I also have a ton of extracurricular activities, and my SAT was 2130. Their average is 2163.”
“You’ve really thought about this, haven’t you?” Tracy asked.
“Some. If they had a higher-level football or baseball team, I’d be all for it.”
“Okay, let’s accept you’re not getting into your dream school. What football powerhouse are you planning on attending?” Tracy asked.
I gave her the same list I gave Coach Hope earlier today. It made me wonder: if I was asked this question twice in one day, I might want to seriously consider my answer. At the very least, I would need to get applications out soon. That sounded like something Caryn could work on.
“You make my head hurt,” she complained.
“You should kiss me more and think a little less,” I suggested.
Tracy had to shake her head to grasp what I was suggesting.
“Sometimes, you make a lot of sense,” she said and kissed me.
◊◊◊
“Damn it!” we heard from the living room.