Instead, I walked next door and knocked.
“What has Precious done this time? I’ll get Brit,” Brock said and turned to go find his sister.
“Hang on. I wanted to talk to you.”
“That cat’s not around, is it?” he asked as he peeked out the back door.
“Last I saw her, she was tormenting Duke,” I said to calm him down. “I wanted to know if you and your brother would help me out this morning.”
“If Duke takes care of Precious, we’ll be more than happy to hide the evidence,” he said and showed me a fresh scratch mark on his arm.
I didn’t feel sorry for him in the least.
“Do you have condoms?” I asked.
All concerns about the cat from hell left his mind.
“Bryan, get your butt down here. David needs our help,” Brock called.
When I had them both at the back door, I explained.
“You know the new guy, Don Crown?” I asked.
“Yeah, he just moved here. He’s pretty good,” Bryan said.
“He has a sister who’s our age and going to be a cheerleader. I met her Sunday at the park before I knew who she was. Let’s just say that we had some fun. She’s expecting me for an encore performance this morning.
“Brook wasn’t happy when she found out I was spending time with one of her cheerleaders, so I decided that I’d better not go,” I admitted.
I figured that was better than telling them what I really thought. I would also hope that if one of my teammates came across a similar opportunity, they would keep me in mind. The two dorks laughed at me. It seems I might have a reputation for spending time with cheerleaders.
“What exactly did you want from us?” Bryan asked.
“I thought you two might head over to the park and … ah … see if she was in the mood to get to know you better,” I suggested.
“What’s wrong with her?” Brock asked.
“Dude, she’s a cheerleader and has the right moral attitude. You want to help me out, or do I need to find someone who will?” I asked.
“I don’t know about my brother, but I’ll take one for the team,” Bryan said with a big smile.
“Just don’t go blabbing about this. Her brother is one of our teammates,” I reminded them.
Later that day at football practice, two very happy boys tried to hug me to death. All they would say to their teammates was that they should do whatever I asked because they wouldn’t regret it. By the end of the week, they’d broken up with the Hernandez cousins and were now dating Destiny. I’d forgotten they were still dating Carmela and Gabriella. I’d assumed that like most high school romances, they’d broken up by now. Personally, I thought they’d made a serious mistake. I got a bad vibe from Destiny and doubted she’d be faithful to them.
Brook wanted to take me to task when she figured it out, but I think she was just happy that Destiny was off the market. She did recommend that I talk to her before having any other bright ideas. I just shrugged it off. I didn’t need anyone running my life.
◊◊◊
Tonight, I’d volunteered to watch all the little ones so that my parents, Greg, Angie, and Peggy could all have a night off from childcare. I probably should have called Brook about this bright idea beforehand. The kids were either overexcited that their Unca David was watching them or they were cranky. Both Little David and Coby had picked up summer colds. Coby’s had turned into an ear infection, so he was pulling at his ears and fussing.
My magical power to calm fussy babies had no effect if they were sick. It took me an hour to figure out I needed help. I called Aunt Tracy and Mama Pam. They dealt with the fussy littlest ones while Duke and I wore out the other three. I swear that Angie had loaded them up on Hi-C and cookies before she left. Kyle, Mac, and Nate were little demons. I got Kyle and Mac to play ball with Duke while I helped Nate walk. He’d started sooner than either of his siblings. Greg told me that Nate didn’t understand why he couldn’t do what they did.
When it came time for baths and bed, it was like herding cats. I quickly understood why you needed two parents. Tracy was convinced to come to help me while Pam put the two grumpy-butts down.
“You seem to be losing your touch,” Pam observed, once we had them all down for the night.
“Ya think?” I asked sarcastically.
“I bet you were a difficult child,” Tracy said.
“Mom said that when I was little, I figured out how to climb out of anything. She called me her little monkey because I would grab the top rail of my crib, pull myself out, and flip onto the floor. I also did it with my high chair. She said it was a wonder I didn’t kill myself,” I admitted.
“All I can say is thank God for Peggy. I can’t imagine doing this without her,” Pam said.
“That reminds me. You can’t tell anyone that your help was needed tonight. When Angie and Peggy complain, I’ve been giving them a hard time about how easy it is to raise kids. I don’t need to hear the ‘I told you so’ stuff.”
“It’ll cost you,” Tracy said.
I looked at Pam.
“Hey, we agreed to be a team as far as the kids go. You’re on your own with her.”
“What’s it going to cost me?” I asked Tracy.
She just smiled. I guess I’d find out when she decided.
◊◊◊
Peggy and Angie found me asleep on the couch with both Little David and Coby asleep on my chest. It was too much to hope they would sleep through the night when they didn’t feel well.
“Do we wake them?” Angie asked.
“I hear you,” I mumbled. “Let them sleep a bit. I’ll bring them up before I go to my apartment.”
“You could keep them for the night,” Peggy suggested.
“Okay.”
“Wow,” was Greg’s witty response.
“You stay out of it,” Angie warned.
“It’s kind of cool to see my little brother being a dad,” Greg said and then trundled upstairs to check on his three.
Peggy leaned down and kissed my forehead.
“You’re the best,” she said and went upstairs.
“You sure? I’ll watch them,” Angie offered.
“No. They’ve been fussy all evening. She deserves a night off every now and then.”
“You’re a good dad for such a dork,” Angie said and followed Greg upstairs.
I took the two little ones and Duke up to my apartment. Come morning, I regretted my decision since they were both up and down all night. I’d thought we’d gotten past them not sleeping through the night. Being sick and not understanding what was wrong was unsettling to them. I might have had a problem with it if they hadn’t been family.
◊◊◊
Chapter 30 – Houston, We Have A Problem Sunday July 31
I found myself in another meeting about my companies. This was getting old, but my dad insisted that I had to learn this stuff. He’d threatened to step down as CEO (Chief Executive Officer—top dog) if I didn’t take part as the owner. Caryn was already COO (Chief Operating Officer—handled the day-to-day), but Dad wouldn’t allow her to hold both positions.
In an ideal world, Caryn would run the business until we grew to the point where we needed more management she could delegate to. At that time, she would move up to the CEO spot and handle overall high-level management and focus on planning. We would see what the long-term held and what that meant for my role in the company.
We had a special guest today who I was eager to hear from. Mom had flown out to LA on Thursday and returned on Friday. She’d refused to tell me what she found there.
“I’m rearranging the agenda,” I announced because some smarty-pants had put Mom down as ‘new business’ at the end of the meeting. “It seems we forgot that the house issue was talked about last week. That makes it open business. I turn the floor over to Mom.”