“Thanks for telling me. I appreciate the heads-up,” I told him and then turned to Gina. “I think your sister’s dodging me. I haven’t been able to track her down this week.”
“She’s been swamped. She told me that she’ll be home for Thanksgiving. Then she has a job that Adrienne set up for her. She’s flying out that Thursday night so she can get to work.”
That caught my attention. That was my exact schedule, plus Adrienne was in charge of the other talent that would be involved. Could she be working with me on the Range Shoot in New Orleans?
“What time is she flying to New Orleans? We might be on the same flight.” I said, taking a wild guess to see if Gina would confirm my suspicions.
Gina’s eyes got big, and I knew I had figured it out.
“How did you know?” she asked.
“You just told me,” I said, making Alan and Jeff laugh.
Gina went to slug me, but Alan wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her neck.
“I’m impressed. Usually, you have to have Tami point something like this out for you. You figured it out and tricked Gina into telling you,” Jeff said.
They saw my face cloud over with the mention of Tami.
“Sorry, Dude,” Jeff said.
“I miss her, too,” Alan said.
That brought me up short.
“What? She’s not talking to you guys either?” I asked.
“I haven’t heard from her since she went to the UK. None of us have,” Alan told me.
“God, I’m sorry, guys. I never meant to hurt your friendships with her,” I explained to them.
“No, you don’t get it: we picked you over her. When she dumped you, she dumped us,” Jeff enlightened me.
“But ...” I started.
“No buts, David. We love you both, but she made the choice to leave. You’re still here,” Gina said.
“Guys, it was mutual. There shouldn’t be a bad guy here. I had no idea that you all weren’t talking to Tami. She needs your friendship as much as I do. Would you do me a favor and call her?” I asked.
They could see I was sincere and worried about her. They all looked at each other, and Gina nodded.
“Thank you,” was all I said.
I knew they had her number. I was flattered that they would pick me over Tami, but we all had been friends for too long. The memories of Tami caught me by surprise. I had to go out back to gather myself. It had been several weeks since I’d felt the pain of her leaving. After a few minutes, Gina followed me out and wiped the tear off my cheek.
“They miss her, too. I’ll make sure they call her tomorrow.”
I just gathered Gina into my arms and she hugged me back. That was what I needed at that moment. Peggy found me, and Gina let me go. Peggy took her place and Gina went back inside.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I was reminded of Tami and it caught me by surprise,” I explained.
Peggy took me back inside and made me talk to everyone. By the end of the party, I was feeling much better. I took Peggy home, kissed her goodnight, and then went up to my apartment, alone.
I lay looking at my ceiling, trying to figure out what was next for Tami and me. I knew I didn’t want her running my life anymore. I also couldn’t imagine a life without her in it. I still held out hope that we would get married someday. I was just afraid that this separation might make that impossible.
I finally remembered the serenity prayer that Pastor Dan had taught me.
‘God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and wisdom to know the difference.’
Right now, I couldn’t do anything about Tami being in the UK. I still agreed with her assessment that we shouldn’t be communicating. It would be too easy to fall back into bad habits. I accepted that this wasn’t changing, for now, and was able to get to sleep.
Monday November 3
WHEN I GOT TO SCHOOL, Tracy was waiting for me. She gave Peggy a hip-check to let her know she wanted to talk to me alone. Peggy gave me a kiss and left for her locker.
“I need your help,” Tracy said.
I just raised an eyebrow.
“You have to yell at the freshmen. They think it was cute, touching you at the dance. They don’t know how quickly they can destroy their reputations. Piper is already having problems.”
“I think I can handle that. I wasn’t happy they were grabbing me.”
“The second item you’re not going to like.”
I didn’t like the sound of this.
“Then don’t ask me,” I suggested.
“I wouldn’t if I trusted anyone else. I need you to bring Piper over Tuesday night.”
I thought about it for a moment, before figuring out what she had just asked me.
“Oh, hell no! If I start with one of them, the rest will make my life a living hell until I spend time with all of them.”
“Piper’s first time was terrible. He just crawled on her and took her cherry. She said it was painful, and she’s afraid she did something wrong. I assured her that sex can be wonderful with the right person. She’s petrified to even try and find someone now. You have to help her out,” Tracy reasoned.
“No. I. Don’t. When she’s older she’ll find the right guy, and she’ll be fine.”
Tracy laughed.
“I thought for sure you’d go for that one,” she said, and she tapped her fingernail on her teeth. “Okay, how about this: you’ll do it because I’m asking you to.”
I gave her a pained look.
“Really?”
“Yep.”
I recognized then that Tracy wasn’t going to back off on this idea. Would I really do it? That was another question. I still looked at these girls like my little sisters.
“Okay,” I said, and sighed.
Now, how was I going to get Piper to my place Tuesday night, without her sister?
PEGGY MOVED BACK HOME Saturday. Word was her parents were going to try to work out their issues. Peggy had called on Sunday night and said she thought her family might be okay. She thanked my parents for letting her stay.
The weekend had been spent working with Tish and Dylan. I enjoyed the physicality of what I was learning. Being an athlete made me ideal for the role. The more I could do, the more they could show me. Otherwise, they’d have to use a stuntman.
Jessup Fields was making a name for himself doing action movies that were believable. Dylan was working hard to teach me how to throw a punch, and how to take one so that it looked real. That fine line was sometimes hard, and I had the bruises to show for it.
When I went to see the trainers on Monday morning, Paige about had a fit.
“You’re an idiot!” she yelled at me.
“I believe the term you’re looking for is ‘stupid boy.’ Ask anyone, and they’ll tell you that’s what I am.”
“You ‘STUPID BOY!’ Why didn’t you tell us you were so banged up? Didn’t you promise that if you got hurt, you’d come to us after a game?”
“Yes, but I did this over the weekend, not in Friday night’s game.”
“Strip,” Paige ordered me, “and I’ll get the ice bath ready.”
I did as I was told. She wasn’t happy with that, either. I swear she must be a virgin by the way she freaked out every time she saw Mr. Happy. He didn’t even wave at her. He had to go back into the boxers before he could swim in the ice pool. It wasn’t until I got in the ice bath before I realized that I really was a ‘stupid boy.’ I was going to have to go commando the rest of the day or wear wet underwear.
When it was time, she let me take off my boxers and cover up with a towel. During my massage, she surprised me.
“My sorority’s having a dance on Wednesday night. I was wondering if you’d go as my date?” she asked.
She was rubbing me with the deep-heating cream that makes me feel so much better. I blame it on that.
“I’d love to,” I answered.
“Thanks, David, this means a lot to me,” she said.
That stopped me from changing my mind. I never really thought about Paige in that way. As she worked my lower back, I wondered why not. I wasn’t quite sure if there were rules about high school boys dating interns or not. That question made me decide to keep this dance to myself.