Junior Year Box Set

“Yeah. I think I’d like to hang out with the Wild Man.”

“Good. I’ll be in touch with details. Remember, you can’t say anything to the press before the announcement.”

“No problem, Coach. I’ll see you in Houston.”

◊◊◊

Bob’s family came and picked him up, so I was able to thank them for taking me in. Everyone gathered at the hotel, and then we made our way to the airport. I was sad to see that Halle was on her way back to LA. She wanted to be with her family while her brother recovered from his wounds. I made sure she knew I missed her.

Since I was in a good mood, I went on a spending spree and upgraded everyone to first class for the flight home. Dad drew the short straw and had to sit next to me.

“I wanted to tell you we’re proud of you,” Dad said, catching me by surprise.

That meant a lot to me.

“Thanks. I think I proved to myself that I can play baseball if that’s where things take me.”

“Your mom and I already knew that.”

He smiled as he reached over and squeezed my hand. I didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, he changed the topic.

“Caryn and I talked. She has some news on several fronts. They dredged the river on your farm this week, and the bridge has been put out for bid. Assuming we get bids back quickly, the plan is to have it done before harvest time this fall. The Quickie Mart is now in our hands; the previous owners decided to retire. Caryn hired Mrs. Tams to manage it. The first thing we did was cut back on the hours for safety’s sake,” Dad said.

“What happened to Tommy?” I asked.

“They caught him, and he confessed. I’m not sure what’ll happen to him.”

“What an idiot. I never thought much of him, but never imagined he would resort to robbing convenience stores.”

“Caryn has been hiring people for the restaurant. She decided to hire someone you know for her office: Kent Crain.”

That caught my attention. Kent had been Craig’s manager before he was killed. He’d always been the level-headed one of that group. I’d long thought he would be a good guy to help manage my image if Craig ever let him go. Kent had worked hard to help Craig with his image, which couldn’t have been easy to do at times, and knew the movie business inside and out. I wasn’t quite sure what he’d make of working directly for Caryn, but with his abilities, I could easily see him growing his role into something very special. It would really depend on how motivated he would be to do just that.

“I guess I didn’t realize he might need a job. I’m glad he was available and interested. Kent’s a great guy.”

“Kendal warned us he might be a bit too much fun,” Dad observed.

“Can you really have too much fun?” I asked.

“Don’t get me started on that.”

“What lake are we spending the week at in Canada?” I asked my dad.

“I have no idea. You’ll have to ask your uncle,” Dad said.

It was worth a shot.

Dad and I had a good conversation on the flight home. Mom grabbed me when we arrived in Chicago, and we caught up. It was a good reminder of why I loved my parents.

◊◊◊ Saturday June 25

I stared at the ceiling, happy to be home. There was something to be said for sleeping in your own bed. Something was missing, though: my trusty hound. It had been too late last night to get him from the farm. I glanced at the clock, and it was almost nine. Seemed I’d slept in.

I got dressed and ran downstairs, where I found Precious sunning herself on our driveway.

“Hello, evil cat. Did you miss your buddy?” I asked.

She lifted her head, and our eyes locked. I decided it was best to be on my way. When I got to the kitchen, I made myself a bowl of cereal. I was cleaning up when my mom found me.

“Finally decided to get out of bed?” she asked.

I ignored her jab.

“I’m going to go get Duke.”

“Good, I’ll go with you. Your grandmother said some vegetables are getting ripe. She mentioned some of the early tomatoes are ready. I feel like a BLT.”

I’d given Paul the weekend off because he was going with us to Canada. He needed to do laundry and pay bills. I’d had to agree to stay home, or he would have insisted on having someone accompanying me, but this was just a trip to the farm. I didn’t think Fritz would yell at me … much.

We took the Jeep. When I got out at my grandma’s, I whistled loudly to call Duke. We could hear barking from down by the river and soon saw him tearing up the walnut-hull path we’d put in. He was a total spaz and couldn’t decide who he should say ‘Hi’ to first, Mom or me. Grandma Dawson and Yelena came walking up the path.

My grandmother grabbed me and kissed my cheek.

“If he stayed too much longer, I was going to keep him,” she said as Duke danced around us. “Right now, he needs some energy burned off.”

I’d brought his ball with me, so I grabbed it out of the Jeep while my mom and grandma left to pick vegetables. Yelena stayed, and it was clear she wanted to talk. Duke tore off after a long toss of his ball.

“Your grandmother proud of you. Say you good with baseball.”