Senior Year Box Set

I heard a muffled conversation. Coach sounded irritated with his daughter, which made me a little worried about what Cassidy was up to. But I didn’t get too concerned; I couldn’t think of anything that she would do that would cross any lines. Cassidy was a good kid, mostly.

Coach came back to the living room and took a seat in his recliner.

“She’s been volunteering at the large animal clinic at State.”

I remembered that over Christmas, she’d gone to Florida to see her tigers. She’d said at the time she wanted to become a veterinarian. That was on top of being my trainer and joining the Marines.

“Why is she sneaking around?” I asked.

“Good question,” Coach Hope said with a shrug. “Want to watch a movie?”

“Sure.”

I heard a little meow from Cassidy’s kitten. Coach Hope reached down and picked it up so he could hold it in his lap.

“Don’t say it,” he warned.

It looked like the little fur-ball had already gotten Coach trained. Funny how that happened.

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Chapter 27 – Payback Sunday April 30

Duke and I came back from our morning run to find my parents already up. When I let him in, I followed Duke inside because I smelled cinnamon rolls heating up in the oven.

“What’s the special occasion?” I asked.

Mom wrinkled her nose at me.

“Go take your shower. If you don’t hurry, your dad will eat your share,” she warned.

Dad looked around his paper and nodded that he would. There had to be some law against this. But what was I going to do about it? I imagined complaining to the cops that my dad ate my cinnamon roll. Then again, if I brought them some to try, they would understand.

Not wanting to risk it, I hurried upstairs and took my shower in record time. When I came back downstairs, Mom was taking them out of the oven, and Peggy had entered the kitchen with Coby and Dave. I stepped over and kissed my boys on top of the head. I picked up Coby when he reached for me and sat down with him in my lap.

Mom served everyone and brought me tea. Something was up, and the twinkle in her eye told me she was waiting for me to ask. She would just have to wait until I’d eaten the two rolls in front of me.

I was taking my first bite of the yummy goodness when my son reached up to try to grab it away from me.

“Do you want a bite?” I asked Coby.

“Uh, uh,” he grunted as he tried to reach it.

“He’s his father’s son,” Mom commented.

I tore off a small piece and handed it to him. It went into his mouth in a flash. Yep, definitely my son. He liked it and wanted more.

Dave began to babble to his mother that he wanted what his brother was having.

“I guess he doesn’t want cereal this morning,” Peggy said as she cut up small pieces of cinnamon roll and put them on his high-chair tray.

“I’ll have to tell Granny she has two new fans,” I said.

We all watched the boys polish off almost a full roll. They would be bouncing off the walls soon from all the sugar.

“We should take the boys to church today,” I suggested.

“After they ate that? I don’t think so. I want to be able to go back,” Mom said.

“So, what’s up?” I asked.

“I have some interesting news,” Dad said.

That took me by surprise a little because I assumed my mom was the one with the news.

“That is?” I asked when he just stared at me.

I hated it when he pulled a Dawson on me and went quiet. He grinned because I’d lost the battle of wills this time. He’d always told me that in a negotiation, he who talked first lost. I rolled my eyes in response.

“Ms. Dixon called me and said that Dixon and Dixon had bought out Rigby and Thompson and that Tom will be moving back to run the office.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Word got out about how Rigby Thompson treated you as a client, somehow, and their business began to dry up,” Dad said.

Everyone thought my mom was the one they should never cross. That announcement gave me the sudden insight that my dad might be more of a force. My dad knew just about everyone and never had anything bad to say about anyone. He was someone people liked as soon as they met him. I suspected that he’d quietly put the word out, and this was the end result.

My first instinct was to ask him, but it would have been pointless; he wouldn’t tell me. He’d dealt with it, and it was over with.

“Thanks, Dad. That really is good news. It will also give Mary a reason to stay and run the restaurants after Tracy goes off to LA for college,” I said.

“We never considered that,” Mom said to tweak me.

I just raised my eyebrows. It sounded like my parents had planned this out. If they’d taken down Mr. Rigby and Mr. Thompson for their role in what happened with Cal and me, I’d bet that Mr. Fox, the scumbag, wasn’t far behind. He would look good flipping burgers.

◊◊◊

When I got back from church, I was about to leave to do another yard cleanup for my grandmother when my phone rang. Caller ID showed a number I didn’t recognize. I’m not sure why I didn’t just reject it since almost half of them were robocalls, anyway.

“This is David.”

“David, Alex.”