Senior Year Box Set

“I’m leaving my family behind. My kids are just starting to discover the world as they become surer of themselves. By the time I see them again, they’ll be almost two,” I said.

“We’ll all take good care of them,” Dad assured me.

“If I wasn’t confident of that, I couldn’t go,” I admitted.

“You’re not thinking of backing out, are you?” Uncle John asked.

“The thought had crossed my mind, but you taught me what it means to be a man of my word. Until Coby was born, I had no idea how quickly my son would take over my heart. This time, leaving has been harder than before because I realize that as soon as I get back, I’m off to Oklahoma. It won’t be like I can just drive home and see them,” I said.

“You’ll have to work on getting your jet certification so you can fly to Malibu when you get homesick,” Greg said.

“How’s this making you feel, Rob?” Uncle John asked.

“Like David, I’m of two minds. It will be nice to finally get these two out of the house, but it’s a big step. I know in my heart that having my two older boys off to college is a measure of success, and I’m sure they’ll both be okay. But I used to look forward to coming home each night and spending time with them. If Carol didn’t have David’s kids to look after, I would worry about her,” Dad said.

“She’d just focus on you if they weren’t there. You should thank me,” I said.

Greg snorted out a laugh as he tried to hold it in.

“Thanks, I think,” Dad said.

“What about you, Greg?” Uncle John asked.

My big brother suddenly looked sad.

“For me, it won’t be so bad. Losing Angie hurt, but she’s made it clear that her leaving was best for all of us. Without Melanie’s help with cooking and cleaning, and Ms. Lawrie to help watch the kids—thank you, David, by the way—I would be overwhelmed. While I’ll miss you guys, I expect I’ll be fine,” Greg said.

“Especially with your love life looking up,” I said.

“What’s that?” Dad asked.

“Shut it, David,” Greg said.

“I heard that David struck out with Joey, and she settled for you,” Phil said to spill the beans.

“You’re into a guy?” Uncle John asked as his eyebrows shot into his hairline. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s that I’d always assumed …”

Dad, Phil, and I almost fell out of our chairs, laughing at Greg.

“Thanks, I’m not going to miss any of you assholes,” Greg said.

“What am I missing?” Uncle John asked.

“Joey is our personal trainer, and she isn’t a guy,” Dad said to illuminate for my uncle.

“Oh, sorry,” Uncle John said.

“She’s smoking hot, too,” Phil added.

Uncle John took that in and smiled. Then he turned his attention to my youngest brother.

“Are you looking forward to coming to visit?”

“My mom is,” Phil grumbled.

“And you’re not?” Uncle John asked.

“We’ve been telling him how you treated us when we visited. He’s worried he’ll be a child laborer the whole time,” Greg explained.

“We’ve been talking about collecting all the cow manure and using it as a natural fertilizer for the hay fields,” Uncle John said contemplatively.

In fact, they already did that. Before we partnered with Mr. and Mrs. Hass, who owned the hay farm, Uncle John had dragged the fields to break it up. Now they had a system in place to collect the manure and turn it into fertilizer. They also sold the extra to area farmers as another cash source.

“Cows poop a lot,” Greg said to add to my younger brother’s discomfort.

“You do realize that these two are just giving you a hard time,” Dad said to ruin our fun.

“Like the time they told me we were going to an old folks’ nudist camp?” Phil asked.

“Come on, you got your revenge with mayonnaise-filled doughnuts,” I reminded him.

“That was gross,” Greg admitted, which made Phil smile.

My little brother becoming friends with Yuri and Roc had toughened him up some. He had started to hold his own with Greg and me.

“You’ll have a good time and learn a lot,” I promised Phil.

“Like how to get women?” Phil asked hopefully.

My dad didn’t seem particularly happy about that, but he didn’t say anything.

“We’ll see,” Uncle John said noncommittally, and then he followed up with his standard line.

“How are you handling everyone leaving?”

“I came here to meet David and the rest of you, and I’ve come to love it here. Now I can’t wait for football next year. I hope to get more playing time.”

“You can beat Trent out. You have a better arm and greater field awareness. Coach Hope will figure that out in fall preseason practice,” I predicted. “Just keep working with Roc. He’s going to be a handful for any defense next year.”

“Thanks,” Phil said.

“And you can always call me if you need advice,” I added.

“That goes for all of us,” Greg said. “You can come over anytime you want.”

Phil finally smiled.

“Did you get your STI test results back yet?” I asked.

Phil seemed to want to kill me for some reason.

“I remember the first one I ever had to get,” Greg reminisced. “At least I wasn’t a dumbass, like David, and didn’t take Mom with me to get it.”