Later in the game, David led off an inning at bat, so the Huskies walked him. He promptly stole second base to get himself into scoring position. Andres hit a solid shot to right field that allowed David to score from second. That put them up 3–2, which ended up the final score.
After the game, he went straight to Malibu. David saw the Mustang, which meant that Cassidy, Pam, and Tracy had come to join his family for the afternoon. He walked into the downstairs and went to the kids’ playroom, where Cassidy was teaching them some basic tai chi.
David spotted Dave and Duke in the corner. Dave was in time out, and it looked like David’s hound had taken a time out with him to show support. Dave had his hand on the Labrador’s head. Duke peeked around and saw David, which caused his tail to wag.
David walked over and got down so he could love up his hound and put his arm around his son.
“What did you two do?” he asked.
Dave wrapped his arms around David’s neck.
“He’s been a grumpy butt all morning and decided not to mind,” Scarlet said, coming up behind them. “I was about to come to get him.”
“Why don’t you and I go out back and I throw the ball for Duke?” he asked Dave.
They went into the backyard, and David sat in the grass with Dave. While David tossed the ball for his dog, he tried to interact with his adopted son. Dave was nearly two and a half. He remembered his brother’s kids when they were that age. They called it ‘the terrible twos’ for a reason. Greg’s kids were, at times, confused, emotional, and temperamental, to put it mildly. Nothing seemed to come easy; then, six months later, it was as if they got it all together.
David cringed at the thought that the other four would soon follow in Dave’s footsteps. What he’d learned from his brother was to be patient and spend one-on-one time with the munchkins. They were acting out because they were frustrated.
Cassidy must have been done with the rest of the horde because they soon joined their dad in the backyard. Carol sat down with him and began to tell her dad some fascinating story while the boys went in four different directions.
David knew that Duke took baby-watching seriously. If the kids got into anything, his dog would tell him. When Duke appeared and looked agitated, David scanned the backyard.
“Jacob Jeffrey Dawson!”
There was a fence around the pool for a reason. Coby was teetering on the top. He looked up at his dad and lost his balance. Before David could get to him, he’d landed flat on his back.
’Frick!’ David thought as he ran to see if his son had killed himself this time. When he got there, Coby was giggling. The little dork had to be made of rubber.
No sooner had he checked his son out when Duke was back. Dawson was digging up his mom’s tomato plants. Thankfully, Pam and Tracy came out and helped him.
“Your mom had us all make bets as to when you either got one of them killed or gave up,” Pam shared.
David looked up and saw all the women watching from the roof. He could hear them laughing at his attempt to supervise all the little monsters on his own. David reflected that he only got to see them a couple of hours each week. The women did yeoman’s work the other six days a week to make it possible for him to go to college. He couldn’t and wouldn’t begrudge the girls having a bit of fun at his expense.
David spent the afternoon being a dad. He helped get them fed and gave them all baths before he got ready to go on his date with Fiona.
Soho House was a members-only club that had originated in London. It was for creative people like actors and artists. They’d grown so that now there were Soho Houses all around the world. There were three in the LA area. He’d been to the ones in Malibu and West Hollywood, but he’d yet to visit the Soho Warehouse in LA.
David’s membership gave him access to all the houses. During the filming of Devil May Care, his James Bond movie, David had visited several of the Soho clubs in the London area. Then, when they’d been on location across Europe, he’d been popular with the cast and crew for taking them to the ones in Barcelona and Amsterdam as his guests.
He was meeting Fiona at the West Hollywood location. It occupied the top two floors of the Luckman Plaza, a fourteen-story building between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, located on the iconic Sunset Boulevard. When David arrived, he decided to valet park because he saw paparazzi lurking. He was handing his keys over when Fiona’s car dropped her off. They let the stalkers take their pictures and then went inside.
“I was surprised you were on time,” David teased.
If you had been in Hollywood for any length of time, you knew that actors and actresses tended to show up fashionably late to everything.
“Lexi warned me that was one of your pet peeves.”
Midwesterners did like to arrive either on time or a little early. David had to keep in mind that Fiona and Lexi were friends, or he would step in it again. Nevertheless, he decided to focus on the beautiful woman he was with.
“Which restaurant are we going to?” David asked.
“I felt like Mexican, so I picked the Maya.”
“I’ve only been to the roof garden.”
“Then you’re in for a treat,” Fiona said as she grabbed his arm when the elevator doors opened.
They were seated immediately in a window booth that overlooked the city. On the way to their table, David recognized several people in the business and gave them nods of acknowledgment. They’d just settled in when a bottle of wine was sent to their table.
“This is compliments of Ms. Ward,” their server told them.
“This is awkward. I generally don’t drink in season. Can you handle a bottle of wine on your own?” David asked.
“Not unless you plan to carry me out of here. Could we get something else?” Fiona asked the server.
“Of course. Ms. Ward said tonight was on her.”
They ordered drinks.
“Who’s the gal buying us dinner?” Fiona asked.
“Louise Ward with UTA. I fired my agent, and my people are in the process of interviewing candidates,” David explained.
“Who did you have?”
“Ari Gould,” David shared.
Before she could dig more, they were suddenly joined by a couple. David was momentarily irritated with the interruption until he saw who it was: Ben Cowley and Isabel Alexandra, both of whom had worked with David. Most recently, Ben had been one of the lead actors in the Star Academy films, and Isabel had appeared in Devil May Care. The two were also dating.
“These two heard ‘free food’ and decided to crash our date,” David quipped.
“It’s Isabel’s birthday,” Ben said meaningfully.
“What does that mean?” Fiona asked when she saw Isabel blush.
“Yeah, Ben. What does that mean?” David asked.
He knew something was up; he remembered that Isabel’s birthday was sometime back in January.
“We, uh, were wondering if you wanted to come back to our place and have a little celebration,” Ben said to recover.
They had a history: David had spent time with Isabel at a party at the house he had rented in Malibu. It had happened with Ben’s permission, as Isabel had wanted to have an adventure, which had included being tied up and dominated by David. It had been a lot of fun until David realized that Ben wasn’t thrilled that David had given his girlfriend so much pleasure. David might have gone a tad overboard.
“We’d better ask Fiona if she’s into being tied up and blindfolded,” David said.
“How am I even supposed to answer that?” Fiona asked.
“Just say ‘yes,’” Isabel suggested.
From the look on Fiona’s face, David knew he was about to lose her. He suspected that if Ben hadn’t been between her and the door, she would have bolted.