“Give me a list of both and any notes that’ll help us, and we’ll get them all into the fold,” David promised.
“What are you talking about?” Matt asked.
“David and the other freshmen have been helping Bryant and the other coaches recruit,” Coach Merritt explained.
“What did Colt Macklin decide?” David asked.
He was the crown jewel that every team in America wanted.
“He said ‘yes,’ but his mom said they wouldn’t do anything officially until his senior year,” Bryant said.
“That’s a smart move. I’d want to know who the coach will be next year before I made my final decision,” David said and instantly wanted to pull it back.
The room went silent to see what Coach Merritt would say to that. Everyone knew he had the interim label, and
there was no guarantee he would be asked back. If David wanted to be a prick, he could have shared what Gabe and Ron had told him about their ‘quiet’ search for his replacement. At no time had they mentioned that Coach Merritt was in the running.
David wished he could take back his statement because he didn’t want to look like he was retaliating for the redshirt news. When he said it, he was thinking he would want to know who the coach was if it were him in Colt’s place. Based on that, he could see if his skill set fit into the new coach’s style of play.
“That is a smart move,” Coach Merritt said to defuse the tension. “We’ll let you get back to it.”
Coach Thomas gave David a look over his reading glasses, but David gave him an innocent one back and dared him to call him out. He planned to have a word with Coach Merritt before anything had a chance to fester.
Better yet, he guessed Amy would be calling him to her office.
◊◊◊
After practice, David returned to his dorm and planned to drive to Malibu to spend time with his family. Sunday afternoon, he would start filming his soap opera.
His phone rang, and he saw it was Crystal.
“I was about to leave.”
“Call me back when you get in your car,” Crystal said and hung up.
David finished packing and went downstairs to his car.
Before he could even open his car door, his phone rang again, this time with a number he didn’t recognize.
“Hello?”
“David? This is Janis Turner. Sadie told me what you did for her, and I can’t thank you enough. You’ve really been a godsend for both of my girls.”
“I really didn’t do much. You have two terrific daughters, and I’m just glad I can help a little,” David said.
“Well, it’s more than a little, and I really do appreciate it,” Janis said.
“You’re welcome. Janis, I’m sorry, but I’m running late, and I need to go. Thank you for the call.”
“Thank you, David,” she said and hung up.
◊◊◊
He called Crystal as he was leaving the parking lot.
“How was Venice Beach?” David asked.
“It’s changed. I went once with a friend when I was in grade school. It was full of weird—in a good way—people and shops. Now it’s twenty bucks for parking, the local shoe store sells $400 boots, and a coffee was nine bucks,”
Crystal complained.
“Welcome to the gentrification of a neighborhood.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about the waterfront communities in LA. You have almost perfect weather and some of the coolest areas to hang out in, and before you know it, the neighbors want to protect it from development. I get it because I’ve been to Miami, where high-rises pop up and kill the view for everyone else.
“But it also means that prices start to go up, and all the rentals get converted to homeowners who then gut the places and make them even better. Soon, only the wealthy can afford to live there, which drives out all the ‘weird’
people and businesses,” David said.
“It was far from perfect. There are various homeless encampments and stretches of people living out of their cars, and you know what that means. There are sections of the boardwalk where walking barefoot wouldn’t be recommended,” Crystal said.
David could see how that would put a damper on a fun day.
“Well, Emily looked to have a good day if her social media is any indication.”
“Don’t get me wrong. Everyone had a good time,”
Crystal said and then changed the conversation to David. “I thought you were going to the Sigma Upsilon party with me tonight.”
“You’re not going to believe this. My youngest, Coby, served his fellow daycare inmates alcohol.”
“How the heck did he do that?” Crystal asked; it was precisely what he’d asked his mom when she told him.
“Peggy and Scarlet still live in the pool house. Ashley bought herself a condo. To celebrate Ashley’s purchase, I guess the girls bought those cans of premade drinks,”
David said.
“Those are awful. I tried the piña colada and margarita ones, and they were a total waste of money.”
“I guess the girls thought so too, so they’ve been in the pool house fridge for a few months. What happened was it was one of the kids’ buddies’ birthday on Thursday, and her mom brought in cupcakes. Coby had remembered another mom had gotten them all sodas, which my little ones are not allowed to have.”
“I hate to ask, but why not?” Crystal asked.
“Remember me laughing about feeding Sadie’s class ice cream bars and then leaving? Give my kids Cokes, and it’s mayhem. You make that mistake once, and you never let them have that again.
“That reminds me of the time I fed them all sweet potatoes for the first time. I didn’t realize there’s an insoluble fiber that makes babies go like right now. Which wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t alone with all five of them when they exploded,” David overshared.
“Gross.”
“Yep. Back to Coby. He went into the pool house with his backpack and cleaned out the leftover alcohol.”
“But I thought most stuff like that has child-proof openers,” Crystal said.
“Have you met my son? He had to work at it, but he could get them all open. What cracked me up was they sent over a video of how it all went down. Coby made sure everyone in the older-kid section shared the drinks.
“Remember that psychic I told you about?” David asked.
“The one that warned you about Lexi?”
“The very one. He told me that Coby would go one of two ways. He would either protect people or become a little gangster. Handing out alcohol to a group of two- to five-year-olds might be his first step down a dark path.”
“I can’t believe the people in charge didn’t catch it,”
Crystal said.
“That was what kept my son from being banned. Well, then there was the fact that they all went down for naps without any fuss,” David shared.
“I bet they weren’t happy.”
“There was talk of Coby and all my kids being trouble.
Then they told my mom that she should be held responsible. That was the wrong thing to say. She demanded to see the video. The girls working there had even picked up the cans and tossed them. Mom made some noise about negligence, and suddenly it was all swept under the rug,” David explained.
“Why are you going home tonight if it’s all taken care of?” Crystal reasonably asked.
David had asked the very same question.