When it came, she complained, “There’s no way I can eat this.”
I just ignored her. Before I knew it, she had eaten it all. She must’ve felt better.
“I Googled you. Dad had a laugh when I showed him what your job was with Range Sports. He figured you were a stock boy. Then I showed him your football stuff. All-State Freshman of the Year, one of the top ten freshman quarterbacks nationally, and being recruited by the ‘who’s who’ of college football.
“Dad warned me that I might be the one needing to keep up. I bet him that the winner gets to choose what we do today. I want to go play beach volleyball. He wants to go to a baseball game. I have to say you owe me now.”
“How do you figure?”
“I have to sit through a baseball game. I’d rather do just about anything else than that.”
We headed back and I noticed that she was walking a little bowlegged. She had worn volleyball spandex shorts. Not the greatest choice when running, because she had chafing along her inner thighs. I took her back to my place. Harper and Missy were wearing my t-shirts and drinking coffee. They looked like hell. I called for Dr. Tami.
I heard Harper mumble to Missy, “Oh, look, he brought another one home.”
I went to the guest bedroom and showered. I walked into my bedroom to find Tara freshly showered and wearing one of my t-shirts. I walked in with just a towel on. Tara gasped and Tami giggled. I grabbed my clothes and went into the bathroom to change.
I got a big glass of water and took my supplements. I asked the gruesome twosome what they were doing today.
“It’s USC in the morning and UCLA in the afternoon. Tami made appointments with someone from their football staff also,” Missy said. “She was getting nowhere until she called Tracy. Tracy made a call and set everything up.”
“Tami really loves you,” Harper said. “She doesn’t want to go anywhere where you can’t play.”
“I love her, too, but I want her to go to the best college for premed. If she found a school she really wanted to attend, and they didn’t have football, I’d go with her. We both feel the same way.”
Harper had to leave the room, because of her raw feelings for Ray were too fresh.
“How are you guys going to make it in time?” I asked.
“We chartered a flight. With four of us, it was just a little more to get the charter than fly commercial at the last minute. Plus, we can go when we want to,” Missy told me.
I would never have thought of that.
“What do I owe you for Tami and Chuck?” I asked.
“Nothing. You’ve picked up the tab for everything so far. We want to go to LA, so we’ll pay for it,” Harper told me from the doorway.
Tara and Tami came out to tell me goodbye. I made a mental note to get Tara some Range running shorts.
I had to leave. I met Chuck as he was coming in to pick up the girls. I walked out front and Sandy was waiting for me. The driver picked up Kendal. Clare had decided to pick up Sage and meet us there. On the trip over, I got a text from the girls. Tami talked Evan into letting Tara go with them. He was going to the game, so everyone was happy.
The first stop was Golden Gate Park, just south of the Presidio, where they had a polo grounds. Trish was ready for us, and as soon as she saw me, she sent me to go get dressed. They had me in a white polo shirt with the Range Sports logo on the chest. I also had on white pants and knee-high leather riding boots. Sage showed up and was dressed the same. They’d done her hair in a French braid.
Trish decided to start us off easy. She placed the ball in front of her and I was to ride up, lean down and whack the ball ... whack the ball ... whack the ball ... okay, it wasn’t as easy as it looked. After the third whiff, they had Sage try. I think I hated her. They let me try again. My horse was smarter than I was. He kicked the ball for me. I would take that.
Sage turned out to be a lot of fun. Trish told us she could Photoshop the ball in later, and that we should just ride. We had a wonderful time. We wrapped up and they had us change into biking clothes so we could ride around Golden Gate Park. The botanical gardens had a lot of terrific backdrops. We then packed up and went over the Golden Gate Bridge to Napa Valley.
The town of Napa itself was rustic. We had lunch at a little coffee place that served a ham-and-Swiss quiche and a microgreens salad. They also had giant cookies. I had an oatmeal walnut and Sage went with a white-chocolate macadamia nut. We ended up splitting them so we could have some of each.
When we were getting ready to get in the car, I asked Sage a question.
“I read that you were a ballerina. Were you able to keep your flexibility?”
She lifted her leg off the ground, and then pulled it up so her nose hit her knee. She put it back down, then went up on her toes, hooked her other foot around my neck, and pulled me down to kiss her. If that didn’t give me some ideas, I would have to check my ‘man card.’ For some reason, Sandy made me ride up front with the driver, as Clare took Sage to the back seat to have a talk.
The afternoon was all posed work. We went to the different vineyards and used their vines and vistas as backdrops for Range Sports’ casual line. Finally, Trish was happy with the day.
I GOT BACK AND NO ONE else was home yet. I went ahead and worked out. I came back to my apartment and took a long hot shower. I got dry, lay down, and took a nap. I woke up to a scream and the door slamming. As I came to, Chuck burst into the room with his gun drawn. When he saw me, he started laughing.
“Sorry, man. Tara was just a little startled. I thought we had an intruder.”
I got up to get dressed and Missy came in and tackled me. I guess I wasn’t getting dressed. She wanted a quick romp to take the ‘edge off’ as she described it. I personally think she’s a genius. I came out to find that Chuck had manned the grill. They’d picked up fresh shrimp and salmon steaks for dinner. He had me make a fresh dill sauce and put a little salt and butter on the asparagus so he could grill it.
Chuck taught me how to peel and clean the shrimp. He put them in garlic and oil and let them marinate while he grilled the salmon. When the salmon was done, he tossed on the shrimp. After a minute, they changed color and he pulled them off. It was the best meal I’d had since I got to San Francisco.
Over dinner, the girls told me about their day. Tami led off.
“UCLA is the largest university in the state of California. It’s located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. It’d be a real change because we’d be living in a big city. The campus itself is nice, and I think you’d like it. There are over 40,000 students. With that size, it gives you many choices for your degree.
“I also like the football staff. They were very interested in you coming in for a visit. Stanford was more wait-and-see since they have to get you in academically. They want to see your SAT scores. UCLA wasn’t worried about it,” Tami said.
“I liked USC,” Harper said. “It’s a private school and very business-oriented. University Park is about two miles from downtown Los Angeles. It’s just under 40,000 students. Tuition is about $45,000. UCLA is about $10,000 cheaper. What was Stanford?”
“$43,000,” Missy supplied.
“The cost of living is a lot more here also. If you had to ask me right now, I’d go with Stanford. USC would be a close second.” Tami told me.
“Where are you going tomorrow?”
“University of California, Berkeley. They’re the Golden Bears,” Missy said.