◊◊◊
Brandon had rented a car to take Alan and Tami home. It was cheaper to return it in Evanston, so I followed him to the rental place and gave him a ride home.
“I think you were a little too direct with Coach Patrick. The shot about Northwestern not coaching them up was a little harsh,” he said.
“I can see your point, but what I said was true. I think it has more to do with the caliber of kids he’s recruiting. Maybe the correct answer is the caliber of kids he is getting yeses from. Notre Dame and Iowa both recruit Chicago hard. In-state schools are also picking off the best prospects. There are years when Northern Illinois might be the best team in the state.
“I also understand that it takes time to turn a program around. Northwestern has never been a top-tier team, and until Coach Patrick came, they weren’t even respectable. But he’s had time to establish himself, and I think he should be pulling better recruiting classes. The other issue they have is they’re not that easy to get into,” I explained.
“Don’t you think he knows that?”
“Yes, but I was letting him know I knew. If Coach Patrick expects me to go there, he needs to find a way to get quality recruits to help me out. I can’t do it all myself.”
“Was that why you told him about the other receivers you had met at camps?” Brandon asked.
“Think about it: if I had those three join my core group, we’d have the makings of a pretty good offense.”
Brandon shook his head. I think he realized that Northwestern was never going to convince those guys to go there. If they couldn’t, it just proved my point. I decided I wanted to find out what happened last night. So I asked him.
“We all went to a party, and I got distracted,” Brandon said, and I could guess how. “When I found them, they were drunk. I was worried about even getting them back to the hotel in their condition. Alan insisted on helping me get Tami to her room. When we got there, she went straight into the bathroom and puked. Alan joined her. To be honest, I didn’t want to deal with vomiting drunks and left them in your room.
“I’m not sure what happened after I left, but Tami was really pissed at Alan, to the point where I’m a little concerned about what might have gone on. I’d hate to speculate,” Brandon said.
“All I’m going to say is you should have never left them together. It hasn’t been that long since you were going to college parties. I’m sure you knew what could happen with two drunken people thrown together in a hotel room. I quite honestly expected more from you.”
I realized that I had changed. Before this weekend, I would never have been so forceful with people. I sensed that I was being a little too aggressive and really should dial it back some. Brandon was right. What I said to Coach Patrick was uncalled for. I’d seen my mom in action and cringed when she was too direct with people. The positive side of it was everyone was clear on where they stood. The negative side was people sometimes didn’t want to deal with her. I needed to find a happy medium.
“Hey, sorry about that,” I said. “I’m just not happy that I potentially lost my two best friends this weekend. You had no way of knowing what they would do. The responsibility lands on their shoulders. No one forced them to drink so much.”
“Looking back, I should’ve known. If you give me a second chance, I’ll do better,” Brandon said.
“I’ve been heavy-handed all weekend. Please don’t think that I quit working with people if they make a mistake. Heck, Kendal’s still working for me, and she tattled on me to my mother.”
At least that got a weak smile out of Brandon. It was hard enough that he worked for a teenager. He didn’t need to worry about his job being in jeopardy anytime something didn’t go my way. I also wanted him to call me on my mistakes, like how I treated Northwestern’s coach. I didn’t need my personal assistant to be a yes-man.
I dropped Brandon off at the high school so he could get his car. On the trip back we had talked out our issues. That was good and necessary since we were scheduled to make several more recruiting trips.
◊◊◊
When I got home, my missing parents were there. Greg and Angie had already left. They had watched Duke for me while I was gone. He was an absolute wild child. By the way Duke greeted me when I got home, you would have thought I’d left him for a month, not a couple of days. Once I’d finally given him a year’s worth of loving, I braced myself to hear how their week had turned out and walked into the kitchen.
“Everything’s fine. Now tell me what happened with you and Tami,” Mom said.
I looked at Dad, and he just shrugged. ‘Everything’s fine’ hardly told me anything. I knew better than to not answer my mom, though. I told them about Tami showing up and inviting herself to Northwestern, and explained that Alan and Brandon had known about her joining us and how irritated I’d been to have it sprung on me. Then I got to the hard part and told them what I had found when I returned to my room. I gave them all the pertinent details so as not to have to suffer through an inquisition. I might have left out the part where they were naked and used a condom. I also didn’t say anything about taking the promise ring because I didn’t think I wanted to admit to that. I did tell them how I felt about what happened. It was usually in the area of feelings that Mom pounced on me.
I told them about how I had acted with both Stanford and Northwestern. I confessed to threatening to fire Brandon and how I had fixed that. I wasn’t surprised when they just nodded when I finished telling my story. I guess Uncle John had really filled them in. Then it was their turn to get me up to speed.
“Your dad and I worked out our differences. We planned on talking to Phil about who his father really is, but we talked to Vickie, and she asked us not to.”
“Are you okay with that?” I asked my dad.
“No, not really. I’ve stayed quiet about it for far too long, but I have to respect Phil’s mother’s wishes. I hope you understand that it’s not just my decision, it never has been. That’s why I was never involved in his life. I appreciate that Vickie has brought us together as a family, and I get to see and get to know him. She isn’t ready to tell him she’s lied to him all these years,” Dad explained.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I would have a really tough time knowing I had a son I couldn’t have in my life,” I said.
“I hope you can keep this between us,” Dad said.
“Of course. How was Greg with it?” I asked.
“He understood. I think he felt the same way you do,” Dad said, and then got up and sat next to me and took my hand. “John told me what you said about how disappointed you were in me. I’m sorrier than you’ll ever realize. You deserve better from me, and it breaks my heart that I let you down. All I can do is try and be the man you expect me to be. You have to realize, though, that I’m only human. I never plan to disappoint you again, but if I do, I want you to know that I love you.”
I felt my throat tighten up, so I just nodded to him. I loved my parents and knew that they loved me too. I wasn’t naïve enough to think everything would be solved with just a trip to Las Vegas. I could hope that over time we would get back to where we had been as a family. Some way Phil and Dad would work it out.
“Mom, I need to say something,” I said, and she locked eyes with me while Dad sat back in his chair. “Something we haven’t talked about is your talk with Tami. I was blindsided with questions about Dad and Phil. She told me you talked with her about it.”
“David, we’ve talked about this. Tami and I are friends. I needed someone to talk to,” she said.
“Bullshit!” I said.
Dad’s expression told me wanted to be anywhere but here. My mom’s face flushed, which I was sure matched mine.