“Talk to my dad and to Caryn, who runs the day-to-day operations. My dad’s right, I’m interested. I’ve learned to find people who know what they’re doing and let them do what they do best. You wouldn’t worry about me getting into your business,” I said.
“I wasn’t worried about that. I’ll talk to your dad and to Caryn,” Jack said.
It looked like Caryn would get her chance to use her MBA. To think, she had hired on as my PA.
◊◊◊ Thursday August 18
We’d put impressive back-to-back wins in the books. We’d taken down Colombia 6–0 and then beaten Brazil in a shortened 10–0 game. This put us at 6–0 with only Mexico left to play in pool play. We were one up on Cuba, and three up on Mexico. We could lose our next game and make it into the Gold Medal Game.
Still, there was some pressure to win the last game against Mexico. We’d won five straight COPABE Pan American ‘AAA’ Championships, and I didn’t want to break the streak. We had already secured a spot in the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup next year in Thunder Bay, Canada. The top four teams would get to participate. Right now, it looked like that would be USA, Cuba, Mexico, and Nicaragua. The unfortunate part for me was it was next summer, and I would be off doing my James Bond movie.
We didn’t have a game today, and the coaches had decided to give us the day off. I stepped into the shower to get my day started. As I let the hot water do its magic and wake me up, I reflected on some of the other stuff going on in my life.
Baseball would be over on Tuesday. The Gold Medal Game would be played on Monday, but Baseball USA wanted us to meet the press on Tuesday. I’d called Coach Hope to tell him I wouldn’t be back in town until Wednesday. School started on Thursday, so he told me he would see me then. I got the sense that something was up, but I was happy with how it was working out. This schedule would give me a couple of days to get home and back into the swing of things. I’d been on the run for most of the summer, and I welcomed having a couple of days where I didn’t have to worry about sports.
My Lincoln teammates would go home on Tuesday with the rest of the people who were still here.
Brook was a little perturbed. While Brook was here in Mexico, Destiny Crown had made a play for being head cheerleader. Jan Duke had called Yuri to tell her boyfriend the goings-on back home and mentioned it. I just smiled at the drama, because I knew all too well what team strife was like. Even though Brook was out of sight, the other cheerleaders all liked and respected her. They had pushed back on Destiny’s coup attempt. I predicted there would be hell to pay when Brook got back home.
I got out of the shower and dressed for the day. The coaches had given us some choices for activities we might participate in.
Monterrey was the third-largest city in Mexico. It was the capital of the state of Nuevo León. It was a study in contrasts, from its highly industrialized factory districts to its scenic natural setting, and from its modern urban core to its historic colonial architecture. The city was surrounded by mountains, and the view to the east was dominated by saddle-shaped Cerro de la Silla, or Saddle Mountain. The mountains were known for their canyons, caves, and waterfalls.
We’d been offered a tour of the city. When I was in Cuba, I’d done a similar tour and enjoyed myself. One of the stops was at a museum called the Museo del Vidrio. It housed a collection of Mexican stained glass, several collections of antique glassware, and a diverse collection of modern glass sculpture that appealed to the artist in me. There would also be a stop at the Metropolitan Museum which had art and artifacts that documented the history of the city and the region.
The other choice was to travel to the mountains and rent mountain bikes. They had a park that featured a 22-mile trail that was supposed to have terrific views of the city. Phil, Roc, and Yuri wanted to do the bike ride, so that’s what I signed up for, even though I would have loved to tour the museums.
As I tied my shoes, my mind jumped to my tigers. Their purchase had turned into a giant pain in the butt. The Mexican authorities had become interested in tracking down how I’d been able to buy exotic animals at an open-air market. I got the impression that they had a bigger black market in other animals, like birds and reptiles, than they wanted to admit. Because I had been shown on American TV with them, it had caused a stir. If I were to do it over again, I would have never allowed Jeff to film them until they were safely at Busch Gardens.
Thanks to the cubs’ notoriety, the authorities were making sure that all the paperwork got completed to their exacting specifications. The worst part was the US government thought they needed to make everything overly complicated. When my Grandma Dawson heard what was going on, she called Senator Dixon. He, in turn, called the White House. Thankfully, the image of cute, playful tiger cubs being caught in bureaucratic hell wasn’t something they wanted on the nightly news. That cut through the red tape.
They said that tomorrow the cubs would be picked up by a team from Busch Gardens who would supervise their trip to Florida. This wasn’t their first rodeo, so I left it to them, confident they knew what they were doing. They’d already arranged to meet with the proper federal and state authorities in Florida. Better them than me; I had no desire to learn about animal import regulations the hard way.
I’d gone to visit the cubs when I had a chance. Funny how so many people wanted to tag along. I think the cubs had gotten their picture taken with every player and their families. Somehow, Cassidy put herself in charge, and everyone had to schedule their visit through her. I had a sneaking suspicion she might be charging for access. Each time I visited, I noticed the cubs had collected more toys, blankets, and other stuff. Because of that, I assumed she was spending the money on them and left it alone.
I took the elevator down to breakfast and found a booth to semi-hide in. I’d put a stop to the girls coming to my room at night. As much as I enjoyed their visits, I decided it wasn’t right to, in effect, ‘hold auditions,’ as Cassidy called it. I don’t think the girls were happy with Cassidy. I know Mr. Happy wasn’t. She did offer to stand in if I found myself in need. She was getting close to me having to turn her over my knee. Cassidy’s dad was already acting cranky about my delayed return. I didn’t need him mad because I’d spent time with his daughter.
The waitress showed up with a large water and hot mint tea. I might have had breakfast there a time or two.
“You want the usual?” she asked.
I’d discovered huevos rancheros and had made it my go-to option.
“I want to try something different. What do you suggest?” I asked.
“It’s not on the menu, but I get the cook to make me sweet potato chorizo hash with eggs and avocado crema. My grandmother used to make it for me with leftovers, so it was never the same twice. Our cook makes a version I like.”
“Let’s give that a shot,” I said with a smile.
“You won’t regret it,” she said, and then left me to my thoughts.
I needed to decide: was I going to ask one of the girls to be my girlfriend or not? I had a suspicion that if I returned home without deciding, they might take it into their hands to decide for me. My fear was their decision might be that they would all drop me.
It had been a full year since I’d made the grand gesture, or should I say the ‘grand jester’ because I’d made a fool of myself with Tami. She’d said repeatedly that she wanted to wait for that mythical ‘someday’ for us to become a couple. I, of course, hadn’t listened and tried to force the issue by stinking up my bedroom with scented candles and giving her a promise ring. A ring, I might add, that she still wore on a silver necklace, even though she was dating Tim.
I knew she didn’t wear it to humiliate him; that was something Tami just wouldn’t do. From everything I’d heard and seen, they really liked each other. I know my mom had noticed the promise ring because when she spotted it, she turned and gave me a questioning look. All I could do was shrug. I recognized that in Tami’s mind, there was still a ‘someday’ for us despite what we’d gone through, the last year especially. I still had nightmares about what Brandon had done to her in his sick and twisted effort to get at me.