When we pulled up to the Southwest signs, I leaned over and kissed Harper.
“Thank you. I needed to hear that. I appreciate the ride, and your friendship.”
“Go be a stud. I’ll talk to you when you get back. She loves you, you know.”
I just nodded and got out of the car. Harper popped the trunk so I could get my bags. I waved goodbye and went to the curbside luggage check-in. They printed off my boarding pass and I went in to tackle security.
I HAD PAID EXTRA SO I could be one of the first to board. Southwest had ‘festival’ seating. I got lucky and was able to snag an aisle seat in the first row, giving me some extra legroom. I was seated next to a college-age guy who had a service dog with him. It was a golden retriever named Max, according to the tag on his collar. The college guy looked to be hungover and told Max to lie at his feet.
We had a full flight, and when we finally got everyone on board we pushed back to take off. Max looked uncomfortable with all the weird noises, and his master didn’t pay him any attention. After we took off, I decided to lean back and take a nap. I was almost asleep when I felt a wet nose nudge my arm. Max wanted assurance everything was okay. I flipped up the armrest and patted the seat next to me. They’d put a ticket in the seat to keep it open, I assumed from the dog. Max jumped up and laid his head on my lap. I put my hand on his side and we were soon both asleep.
I woke up when we were coming down. Max’s master woke up and apologized. I assured him Max was fine. I had enjoyed sitting next to him better than I would have anyone else.
“What do you have, Max?”
I looked down and saw he was chewing on something. Sometimes Duke would get a Kleenex. Whatever it was, he didn’t need to swallow it. Max’s master tried to get it away from him, but he was facing me. Then I realized what he had.
Oh, hell no!
He was working on Harper’s panties. I put my hand out.
“Drop it!” I ordered.
Max stopped chewing and looked at me with those big sad eyes only a dog can have. Then his tail wagged twice, and he started chewing again. My dad was much better at getting dogs to mind. I saw a corner of the panties sticking out the side of his mouth and grabbed it. I almost had it snaked out of his mouth when he suddenly let go. The panties went flying towards the plane’s exit. One of the stewardesses saw it and covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.
Max saw where his new chew toy landed and made a lunge to get off the seat. I grabbed his collar to prevent him from running around on the plane. His master got him in hand as I got up to get the chewed-up panties. The stewardess bent down and hooked the offending garment with a pen. She stood up, and now most of the passengers in the first third of the plane could see what she had.
I stood tall and gave her my best tight-lipped smile as I took them and stuffed them back into my pants pocket.
“I’ll give you my number when we land,” I said for the benefit of our gawkers.
She turned red and everyone had a laugh.
When I was getting off the plane, I slipped her a piece of paper and asked to call me if she wanted to go to dinner tonight. I figured I didn’t have anything to lose, so why not?
THIS YEAR, BO WOULD work with just me. He’d gotten us a two-bedroom apartment in the same complex we’d stayed in last year. I liked it because it was within walking distance of camp. Bo greeted me and told me to change. He planned to work me out.
He drove me to a local high school and we went out on their field. He had me haul a bag of footballs out to the 50 yard line. I thought I was going to throw; I was badly mistaken. Bo thought I needed to run my ass off.
He started me off running 40-yard dashes.
“We don’t have time to waste reps today! If you’re going to run at 75%, you’re wasting both our time!” Bo barked.
He got my blood pumping and then had me take a break to rehydrate. Bo pulled a vest out of his duffle bag. When he handed it to me, I was surprised at how heavy it was.
“Put it on,” Bo said.
The vest probably weighed thirty pounds. He then had me go back to running forties. He put a stopwatch on me. If my time began to increase, he’d make me push through it until I could get my time down. He would then let me take a break.
“You have to learn to play through it when you’re tired. At some point you’re going to be gassed and you need one more play. Now get back at it and give me one more play.”
The added weight was sapping my energy.
He then put the footballs on the ground, spread out so I could run cone drills. This challenged me to keep my feet quick and move laterally as well as front and back. It simulated dropping back and then going to your right, then left, and finally forward. Bo was on me with the stopwatch.
He kept changing the drills and pushing me. When I was close to reaching my limit, he had me take off the vest and run through the drills one more time. I felt like I was flying without the extra weight. I was stealing that vest! What a great training tool!
WHEN WE GOT BACK TO the apartment, Bo sent me out back to get into the hot tub by the pool. I was ordered to take my supplements and to soak to help my muscles recover faster. The building we were staying in was used for corporate apartments. Companies would rent them out for short- or long-term stays for their employees.
“Mind if I join you?” a feminine voice startled me.
I opened my eyes and saw a fit woman in her late 20s/early 30s smile at me. She wore a one-piece swimsuit. She had all the curves in the right places, so I nodded. I enjoyed looking at her long legs as she stepped into the hot tub.
“I look forward to this all day. There is no better way to relax after a day at work,” she said.
“I wish I had a hot tub at home. I have to go to my friend’s house to take a soak,” I shared.
I leaned back and let the hot water do its magic. I could feel I’d reached the point where I was cooked, and so got out and jumped into the pool. I swam laps to cool down. When I was ready to get out, a girl who looked to be my age came through the back door of the pool area. I noticed she was the spitting image of the woman in the hot tub.
“Mom, can I, oh, hi,” she said when she saw me get out of the pool.
Sometimes being a model has its perks.
“Would you ladies be interested in joining my friend and me for dinner tonight? We just got into town and could use a friendly face to show us around.”
“Yes, what time?” the younger one answered.
Mom had a stern look on her face and motioned to her daughter to come closer so they could talk. I stepped back to give them their privacy. I figured there was no way this was going to work. The only thing I had that worked in my favor was that the mom would be with us to make sure I wouldn’t take advantage of her daughter.
I had to silently chuckle. Where had this brazen attitude come from? I had given my number to the stewardess, and now I’d asked out a mother-daughter tandem. I saw the daughter do a happy dance and was amazed when they said ‘yes.’ I told them to meet us out front in thirty minutes and hustled upstairs.
Shit! I didn’t even know their names. Details!
I rushed into the apartment to see Bo kicked back, soda in hand, as he watched SportsCenter.
“Hurry up and take a shower. I got us dates,” I said.
I thought only teenage girls could give you that look.
“Come again?”
“You need to take a shower. Did you bring anything other than coach clothes?” I asked, referring to the shorts and polo shirts he always wore.
“Back up. Did you say you got us dates?”
I put my hands on my hips.
“You don’t think I’m capable of finding us dates?”
“Did you have to pay for them?
“Screw you very much. Are you going to be a jerk, or are you going to get in the shower?” I asked.