“On one of my recruiting trips, someone used a date-rape drug on Tami and took advantage of her.”
“That’s awful. I hope you plan to track him down.”
“That may be the easy part. I accused Tami of some things that obviously weren’t true, and I don’t know how to tell her.”
“Be prepared for her to be mad at you, but the two of you have been friends for a long time. She’ll eventually come around,” Pam advised.
“I’ve been sick about it since I found out Sunday. I keep playing the ‘what if
“Something Dr. Hebert told me might help. Bad things happen. You might even be totally responsible for what happened. The key is to figure out what you’re going to do about it. I believe her direct quote was, ‘Shit happens. Are you going to let that control your life, or are you going to move on?’”
“So, I need to stop beating myself up and take control of the situation,” I said, and then smiled. “Tami once told me about the difference between ‘doers’ and ‘wanters.’ I think Dr. Hebert was saying the same thing, but in a different way.”
“She told me it’s natural for your mind to need to go through the process of understanding what caused it. But at some point, you have to switch to become proactive in your future,” Pam said. “You can’t stay in grief mode forever. It’s like what my dad did to us. We were both angry and had to deal with all the feelings that accompany that. But at some point, we had to move on. I mean, it’s okay for me to still miss my dad, but I can’t let all the emotions surrounding that control my day-to-day life.”
“That must mean I’m mentally healthy because I still get mad when I think of him hitting you and using our baby as a tool for his vengeance. I’m glad you and I moved on.”
“That’s what you have to remember with Tami. I’ve talked to Tracy about her past and some of the horrible stuff that happened to her. She told me you were one of the keys to her recovery. She did some very hurtful things to you. My guess is Tami might react badly. You just need to remember how far you and Tracy have come as friends,” Pam said.
“Thanks for the advice. I’m glad you’re there for me,” I said.
“We’re here for each other. I don’t think I ever said it, but when you said you wanted custody of our baby, I was relieved. Your parents stepping up like they did was a huge relief. When my dad found out I was pregnant, I could only imagine two possible outcomes: he would either make me raise our baby all by myself, or it would be taken away from me.
“I think I knew deep down that you’d fight for our baby. I look at Peggy and what she was facing. And then I think about how you and your family stepped up, first financially and later with more substantial support when it became clear her home life wasn’t stable. If you’d do that for her, I knew you’d be there for me.
“It’s scary for me to think about being a mom at such a young age. What I wanted to say is while I am scared, having you and your family’s support means the world to me,” Pam said.
“You do know that I like you,” I teased.
She gave me a sly grin. Peggy came out of the bedroom.
“I overheard what you two said. David, I agree, you and your family are amazing.”
“Well, I like you too.”
Peggy looked at Pam.
“Trust me, that’s a good thing. I usually get him to either do stuff or give me things once he admits that,” Pam said.
“I wonder what we could get him to do for us?” Peggy asked.
Duke picked that moment to tell me he needed to go outside. Unfortunately, that broke the mood. When Duke and I returned, Peggy had Little David and was walking Pam out of my apartment. Mr. Happy was very confused.
◊◊◊ Tuesday January 26
At lunch, I received a text and pumped my fist in the air.
“Why are you so happy?” Wolf asked.
“We’re number one,” I said.
“Well, duh. Until someone else wins State, we are,” Tim said.
“No, my movie’s number one.
“Is that a big deal?” Gina asked.
“It’s huge. A big studio picture doesn’t guarantee success at the box office. They spent something like a hundred million to make the film. I mean, big movies sometimes lose money. For example,
“What my agent said was that we needed to hit around $400 million in global sales to make money. It looks like we’ll do better than that,” I said.
“So that makes you a big deal?” Tracy asked.
“I thought I already was,” I teased and looked at my groin.
Gina pulled out a cloth tape measure and started to wrap it around my head.
