We were in the banquet room at Monical’s. Most of the baseball players were already there. Of the coaches, only Coach Herndon was missing, probably because Mike was having dinner with his family. My family showed up, which made me happy because that meant free appetizers. Greg didn’t even have to be told to go flirt. Mac wanted me to hold her while I walked around and talked to everyone.
All the skill football players were spending the weekend in Springfield where there was a big seven-on-seven football tournament. I thought it might be a good idea to go watch them play tomorrow.
The last player to arrive was Yuri with his mom and grandma. I walked over to say hello, and Mac announced that she was getting a horsey. I looked behind me, and Angie glared at me across the room. Who knew what nonsense she would put into my son’s head when he was Mac’s age?
This reminded me of when Greg and I were probably twelve and ten. Uncle John had bought us PlayStation games for Christmas. Talk about two very excited little boys. That was until it was discovered that signals had gotten crossed and my parents had decided not to buy us the console. Let’s just say that by New Year’s, we had one. Grandma Dawson came through big-time. I needed to make this right.
I handed off Mac to her granddad and cornered Angie.
“What were you thinking?” she hissed.
“I obviously just thought it would be funny.”
“You do realize Mac believes everything you tell her.”
“What if Zoe were convinced to let her claim a horse at her farm? That way she could go visit it and Zoe could give her rides.”
“That’s fine and dandy until she gets old enough to realize the ruse. Then what will you do?” Angie asked.
“Let’s see if this is just a phase. If Mac still wants a horse when she’s older, I’ll buy her one.”
“And where am I supposed to keep a horse? Plus, aren’t they expensive?”
“I’m Unca David. Unca David will take care of it. I’m not having that little girl unhappy with me,” I said.
“You obviously haven’t been around little girls. You have about zero chance of her not being unhappy with you at some point.”
We would see. What were uncles for if it wasn’t to spoil their niece and nephews? Angie gave me a knowing look as if I had no clue. Unfortunately, she might be right.
◊◊◊
Tony, Nancy, and Kendra arrived, and I introduced them to everyone. It turned out that they were younger than I thought. All three of them were in college at Columbia University in New York City. If it weren’t for football, it was one of the schools that would be on my list to check out. Besides being an Ivy League school, it was in the heart of the city. I was sure a single guy could have a lot of fun there.
Melinda was happy to see them. I figured out my friends were all intimidated and hadn’t spoken to her, so she’d been stuck talking to my mom. I was sure that was the last thing she wanted to do. While she chatted with Kendra and Nancy, I had a chance to ask Tony some questions that had bothered me.
“How come you didn’t take care of Brandon yourself?”
“My good friend at Harvard is very close to my cousin, and he didn’t tell me until long after it had happened. Then there’s the problem of our family trying to go legit. Brandon’s father is a well-known attorney. Getting retribution would have drawn attention to my cousin, who is currently having a few problems of his own.”
I let my imagination run with that. I decided it was better that I not know what his cousin was in trouble for or what might have happened to Brandon if Tony had known.
“That, and my family told me not to touch him,” Tony said, and the disappointment showed on his face. “There are some things I simply can’t tolerate; what Brandon did was one of them. The problem is, Kendra and I only run a portion of the businesses. Our fathers run the rest, and my grandfather makes sure everyone plays nice. Something like this has to be okayed,” Tony said.
“So, you had to play the good soldier?” I asked.
“I think you’ve watched too many movies like
That wasn’t a ‘no,’ but I wasn’t comfortable talking about the inner workings of Tony’s family dynamic. It was enough to know that he’d wanted to do something, but was told not to. That would be why he was here personally to thank me. I’d done something, maybe not what he would’ve done, but the end result was that Brandon would pay for what he did.
“How are you trying to go legit?” I asked.
He gave me a smile, and I blushed. Had I just asked that?
“Over the years, Kendra’s family and my family have made some money in unconventional ways. At one point, it looked like the two of us would marry and join the families. Then life happened. Nancy became pregnant, and being who I am, I had to do the right thing,” he said.
I felt my face get a little warm because he did what I would have if I’d been older. The guilt of not asking Pam to marry weighed heavy on me. If she’d even hinted that she would be open to it, I would still do it.
