“I think I had their marriage lasting three months in the pool,” I admitted.
Pam gave me a smirk.
“I said it would last more than a year. I need to check, but I think I won. You underestimate my sister’s greed. I knew when she figured out she’d be broke if they divorced, Cora would straighten up and make Devin a good wife.”
“Why did Sandy move out?” I asked.
“My sister decided to ‘help’ her. Cora thought Sandy could use assistance with how she dressed, who she hung out with, you name it. She nagged her to change into a Cora clone. Sandy had enough. She was going to college anyway, so she flew out early and enrolled in summer school.
“Devin went through the roof. He told Cora either she straightens up and flies right or she’d be gone. Part of the agreement was she had to get counseling to figure out if she was crazy or not. It looks like the jury’s out on the crazy part,” Pam said with a smirk.
“Do I get a vote?”
“No. There’s no question how you’d vote. Just consider us lucky that Cora didn’t end up moving here. I can only imagine what she would want to do to Coby.”
“You forget, my mom would deal with her.”
“Yes, your mom would keep her in line.”
I was proud of Pam. She’d stepped up and spent much more time with our son than I had expected she would. I suspect Pam surprised herself. I could also tell that her therapy had helped her. Pam was no longer as timid if someone confronted her. Part of it was that her dad was no longer around her all the time. When I found out he’d hit her, and she was so scared, I wondered what else was going on.
If Cora was any indication, he’d ruled those girls with an iron fist. As soon as Cora gained some freedom, she became a wild child.
Something I never doubted with Pam was that she loved me. We just didn’t love each enough for us to be more than we were, at least for now.
Pam was also a little needy. She had a way about her where she was hesitant but sought my approval. That was demonstrated best in our discussions about if I liked or loved her. While I found them endearing, I suspected that it related back to her father. Would he show her affection or not? I don’t think she was ever sure.
I was always glad to show or say that I cared because she was so sweet and naïve. Perhaps the best way to describe her was innocent. It saddened me to know that her father had struck her. It would have been like me hitting Duke when he was a puppy. Cal was one man I’d lost almost all respect for. I knew she still loved him because that was just how she was wired. I would bite my tongue when he came up in conversation, for her benefit.
“David?”
“Yes?”
“Where did you go just then?” she asked.
“I was thinking about you and Coby and how much I love you both.”
“David?”
“Yes?”
“I wanted to thank you.”
“What for?” I asked.
“You saved me and our baby.”
“I could have done nothing else.”
“I know.”
◊◊◊
Chapter 12 – Twins? Sunday June 19
We landed in North Carolina and got our luggage from the baggage carousel. I hadn’t expected press to be waiting for us at the rental-car booth. Luckily, there were only three of them.
“We were wondering if you could give us a moment of your time.”
That had to be the most polite approach I’d ever seen. I gave Moose my American Express so he could get the car Caryn had rented for us. Paul stood off to the side so he could see everything and catch it on his bodycam. I’d switched to the baseball-cap version of bodycam so I wouldn’t have to wear the birth-control glasses this week.
“How can I help you?” I asked.
“The Herald Sun and News & Observer both ran feature articles on you in today’s papers. They were talking about your participation in the Under-18 National Team tryouts. You were touted as one player to watch, even though your primary sport is football.”
“I do okay with football …” I started but was interrupted.
“Is it true that you’re not planning to defend your title at the Elite 11 quarterback competition?”
“My focus this summer is primarily baseball. I’ve been invited by USA Baseball to compete this week for a spot on the Under-18 National Team with 107 other baseball players from across the country. While I love football, baseball was my passion growing up,” I said.
“So you plan to do both, play baseball and football?”
“I’m in high school, and the seasons don’t overlap, making it possible to do both now. Moving forward, we’ll see. I expect after this week, I’ll have a better idea of my baseball potential. In an ideal world, I’d love to do what Deion Sanders did and play in both a World Series and a Super Bowl.”
“Football’s not the only interest you have outside of baseball. Your celebrity as a movie star has caused some issues at your high school baseball games.”
“If you mean that crowd sizes increasing dramatically was a problem, then I guess it was. I suspect wherever I go to play ball, they’ll see that as an asset, not a problem,” I said.
I held up my hands to stop further questions.
