“I agree that I don’t want three more babies running around the house, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t need to be in their lives. For now, I want to figure out how I can help the mothers while keeping control of what that help might involve. At least for now, that might mean I pony up and pay them.”
“That’s what your dad said. I know it’s been a challenge for him to get involved in Phil’s life without me taking his head off. At least you found out now,” she quipped. “This will give Brook a chance to run before she gets in too deep.”
I blinked a few times. Would Brook really bail on me? I knew she didn’t come to my room last night.
“Do you know anything?” I asked.
Mom rolled her eyes at me.
“You’re just now worried about that? That tells me you aren’t really in love with her.”
Did it? I could see her point. Brook should have been my first thought if I really did love her. I suddenly felt horrible.
◊◊◊
“How many does that make, Mr. Walking Cliché?” Wolf teased.
I turned to Wolf and Tim’s parents.
“Count yourself lucky that these two are so inept at finding girls that I had to hook them up,” I explained.
“Hey … uh … I guess you did,” Wolf admitted.
Well, it wasn’t entirely true. It was true that I set him up with Sarah for Prom last year, but I hadn’t set up Tim and Tami; they managed that themselves. Though it was me who got them both to Chicago for the summer, so in a way …
Brook came and sat down next to me.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I thought that was my line. While I already knew that dating you came with an instant family, I didn’t realize how big,” she gently teased.
“I promise these are the last ones,” I assured her.
“Your mom has gotten you an appointment at the vet when you get back. She’s going to make sure they
Even though I knew she was joking, it still made me shiver. It wasn’t too great a leap to imagine my mom doing just that.
Mom and Dad joined the rest of us. Wolf’s dad told us bad jokes about the horrors of having kids. That was precisely what I needed this morning.
◊◊◊
We were directed to The Hall of Champions on the second floor of the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility. You couldn’t help but be impressed by the 10-foot crystal football replica walls that represented each of their national championships. Waiting for us were Bo Harrington and Jim Ball. Bo had been my personal quarterback coach until he got the job as Alabama quarterback coach, and Jim was my left tackle at Lincoln last year.
“Welcome. I’m going to have Jim take a bunch of you on a tour while I talk to David and his family. I know he’s still a little gimpy, and I don’t want to strain him,” Bo said to everyone.
Besides, I’d seen the facilities when I’d come to camp. One of the most impressive sights to see was the hall that featured the NFL jerseys of every Alabama player taken in the first round. All it took was seeing the 16 national championships and that hall to know that you were somewhere special, as far as college football was concerned.
This was the school that everyone strove to catch up to. They were the reason everyone was building multimillion-dollar football buildings. They’d built theirs in 2013. When you saw the player’s lounge and locker room, you knew one of the reasons why they had a leg up on everyone else.
Bo took us to his office. He had to get extra chairs for Fritz, Cassidy, and Brook.
“I have a somewhat bigger entourage than since we were on the road together,” I explained.
“Tell me where you’re at with your recruiting,” Bo said, getting down to business.
“In the Big Ten, we’ve visited Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Michigan this year. I’ve also been to Michigan State and Northwestern. We’ve decided that Michigan is the finalist from the conference.”
“What about Ohio State?” Bo asked.
“They would be the front-runner if they were willing to offer Tim and Wolf,” I admitted.
Bo made some notes.
“In the Big 12, we had an official visit with Oklahoma. I was surprised by how much I liked them.”
“If you end up there, you’ll put up some numbers. Their conference hasn’t been noted for defense in recent years. I’m afraid that if you want to win national championships, that’ll be a problem. They’re going to run into an Alabama, or another defensive-oriented team, and struggle,” Bo said to give his opinion.
I’d come to have a similar view.
“In the ACC, we decided to visit Clemson. I think they turned a corner and now have a hammerlock on that conference after beating both Florida State and Louisville. They look like they may be one of three teams that will consistently be in the National Championship series each year,” I predicted.
“What three are those?” Brook asked.
“Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson. The fourth team would come from the Pac-12, Big 12, or an Independent like Notre Dame,” I said to explain my reasoning.
“What did you think of Clemson?” Bo asked.
