Dad and I took that as our cue to leave. I sent a text to Manaia that we’d finished, and he picked us up outside.
My next scenes involved playing golf, and I was already dressed for them, so we drove straight to the golf course.
“What did you think?” Dad asked.
“That we won’t be having that beer in twenty years.”
“Want to go back? I’ll hold him,” Dad offered.
“The last thing I need right now is to give that man an excuse to come after me.”
“Do you have any ideas on who to hire?” Dad asked.
“My luck with California lawyers hasn’t been great. Why don’t we put Caryn on it? She can coordinate with Ms. Dixon. I bet if Caryn called Saul, Frank, and Kent, they would have some ideas about the lawyer we need for this. Thinking outside the box, we could have Caryn contact Chubby Feldman. He always struck me as someone who gets stuff done. I bet he knows a few sharks,” I suggested.
Dad agreed and said he would put Caryn on it with Ms. Dixon’s help.
◊◊◊
When we got to the country club, Misaki had waited for me.
“Ai is nervous about her lunch with you. Make sure you take her somewhere nice,” she ordered.
“Would it be tacky to take her to where we ate? I could go for sushi again. Plus, the view at Nobu is supposed to fantastic for lunch.”
“No, that is our special spot. If you want to go back, you have to take me,” she teased.
“When the rest of my family and girlfriend get here, I’ll take all of you,” I promised.
“Good boy. We are on the fifth fairway. I’ll meet you there,” she said and left me.
Dad had already gone into the clubhouse. Lexi lurked by the front door, looking pensive as she waited for me.
“What’s up with you?” I asked.
“Misaki is taking my job,” she complained.
“Don’t make a big deal of this. I need Misaki to be happy so she does her part better in the J-drama.”
“I know. It’s just … never mind. I did find someone to clean the house,” she said to change the topic.
“How did you do that so fast?” I asked.
“By putting a flyer up on a bulletin board. I had three calls and met with them at lunch. One of the girls is your neighbor and said it would be convenient to come over before or after school a couple of times a week. I had her contact Caryn to do all the paperwork and get her on the payroll,” Lexi said.
Caryn would make sure everything was done correctly.
“Great job. You keep that up, and we’ll work well together,” I assured her.
She acted like Duke when I told him he was a good boy. If she had a tail, it would have been wagging.
“Don’t forget to call Brook,” Lexi threw in for good measure.
I didn’t comment on that. Best to just take the win and move on.
◊◊◊
The plan was to film us hitting golf shots today. We would do dialogue somewhere else. The golf course didn’t want to have to divert golfers from holes for the next several weeks, so this was the compromise we made.
“Nice, easy swing. Don’t worry about hitting the ball. The clubhead will do the work if you have a consistent swing,” Dad coached me.
I took a deep breath and let it out to help me relax and block out my surroundings. Dad had suggested that they film each actor hitting five straight balls. He would step in and put a new one on a tee between shots, and then we would go again.
On my first swing, I could tell I hadn’t kept my head down. That caused me to top the ball. I didn’t worry about it as Dad put another ball down for me to hit. The next few were better, and I began to relax. The last one felt different and sounded more like what you heard on TV when a stroke was good.
When I looked up, the ball was sailing down the middle of the fairway like I knew what I was doing. It felt good. After they called ‘cut,’ I turned to my dad.
“This is bad. I might have figured out why you like to play,” I admitted.
He just smiled.
◊◊◊
Dad came up to me during the hour off I had that afternoon.
“Your mother was approached by a representative of Southwest Central State. She emailed me the video,” Dad told me as soon as we were alone.
They were one of the schools on Gordon Parker’s list. Southwest Central State was a new addition to Division I, the highest division in college athletics. They had been attracting some recruits that made my eyebrows rise. Now I wondered if I’d discovered the reason why.
Dad played the video.
“How can I help you?” Mom said as she motioned for a man in his fifties to have a seat.
“I’ve asked to meet you under false pretenses. I’m Tobias Foster, the quarterback coach for Southwest Central State. Everyone calls me Toby,” he said as he sat down and handed Mom his card.
“I take it you have no interest in buying or selling real estate,” Mom said.
“No, I was in the area and thought I might talk to you for a minute. I wanted to see if David would have an interest in setting up a visit to our campus. We think that if he gave us a chance, he would find we are a fantastic fit.”
“Mr. Foster …”
“Call me Toby.”
“Toby, I honestly have never heard David even mention your school as a likely destination when he graduates. What makes you think I can convince him to consider you?” Mom asked.
