“Stop!” Cassidy screamed as she charged in from the kitchen.
Aaron did the single stupidest thing any boy had done since Brad, her brother, did the same: he backhanded her. Two seconds later, Aaron was on the floor, screaming, with a dislocated elbow. It took me a moment to wrap my brain around that because I knew how hard it is to dislocate your elbow. It’s basically a ball and socket designed only to go back so far. To dislocate, either something has to break, or tendons have to be compromised. There’s also a bundle of nerves right there. If his screams of pain were any indication, that one was going to leave a mark.
Next, my ‘Peggy hooking up’ theory was blown out of the water when one of the moms from the daycare came downstairs, half-dressed.
I looked at my dad, and I could see the pain in his eyes.
“Did they arrest him?” I asked.
“Yes, once they saw that Cassidy hadn’t just attacked him. She’d come over to eat dinner at our house. I hate to imagine what would have happened if she hadn’t shown up,” Dad said.
“How are Coby and Duke?” I asked.
“Your mom says that Duke is bruised and acting like a big baby, milking all the attention he’s getting for being a hero. Coby has a knot on the back of his head, but he is otherwise fine.”
“Can we get the charges dropped and let them release him? I would like that to coincide with me being able to be at home to check on my son,” I said.
Dad actually smiled.
“What?” I asked.
“Your uncle, Greg, and Phil all made similar suggestions. I guess you are a Dawson.”
“I’m not joking around,” I said, getting mad.
“Son, I know you’re not. Let Cassidy’s payback serve for now, and we’ll see how the justice system works on this one.”
“It had better work better than it did for us with Zander. If it doesn’t, you might have to get me the same deal he got.”
“Speaking of which, Mr. Voorhees filed suit yesterday.”
That meant they’d filed our civil suit against Zander for when his driver almost killed me.
“Good. I’m in no mood to play games with Zander, either,” I admitted.
“You want some more bad news?”
“What else?”
“Stewart, from the NCAA, wants to meet with us. Mr. Morris sent him the video from the dinner with Coach Foster. By the way, I played golf with Coach Foster yesterday, and he never even mentioned your recruitment. He seems like a nice guy,” Dad said.
Anyone who could get Dad onto a premium golf course was a ‘good guy’ in his book.
“What does Mr. Morris say?” I asked.
“He thinks we should show good faith and meet with him.”
“Lexi knows my schedule. Tell her what works for you, and I’ll ask her to call Mr. Morris to coordinate with Stewart.”
“You’re getting pretty good at delegating,” Dad observed.
“I’m just following in your footsteps. All I have to do is remember you ‘delegating’ to Greg and me.”
“You better get to work, or I’ll find something for you to do around here,” Dad threatened.
That just proved my point!
◊◊◊
When I arrived on set, I went to Halle’s trailer. She took one look at me and hugged me.
“You looked like you needed that,” she said.
I told her about our manny. I think she was ready to fly out with me right now.
Fortunately for me, today was a light day; I was only in a couple of scenes. Unfortunately for me, they weren’t being shot consecutively. The gaps gave me time to go to my trailer and think. Seeing our male nanny, or ‘manny,’ as we’d started calling him, abuse both my son and dog made me realize that Mr. Nomura had a point. I had to find more time for what was important: my family.
I was close to booking a flight and skipping out. If my uncle hadn’t pointed out what it took to be a ‘man of your word,’ I would have done precisely that. The only thing that kept me from breaking my word was my support system back home. I knew that between my mom, Peggy, and everyone else, Coby and Duke would be taken care of. Probably better than I could, if I were brutally honest.
I finished up acting and drove to the sound studio to meet Jett.
◊◊◊
“Hey, Big Guy. You bother to practice this week?” Jett teased.
“Yes, I practiced,” I said as whiningly as I could.
I gave it an eight out of ten. Only teen girls could pull off a solid ten.
“Okay, let’s warm your voice up, and then we’ll try the songs and see where you are,” Jett said, completely ignoring my whining and getting down to business.
I started to think I might have to work more on my whining, but then decided that was one quality I didn’t want to perfect.
The first half-hour was spent doing the exercises she’d taught me. She could tell I’d put in the effort. When you were on set for hours on end, there was plenty of time to work on other things. I told everyone I was doing it to help out Rita James. But the real reason I was busting my butt was that I didn’t want to look like a fool.
