Everyone came home for dinner. Cassidy had ordered a half-baked lasagna with side dishes: roasted vegetables; an apple, carrot, and beet salad; and breadsticks. She ordered a giant cheesecake for dessert. I was impressed when everyone pitched in to both prepare the meal and clean up.
After dinner, Wolf and Tim shared their contracts with the studio. They were being hired as general laborers who would assist at various tasks for the set designers, grips, and gaffers. They would also help as stand-ins, which meant that while the scene was being set, they would ‘stand’ where the actors would eventually be.
Their contract ran from June to the last week of December. I glanced down at the bottom and noticed they were to be paid serious money; way more than they would have made doing construction. It looked like making a movie was a great job.
“I take it you decided to accept,” I said.
“Yes,” Tim said. “I can’t see us passing this up.”
“Are we still planning to go to college together, too?” I asked.
They both looked at each other and nodded.
“That is, unless you decide to go to Alabama or Ohio State,” Wolf said. “Tami said you might want to go your own way, and we want you to know we’re fine if you do.”
“We need to pick somewhere soon,” I said, ignoring his unasked question. “Are you guys still fine with USC, Oklahoma, and Michigan as our final three?”
They both nodded.
“Any preference?” I asked.
They looked at each other, and I think they played a mental game of ‘not it.’ Finally, Wolf seemed to either lose or decided to just say it.
“Michigan.”
“But we would be fine with any of them. I’m starting to see the allure of Southern California,” Tim said.
“I want to talk to my family before we decide. Why don’t we wait until I get back to make it official? While I’m leaning the same way, I don’t want to make a quick decision on this,” I said.
Hell, I’d played ‘kick the can down the road’ for nearly a year now. What would a couple of weeks really change?
“We have until mid-February,” Wolf reminded me.
That was his not-so-subtle way of telling me to hurry up and make up my mind.
“Actually, longer,” I said, and they both gave me confused looks because that was when the signing period opened. “If we were enrolling in August, then we would sign National Letters of Intent in February. Since we plan to gray-shirt and skip the fall, we’ll sign financial aid forms once we get on campus. We’ll also fall into next year’s recruiting class,” I clarified.
“So, there’s no real hurry?” Tim asked.
“Not really, but they all want us to declare so they can plan their classes. USC only plans to take one quarterback per class, and if I don’t go, they have their backup guy ready to sign. It wouldn’t be fair to leave them hanging—or any of the other schools,” I reminded them.
“Michigan told me that it’ll help them attract some other recruits if they know we’re coming,” Wolf said.
Talking about football made me want to go out and play a game.
◊◊◊
Chapter 28 – That’s My Trifecta Thursday January 5
My phone rang, waking me up. I checked the caller ID, and it was my brother. Someone had forgotten the time difference.
“Do you know what time it is here?” I asked to give him shit.
“You always get up early to run. I figured I’d catch you before you go out.”
“No problem. What’s up?” I asked.
“Angie and I may be on the outs.”
I took a moment to take that in.
“You still there?” Greg asked.
“Yeah. If it were me in the relationship, I would ask what I’d done. Since this involves Angie, I’ll guess it’s her,” I said.
“Her taking money from the charity has been a real problem for me. It’s not like we can’t pay our bills. I also can’t get past feeling like she stole from you. Even though I asked, I’m ashamed that you gave her a job after all that.”
“I was looking at the big picture, which includes my niece and nephews,” I clarified.
“So, you were pissed Angie stole the money,” he said.
“Yes, I was pissed. I have some serious trust issues with her.”
“Mom said you gave her the cash to pay it back.”
“She had to be the one to pay it back. I knew you didn’t have it lying around,” I said.
It was Greg’s turn to go quiet.
“I should have talked to you about it, but it needed to be taken care of. My lawyers were quite specific about how it all had to work out.”
“No, I get it. Thank you,” he said, and then he picked up on what I’d said earlier. “What else has Angie done to make you not trust her?”
Me and my big mouth. I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire. If there was a chance they might work this out, I would never forgive myself if I was the one to put the final nail in their marriage.
“She got pregnant with Kyle,” I tried.
“Bullshit. That’s not the reason. You’ve known about that forever.”
He might be right, but that didn’t mean I had to share more.
“What do you plan to do?” I asked.
“I don’t know. She drives me crazy when she does stuff like this.”
