She pulled a plate out of the oven. She’d made roast beef with a twist. Instead of the usual potatoes, she’d substituted cauliflower as a healthy alternative. Melanie had made everything in the Crock-Pot, and the cauliflower had a chance to cook down in the meat juices. There wasn’t enough of a difference in flavor and texture to make me miss the potatoes.
“Have you come up with any new stories for the paper?” I asked.
“Your mom told me about your nomination for the MTV Awards.”
“Hang on, what nomination?”
“You and Leah Johansen have been nominated for ‘Best Kiss’ in
I hated to think of the ribbing I was going to get when Wolf and Tim found out.
“What does your reporter friend want from you?” I asked.
“She wants me to verify that you really are a good kisser.”
“You dirty girl,” I said as I wagged my finger at her.
“That’s not …” Melanie started to say, and her face turned red.
“I guess I would do it for your background research. But you can’t tell my mom. She already isn’t happy that I seem to kiss all the people that work for me,” I explained.
My dad walked in at the end of my speech.
“Why don’t we just make it a rule that you can’t kiss Melanie? She’s too good an employee for you to run off with inappropriate stuff like that,” Dad suggested.
“She said she needs me to kiss her for research.”
If possible, Melanie got redder.
“I need to talk to you,” Dad said to signal my fun was over.
I rinsed off my dish and put it in the dishwasher. It was full, so I started it and then followed my dad to the office. I guess this would be a serious discussion because he shut the door.
“I forwarded the recordings that you made of Stewart Chadwick’s and Coach Foster’s calls. Your lawyers were particularly interested in Stewart’s threat that if you didn’t help with his investigation, he would derail Wolf’s and Tim’s eligibility, as well as your own.
“It surprised me when someone suggested that you might want to cave in to his demands to avoid his following through on his threats. The concern was more for Tim and Wolf than you because they received money directly rather than through charities,” Dad explained.
“Has anyone figured out who the money came from?”
“No, not that any of them know, but Ms. Addison said the FBI had what they needed, and we would get the money back soon. Ms. Dixon suggested that you keep the funds separate even then until this is all resolved,” Dad said.
When I’d talked to Coach Foster from Southwestern Central State, I’d offered to return the money. I doubted he would take me up on that and risk exposing that the university or someone associated with them had sent it. My best guess was that the money came from Springbok, the shoe company.
“If it’s Springbok, do you think they would be dumb enough to write it off on their taxes as a charitable contribution? Maybe we should ask if they want the appropriate tax form for their accountants,” I suggested.
Dad and I had a good laugh because we both imagined Megan doing just that if I ever tried to do something shady. She was a stickler for keeping financial records. I imagined they had their own Megan somewhere.
“I hope you told them I wasn’t going to roll over and let Stewart use me anymore,” I said.
“They know. I think they made the suggestion to force us all to talk it through. Everyone’s on the same page. I just want to warn you that this might get messy if we don’t handle it right.
“Mr. Morris suggested that we take an aggressive approach if Stewart makes good on his threat. He reasoned that the longer it drags on, the more entrenched the NCAA will likely become, and National Signing Day isn’t far off.”
“I’ll do whatever they need me to. If we need to go to Indianapolis, then so be it. I have faith that the NCAA isn’t out to get me. It’s just Stewart trying to advance his career at my expense,” I reasoned.
“Mr. Morris agreed. He said that when he worked there, the NCAA was careful to be evenhanded. They have to be seen as being well-reasoned in their approach to enforcement. Otherwise, they risk someone coming in and making them follow the rules all other organizations have to. They’ve spent a lot of influence and money to get themselves exempt from many of the antitrust laws,” Dad shared.
I hoped that my dad and I were right, and the NCAA would be reasonable.
“There’s something else I need to talk to you about,” Dad said. “Since my scare, your mom and I have had some talks about what we want to do. Almost dying makes you reevaluate things. I know your mom had a similar experience when she beat cancer, and you said that you did after the avalanche.”
“Are we moving to Cincinnati so I can be near my girlfriend?” I asked, acting excited.
“I understand my mom asked if she could move into your house in Malibu,” Dad stated, ignoring me.
“Yep. It’s not every day your grandmother asks to move in with you, but I figure we’ll have plenty of room. She’ll take one of the apartments over the giant garage.”
