Chapter 57

Christmas had been wonderful. The only exceptions were Dave and Coby, who’d been a bit grumpy. They’d actually slept with their dad the last two nights—Coby because he didn’t feel well, and Dave because he missed his mom. But everyone—even the two grumpy ones—had loved their presents.

Things had taken a turn when Peggy had called to talk with her son, and he refused to speak to her. David had quietly explained her son’s concerns, which brought her to tears. He assured Peggy that Dave would be okay, but she might want to have some mommy time with him when they returned.

She’d been unaware that the little ones knew more than their parents realized. Dave saw his siblings spending time with their moms while she was off meeting her fiancé’s family. David knew she wouldn’t be taking Dave with her when they married. That meant this time away was probably for the best to prepare her son for when that happened.

Coby not feeling well meant he clung to his dad. Pam tried to give David a break, but that was met with tears, so David sucked it up.

The real bright spot had been Scarlet’s cousins. They reminded David of Allard Hensley, his former baseball teammate: redneck crazy. The three boys sat on the hood of their pickup truck and drank beer until they were drunk off their asses. Phil took exception to them throwing their beer cans at him. The next thing everyone knew, the three brothers jumped Phil.

Fortunately for Phil, they were too drunk to do much damage. Lucky for them, Phil had no idea what he was doing. They all rolled around in the dirt until Wyatt used the garden hose to spray them all down. David shook his head when Kyle ran into the middle and jumped on Dickie in his best all-star wrestling move.

Thankfully, even drunk, Dickie had enough common sense to play along and acted like Kyle had just killed him. The next thing David knew, all the little ones were horsing around with Scarlet’s cousins. How no one got killed, David had no idea. The only thing that irritated him was that everyone had gotten wet and covered in mud.

That was when Mags called out, “Get David!”

Cassidy would have been impressed with his kung-fu moves, but the band of mud monsters didn’t take long to overwhelm him. Cassidy had taught the little ninjas to work as a team, which was his undoing. That was when the first glass of water was flung—by, of all people, Pam—and the whole party devolved into a water fight.

After dinner, Greg and Joey arrived from Vegas. It took their mom two seconds to figure out they had eloped.

“Gregory Owen Dawson!”

The whole place went quiet because everyone knew that you were about to die when your mom used your middle name.

“David knew and covered for me,” Greg blurted out.

David handed Coby to Pam. The little guy watched wide-eyed as his dad hugged their grandma. David leaned in close and whispered.

“Think about what you’re going to say next, or Greg will never forgive you.”

“I’ll deal with you two later,” Carol whispered back. Then she turned to Joey. “I hope you have pictures.”

Joey did, in fact, have pictures, and she was only too happy to show them to Carol. That led to Carol showing the video of Nate singing in church. Joey was quite impressed with her now-stepson’s ability, and she and Greg both heaped praise on him.

That was when things took a turn for the worse. The Kentucky cousins broke out a little something they called apple pie. It was moonshine and tasted exactly as the name implied. The stuff was sneaky and powerful, so Coby wasn’t the only one with an upset stomach the following morning.

David took a pass on blackbird hunting as he had to get his act together if he planned to fly to the USC versus TCU football game. That didn’t mean his dad and brothers weren’t dragged out of bed at an ungodly hour.

David did some research before the hunt and found that several migratory blackbirds were protected species. He asked to make sure they weren’t hunting any of those. Wyatt made a dismissive noise and walked out, but Scarlet assured David that they were only hunting nuisance birds, which you could kill.

The door to the camp’s dining hall was pushed open, and the screen door banged out against the wall as always since the support rod had failed. David looked up and saw his brothers walk in. It was interesting to see the difference in Phil’s and Greg’s reactions to the hunt.

“It was a massacre. I’ve never shot that many birds in my life,” Phil announced.

Greg took David aside.

“He’s right; it was a massacre. A black swarm of birds descended on the field. There had to be a thousand of them. Wyatt called out, ‘Now!’ and everyone rose and shot as one. There had to be a hundred birds knocked out of the sky. I’ll never unsee that.

“Then one of the dogs brought me a bird that wasn’t quite dead. Dad had to take it from me and snap its neck. I just couldn’t do it,” Greg said.

“Where’s everyone else?”

“They’re at the field, cleaning up the carnage.”

Phil interrupted their conversation.

“Can I ask you something, and you not get mad?”

Greg chuckled at David’s confusion, “Every time someone asks that, you know you should get mad.”

David put his palm out to tell his younger brother to continue.

“How many tickets do you have for the game?”

“Six. Why?” David asked.

“Mags asked if she could go, too.”

“Shiiit,” David drawled.

“Yeah, shit!” Phil said. “She has it bad for you.”

“If I did anything with Scarlet’s cousin ... First, Scarlet would cut my balls off, and second, I hate to think what Mags’ redneck brothers would do to me.”

“So, you’re going to bone her,” Greg said with a straight face.

David made a half-hearted lunge, but Greg ran off, cackling.

“You’re on your own with Mom!” David called out.

Poor Greg stumbled at the thought of that. Phil and David chuckled.

David’s entourage ended up being Phil, Pam, Mags, Dave, and Coby. Fritz had arranged to have Ruth meet them at the airport and drive them to the game.

When they walked into the terminal, Coby got turned around and thought he was lost. Phil leaned down beside him and said, “When you want to find your dad, where should you look?”

Phil used his head to indicate he should look up because his dad was tall. Coby found David and ran to him. Dave was already holding his dad’s hand.

“How about when we’re in a crowd, you either hold my hand or, if I’m not around, you hold Mama Pam’s or Ruth’s?”

“What about Uncle Phil?” Dave asked.

“You know, you’re right; your uncle might get lost. What do you think? Should Mama Pam hold his hand?” David suggested.

Phil was about to make a smartass comment when Pam grabbed his hand. David predicted his brother was a goner if the bewildered look meant anything.

“Now that everyone’s accounted for—” David began.

“What about me?” Mags interrupted.

“Coby, could you help Mags and hold her hand?” David asked.

To this point, Ruth had held her tongue.

“Don’t even think it,” David warned her.

Before the game, there was a VIP kickoff event at the stadium. David had gotten an invitation from Ron Pennington and Gabe Francis. It helped that Ron was dating David’s grandmother.

On the ride over, David had a heart-to-heart with his sons, telling them that he had to do a few things and they should go with Mags, Phil, and Pam. There was a mention of cheesy hotdogs. David wasn’t surprised when Coby felt well enough to maybe try them.

The first person David spotted when he walked in was Governor Blackfarmer. He waited for the governor to get free before approaching him.

“You owe me a meeting on the homeless,” David said with a wide grin as he shook hands.

“I was going to do that, but the homeless situation is complicated, and I have experts working to find a solution.”

“I’m told some folks at UCLA have developed a statistical model that identifies people at risk. They’re working with LA County services to get them assistance so they never become homeless. That looks to be the most cost-effective approach. You might have someone on your staff follow up on that; it could become a state-wide program,” David said.

“I’ll have someone look into that. What you could help me with is fundraising. Solving an issue of this magnitude will mean I need to be in office again to get it done. Support me, and we can do great things together,” the governor said.

David didn’t miss a beat. “That would be great. Have your people call mine, and we’ll see what we can set up.”

The governor gave David a calculated look and walked away. He knew the governor was never calling. David shrugged it off as an encounter with a typical politician. He’d offered to help, but he never got the initial call. It wasn’t surprising that he would get the brush-off in person. Someday, the homeless problem would grow to the point that something must be done. But at what cost?

He was at the football game not to joust with the state’s governor but to support his teammates. He needed to focus on the upcoming game.

Before he could do that, his grandmother hugged him from behind.

“Merry belated Christmas,” Grandma Dawson said.

“Same to you. Did you and Ron have a good day?”

“We did. Jennifer and her family came over, which made his day,” she said and then looked around. “I hear a rumor that you brought great-grandbabies with you.”

David pointed.

“Phil and Pam have Coby and Dave. The rest remained in Alabama to get to know their cousins.”

She left him standing there when Ron walked up and shook David’s hand.

“I can see I’m no longer her favorite,” David quipped.

“I’m not sure about that.”

David and Ron caught up. The merger with Morgan Fletcher had been completed, and everyone seemed pleased. Ron had made a substantial payment toward his buyout of David’s interest in the company when the deal closed. Rob had complained that David needed to get out of California because the state income taxes were among the highest in the country.

It didn’t take long for Ron and David to attract attention, and Gabe Francis soon joined them. Drew Langford, USC’s athletic director, and Bo Harrington were with him.

The five of them were catching up when Tracy Dole strolled up.

“Gentlemen. I was hoping I could get sideline interviews during the game.”

“I think you should talk to the front men and leave Gabe and me out of this,” Ron said.

“There’s a rumor that you’re funding some innovative recovery equipment for the athletic department,” Tracy pressed.

“We don’t want to steal Bo’s thunder. I believe he planned to unveil that at the beginning of the semester,” Gabe said.

“What are you talking about?” David asked. It was apparent he was the only one not in the know.