Chapter 20: Breakup Song Do-Over

Friday July 22

I’d made an appointment to meet with Coach Hope before football camp. I wanted to talk some sense into him concerning Phil, Yuri and Roc and their desire to come with me to Mexico. He’d said he might suspend them for the first game if they missed the first week of fall football practices.

I thought I might bribe him, so I went to Granny’s West and picked up coffee and cinnamon rolls. I knew they always put me in a good mood, so I assumed they would for Coach, too.

“If you have what I think is in that bag ... yes, you can date Cassidy,” Coach Hope said as a greeting.

“Do me a favor and don’t tell her that. I think we’re too good as friends to date,” I said with a smile.

“Now you have me nervous. It must be something big if you’re bringing me food and coffee.”

I handed him his roll and coffee and grabbed mine. They’d added Cuban coffee to the menu, so I had a small one. Sales hadn’t picked up yet, but I figured it was just a matter of time. I had to admit, it was an acquired taste. Personally, I preferred tea, but I loved the jolt the Cuban coffee gave me.

“What’s that?” Coach asked, pointing at my coffee.

“Cuban coffee. It might be too much for you,” I teased.

I opened it and handed it to him.

“Stir in the foam or it’ll about kill you,” I suggested.

They made the foam out of sugar and a little coffee. It helped cut the bitter taste. Coach did as I suggested and tried it. His eyes went wide and he blinked.

“Are you sure that’s not a controlled substance? I have a funny feeling I might regret drinking this.”

“You should see Cassidy after she’s had one.”

He just shook his head and then we got serious about eating our rolls. When we were done, I decided to broach the topic of the threatened suspensions.

“My half brother Phil, Roc and Yuri want to go with me to Mexico to be batboys for Team USA. I know you’re thinking of suspending them, but I wanted to make a case for not doing that, if I can.”

“This should be good. Hang on while I get the rest of the coaching staff in here to listen to this,” Coach Hope said, and he reached for his phone and sent a text.

While we waited, we talked football.

“Trent tells me you helped him out quite a bit over the last few days. Several of the players have said you taught them skills that will help us this fall. Have you ever thought of going into coaching?”

“I try to leave that to the professionals,” I said, playing it off.

“When do you leave for Mexico?”

“Actually, we go to Houston first and then fly to Mexico. I don’t leave for another week.”

“Would you be willing to hold a mini-camp for different positions before you left?” Coach Hope asked.

“As long as I have time to work with Moose and Coach Haskins to keep my baseball skills sharp,” I offered.

Everyone began to arrive, so we agreed to talk about that later. Coach Hope explained why he’d called them in.

“David wants to take Phil, Yuri and Roc with him to Mexico for his baseball tournament. The issue is that they would all miss the first week of two-a-days. David and I talked when he received the invite to play for the Under-18 Team and I agreed that if he made it, he would be excused for missing the week. It’s a great opportunity and he’ll be representing his country, two things I’m in favor of.

“He came to me and explained that the batgirl on his team wouldn’t be available for this next round of play because her brother didn’t make the team. They asked David to see if he could find anyone to fill the role. When he told me who he wanted to ask, I explained that I would have a problem if they missed the week of practice. I told him that I would suspend them for the first game.

“David said he wanted to make a case for not suspending them if they didn’t practice,” Coach Hope said.

“I don’t think you should make an exception, even if it is for David,” Alan said.

“Let’s hear him out,” Moose said to shut Alan down.

Of all the people in the room, he was the last I would have thought would possibly bend a rule.

“Thank you, Mr. Moose.”

So sue me; I’m a teenager. The other coaches made Moose tell them the story of what happened at sign-in.

“ ... and this smartass calls me ‘Mr. Moose.’”

“Everyone else had Coach this or that on their shirts. His just said ‘Moose.’ I just assumed he was mister. I’ve always been told to respect my elders.”

“You’re not helping your case,” Moose warned.

“I guess I’d better get to it. The three teammates that I asked to go to Mexico are Phil, Roc and Yuri. I told them that if they helped out with Team USA, they might be suspended for the first game, but they want to go anyway. I’m hoping that they won’t be suspended if they do.

“First of all, Phil is my half brother and is family,” I said, and was interrupted by Alan.

“I didn’t think you even liked the kid.”

“It turns out he’s a good guy, I just didn’t know him. Something I’ve learned the hard way is I have to pick my friends carefully,” I said, looking Alan in the eyes.

I could tell he was going to be a problem and I wasn’t going to let his passive-aggressive behavior continue.

“Alan, if you have a problem with me, we’ll talk afterward. This doesn’t have anything to do with you, it’s a team matter.”

“You don’t consider me part of the team?” he asked incredulously.

“Like I said, you and I can talk privately. Now is not the time or place.”

“Are you going to let him talk to a coach like that?” Alan asked Coach Hope.

“Oh, dear God! Are you telling on me?” I asked in mock horror.

“David,” Coach Hope warned.

“Fine ... where was I? Phil. Phil joined the rest of the guys in my family on a fishing week, and he and I have gotten to know each other better. We agreed to spend more time with each other so we could build a relationship. I’m hoping this trip will go a long way toward that end.

“The first week of two-a-days is about weeding out who shouldn’t be there, and then we focus on conditioning. During our summer independent drills, these three guys have been learning the new offense and defense, and they’re all well-conditioned at this point. I’m confident they’ll be up to speed when they get back,” I said.

“It’s not the same as working with the team,” Coach Rector said.

“I agree. I know that you and Coach Mason will be much better teachers than I will ever be. I also know that it’s important that we mesh as a team, but this is an unusual circumstance. Having the three of them with me will help me prepare, and in turn, I can help them.”

“You plan to get them ready?” Coach Rector asked.

“Do you have any doubt that I’ll be ready when I get back?” I asked.

They all knew how hard I worked, and that I could quickly get back into the swing of playing at a high level. I’d shown that by going toe-to-toe with three of the best high school quarterbacks this week.

“I have no doubt,” Coach Hope said, coming to my defense. “I’m also sure that if you take on the responsibility for the three players in question, they’ll be ready to play. I just think they would be even better if they attended two-a-days. Let us talk and get back to you.”

“I’m just asking you to consider what’s best for the team. I know I don’t want to go into the Washington game shorthanded. Like I said, they’ve decided on their own to go, knowing the possible consequences. I know that you have rules, and I agree with them most of the time.

“I just think that sometimes you need to step back and look at the big picture. In this case, I think we’d be better off with them than suspended. I don’t need to remind everyone that our goal is to win state again. If Washington beats us, they may end up running the table and we might not even get a chance to defend our title,” I said.

“Then you should remind them of that,” Alan said, while shooting me evil looks.

I just ignored him, but if this didn’t go my way I would let Yuri know. What he did with that information was up to him. I waggled my eyebrows at Alan and grinned. I had happy thoughts of him stuffed headfirst into a garbage can. It felt good to play the Godfather.

By day four of camp, it no longer felt like a competition. Everyone realized that everyone else was damned good, and the goal wasn’t to play ‘I can do that better,’ but instead to help each other actually get better. It did make everything more fun.

Coach Haber made my day.

“Dawson, go play defense.”

Michigan had a player named Jabrill Peppers who played defense, offense and special teams. His focus was on defense and special teams, but he had serious skills, so he was put in for a few plays a game on offense. Every time Bo Harrington or some other recruiter would try to quash my dream of playing every down, I would point to Jabrill. They also moved him all over the field; he managed to play fifteen different positions.

For the coming year, Coach Rector had talked to me about moving to inside linebacker where I would be beside Tim. Yuri moved to the outside, with the other outside linebacker spot going to Kelly. The plan was to switch from a four-man line to three. Our strength was our speed, and since everyone had gotten stronger, Coach Rector felt we could fend off linemen better.

There was one player I wanted to go up against: Damion. Last year he’d been a beast, but was hit-or-miss as far as catching balls. This year he was doing much better. There wasn’t a defensive back in high school that I knew of that could handle him one-on-one. I was glad Wesleyan wasn’t on our schedule, because I wasn’t sure we could keep him out of the end zone.

When Damion lined up to catch a pass, I casually strolled over and gave him a five-yard cushion. It got even better. Mike was playing quarterback. Let the fun and games begin.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Damion asked.

“I got tired of playing quarterback. I thought I’d come over and watch how awesome you are close up,” I said with a big grin.

“I would be more than happy to give you a demonstration.”

I think he thought he could just run by me. He wasn’t a happy camper when I put him on his butt.

“Come on, he can’t do that,” Mike complained.

“Of course he can. He was inside five yards when he engaged Damion,” Coach Haber said, and then turned to me. “Let’s tone it down a couple of notches. We’re just in shorts and t-shirts.”

“You’re an asshole,” Damion muttered so only I could hear.

“Wimp,” I shot back.

From there it was game on. Damion was six-six and weighed 230 pounds. He was fast and to this point had relied solely on his athletic ability. He’d never faced a defensive back that was close to him in size and could run with him.

On the next play, he executed a swim move that got his hips past mine, which was a bad thing. I flipped my hips and ran with him. I heard ‘ball’ and got happy when he used his right elbow to give him some room to catch the ball. I hooked it under my left arm, which in effect forced him to try to catch the ball with one hand. I was ready when he caught the ball. As he brought it down to secure it, I punched it loose.

We were almost equal in speed, with Damion having a slight edge. I was quicker off the mark and could get up to full speed faster because of my speed training. Damion was like Roc in that he had long strides that ate up a lot of ground. The downside of having long strides is that you can’t accelerate as quickly. He could also outjump me. My advantage was I was stronger and had better eye-hand coordination. Lifting and working with Cassidy had helped. Finally, I had much better stamina.

One advantage he had was that he and Mike played together. I’d never said that Mike was a bad quarterback. He was objectively better than all the other area quarterbacks that had signed up for camp. I was just better than he was, and that was what had caused our problems.

When we were done, I had to admit that Damion got the better of me. Mike finally figured out to loft the ball and let Damion go up for it. In my mind, I knew that if I’d had pads on, I could have jarred the ball loose. I just shook my head when Mike acted like he’d just won the Super Bowl.

“That was a lot of fun. I wish I could go against you in practice on a daily basis. I think I see that I need a lot of work if I’m going to make it to the next level,” Damion said.

“Once you get to college you’ll be fine. You just need to get into shape.”

We were both drenched with sweat.

“I was sucking air at the end,” he admitted.

“Hey, see that girl over there?” I asked.

“That’s Coach Hope’s daughter.”

“Yeah, Cassidy. I gave her a bunch of invitations to the grand opening of my restaurant. Go tell her I said to give you some tickets. Invite your teammates.”

“Even Mike?”

“If he can act like a human being for a night, he can come,” I said.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Damion said, and then got serious. “I’ve never really thanked you. I was at the end of my rope when I talked to you in Houston last year. My grades weren’t good enough and I was out of control. I still might have to go the JC route, but at least now I have a shot to play college ball.”

“The key is you decided to turn it around.”

“I consider you a friend. If there is ever anything I can do...” Damion offered.

Cassidy was a brat. I’d put her in charge of handing out invitations for tonight. Tracy called me wanting to know why none of the girls were invited. It got better: Zoe called me, laughing because Cassidy had made her brother take his shirt off and flex for her before she let him have two tickets. She wanted to make sure only cute boys would be there.

The next call I got was from Coach Hope. He told me that all the coaches were invited, except Alan. He wasn’t amused when I laughed, but I told him he had to talk to his daughter.

I went to the club early to help, and Granny promptly sent me to Mary. She put me to work making different salads. I pre-made them, wrapped them individually, put them on big metal serving trays that held eight plates, and then slid the trays into a big rolling cart that held twelve trays. When I’d made 96 salads, she told me she could take it from there.

When I got upstairs, I found Jan wrapping silverware in napkins.

“The talent would like to talk to you,” she said, as she rolled her eyes.

Of course Jan knew Eve Holiday since we’d all gone to school together. Jan was one of the cool kids in middle school and I doubted that she and Eve ever hung out. Eve was too much of a tomboy. The band had set up and had claimed a table next to the bar and closest to the stage.

“David! I want you to meet my band,” Eve said with a big smile.

My guard went up because the last few times I’d seen Eve she hadn’t even acknowledged my presence. This felt like she needed something from me.

I met all her bandmates. I was surprised that they were all in their thirties or early forties, a much different group than I’d met the last time I’d seen her. That group had been in their early twenties. These all seemed like nice guys and gals. They asked if they could invite their families, and I quickly arranged for them to be added to the list. I told them that they might have to sit down by the dance floor because I thought we’d given out all the invitations for the upper-level tables.

After I arranged that, Eve grabbed my hand and took me to the other side of the dance floor so we could have a quiet word together.

“I see you changed bands.”

“Yeah. The old band and I had some issues. They thought that if they couldn’t pick up someone that I should help them out. They were also a bad influence on me, buying me drinks. Angel found out and fired them all. It’s been the best move for my career. These guys are all married and bring their wives with them. There’s never any drama and I’m a lot happier,” she admitted.

I started to ask her if she had another record coming out, but she stopped me.

“I’ve been a terrible friend. When I left here, I never looked back; and when I was last here, I treated you poorly. I was ashamed of the breakup song. My mom told me what you said about being in the video for it and I don’t blame you for not doing it. I recently wrote another song about you that I want to share before I release it,” she said in a rush.

I could tell she was nervous.

“I’d love to hear it,” I said.

She pulled out her phone and played a slow ballad with a strong drum rhythm that sounded like a heartbeat. It talked about walking out and not looking back. That she’d gone to find her fame and fortune. Then she got to the chorus...

What does fame cost?
What does fortune cost?
I’ve been missing you
I may have lost you
It’s my fault, all my fault
I’ve been missing you
I may have lost you
What does it all cost?

“I decided that instead of a breakup song, I needed to do one about lost love. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. It was the main reason I wanted to be the first band to play at your club. I wanted to show you that I know what you did for me, and this was the only way I could think to repay you.”

“Eve, I understood what you were doing when you left. I’ve always only wanted you to have everything you ever dreamed of. I just couldn’t get behind the lie that song represented.”

“Let’s consider this the breakup song do-over,” she suggested.

Jan interrupted us.

“Granny wants you to be up front when people arrive.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” I said, and then turned back to Eve. “Good luck tonight. We’ll talk later.”

I soon found out that Granny had a system for everything. My job was to greet everyone by name if I knew it. If not, I was to ask so that I could use their name in conversation. Downstairs was the staging area where people waited. Jan had a button to push to tell the person manning the front door when to send the next group up. They weren’t sent up until the server met whoever was talking to me and had taken them to their table. That way there was no holdup once they came upstairs.

Granny explained it was part of their strategy to increase the size of tips the servers received and to make people feel special when they came here. She had coached the servers on several techniques to help them make more money.

Something she had our female servers do was to touch customers lightly on the shoulder, hand, or arm. Granny said that customers who female servers touched drank more alcohol than customers they didn’t touch, which increased the size of the check, and thus the size of the tip. Touch, when interpreted properly, produces a feeling of friendliness and, therefore, predisposes customers to tip more generously. She warned that the act of touching could have a negative effect if it was perceived as flirtatious, which in turn could reduce the amount of tips rather than increase them. Granny also warned that female servers should be careful when touching male customers who are in the company of romantically involved females because any touching could produce jealousy.

She also had them introduce themselves to the table and when the server gave them their check, she had them write a personalized thank-you note. Granny gave them the leeway to bring the table an appetizer to share. Tonight’s appetizer giveaway was potato skins. This reminded me of her giving me free cinnamon rolls. I knew for a fact that worked. She also made them repeat the order back before leaving the table. It assured the customer they had it right and that the server cared enough to verify that they’d gotten it right. Finally, she made them aware they needed to provide good service. To that end, Granny limited the number of tables a server had until they showed they could handle more.

My job was easy tonight because I knew almost everyone who we’d invited to our test run. The Michigan coaching staff all came at once.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met a recruit who owned a restaurant,” Coach Haber said.

“I don’t own it on my own. I wouldn’t know the first thing about running a restaurant. I have two partners who actually run the operation. My job is to look good and give them money,” I confessed.

“We’ll have to talk about your time management once you get on campus.”

“I have people that take care of that for me,” I said with a grin.

“I stand corrected. You’ll have to show me what you know.”

The next group up was my high school coaches.

“Where are Cassidy and Brad?” I asked Coach Hope.

“Brad is out with friends and Cassidy’s coming with Brook and her family.”

“She didn’t invite me,” Alan said.

“And yet you’re here.”

“I’m not sure what to do with you two,” Coach Hope admitted.

“You should just let them fight and get it out of their system,” Moose suggested.

I liked his old-school approach.

“Maybe I’ll get Cassidy to be my champion,” Alan said with a smirk.

“Just remember, she didn’t invite you,” I said, which wiped the snarky look off his face.

“I want to see both of you in my office before practice tomorrow,” Coach Hope ordered.

I was glad when it was time to seat them.

Later, Ava, Ian and Brook showed up with Cassidy.

“Welcome, welcome. I’ve taken the liberty of putting you with my parents if that’s okay,” I said.

“That would be perfect. It’s been almost a week since we’ve seen Rob and Carol,” Ava said.

“And you, young lady, let the power of handing out invitations go to your head,” I said to Cassidy.

She just gave me a dismissive look.

“She didn’t even invite me,” Brook complained.

“You’ll just make cow eyes at him all night. I wanted him to myself for once,” Cassidy said, and then blushed.

I don’t think she intended to admit that little fact in front of me. She was saved when their server came and got them.

Tonight turned out to be a lot more fun for me than the last time here because I didn’t have the awards to worry about. Everyone was either a friend or at least someone I knew. Mike even remained civil. Damion must have had a talk with him.

Eve had gotten better on stage. She’d learned how to play to an audience and get them involved in her songs. The band was also more polished. I thought that made up for the now-replaced younger guys who would appeal more to the younger girls. She no longer had to worry that her band might do something that would come back to haunt her later.

Tomorrow would be the test when we opened for real. I walked around and reminded everyone that even though the food was free, they needed to tip their server. I knew some of my high school friends would think the whole night was free and forget.

I came home to find Pam and Tracy eating ice cream with my mom and dad. I got a bowl and joined them.

“That went well tonight,” Dad observed.

“Granny and Mary said there were a couple of hiccups, but nothing that can’t be fixed.”

“Peggy went out, so Pam’s spending the night,” Mom told me.

That explained Pam. She normally spent a few nights a week here to spend time with our son and Little David. It allowed Peggy some freedom and helped her keep her sanity. I honestly didn’t know how some parents did it when they were with their little ones 24/7.

We caught up on our day. I told them about Cassidy and Alan.

“Do you want me to talk to his parents?” Mom asked.

“While that would make my day, I need to talk to him. He’s just acting out in typical Alan fashion.”

I cleaned up everyone’s bowls and put them in the dishwasher. I guess I wasn’t surprised when Tracy followed me up to my apartment.

“I understand that you’ve decided to get a girlfriend,” she announced.

“Who said that?” I asked, to play it off.

“Tami told me, and your mom just confirmed it.”