Chapter 47

Tuesday, June 12

I got home well before 5 o’clock and jumped in the shower to remove any traces of my afternoon’s activities with Keri. While I’d definitely been ready for more, I wasn’t in severe pain or anything from not having had my own orgasm. With the run I’d had in recent days, I could handle one instance of frustration. Besides, I still had to visit Arlene tonight.

Once showered, I redressed in workout clothes for tonight’s weightlifting session, then headed for the kitchen to see about possibilities for dinner. After looking through the fridge and the freezer, I pulled out a couple of frozen pizzas and cranked up the oven. While waiting for it to heat up, I brewed up some tea and tore off some parchment paper to use on the baking sheets. I set the pizzas to baking about 5:30. They’d be ready by 6, just about right for Mom’s and Dad’s usual arrival time.

While waiting, I grabbed my tablet and checked my email. Eddie Galvan wanted to know if anything was scheduled for this week and I had 17 offers to make my dick bigger. I replied to Eddie that we were supposed to meet at the teen lounge at the club about 7 p.m. Wednesday. He could have dinner before he came or we could eat there. The only issue was meeting the dress code — Bermuda shorts were fine, but no cutoffs.

Mom and Kacie came in while the pizzas were still cooking. My sister just looked at me like I’d achieved some remarkable feat and headed to her room. Mom dropped a folder on the dining table before going to change out of her work clothes. Dad came in before Mom or Kacie returned and just stared at me.

“What?”

“Damn it, sons are supposed to be in awe of their fathers, not the other way around,” he said before heading into the master suite to join Mom.

I had no fucking clue what that was supposed to mean.

The oven dinged and I set the pizzas on the cooktop to cool, then started filling glasses with ice and got some plates out of the cabinet. I was in the process of cutting the pizzas into quarters when everyone returned.

Mom flipped through her folder as she ate. Dad and Kacie acted as if looking at me was like staring into the noonday sun. Like I was too bright for them to take directly. I couldn’t think of a damn thing I’d done (that they should know about, anyway) that would provoke such a reaction.

Mom swallowed her bite and finally addressed the issue.

“You know that I spoke with Arlene Jenson and her friend this afternoon,” she said. Statement, not question.

“Yes, ma’am,” I answered anyway.

“They made a very interesting offer,” Mom said. “One that could earn you enough to pay for college.”

“And?”

“Ms. Fairchild already has an assignment for you for next week if you want to do it,” she said.

“I’m listening.”

“It’ll pay well for a couple of days of work.”

“Go on.”

“It’s a national campaign,” she said. “For Speedo swimsuits. In California. I advise you to take it.”

I joined Dad and Kacie in staring open-mouthed at the last statement. I said the first thing that popped into my head.

“What about my job at the club?”

Mom gave me the Mom look.

“You’ll make more from this one assignment than you will in an entire week at the pool,” she said. “Maybe two. I would like to see you continue there just because I know it will keep you out of trouble during the days, but I think you should pursue this. We’ll adjust your duties and hours at the club accordingly.”

Then she calmly took another bite.

“Ms. Fairchild has already had her office send a boilerplate contract to Bill Richards,” Mom said. “We’re supposed to meet with him Thursday afternoon regarding the Jenson settlement. We’ll just add this to the agenda. Bill will love having more billable hours.

“We’ve also set up a meeting with Dave Harris to discuss what to do with all the money you suddenly have coming in. Depending on how many assignments you take, you could wind up with more income this month and next than your father.”

Dad and I both choked at that one. Even with all the tricks Mom could employ to lessen his tax load, I knew Dad pulled in low to mid six figures for a year. The housing market would have to totally collapse to keep him from doing so.

I realize Dad’s salary was incredibly low for one in his position. Others in the development game easily pulled down millions each year. Dad could have, too, if he’d wanted to play that way. His view was that after the bills were paid and a little put aside for a rainy day, the rest was excess. He put much of what he could have claimed in salary back into the company, which actually owned most of what we had.

Among Mom’s accounting tricks were having the house, cars and country club membership in the company’s name. Another was having me and Kacie on the payroll, which allowed other writeoffs I really didn’t understand.

A look at my phone showed it was after 6:30. I’d have to bust it to make it to the gym on time. I scarfed down the rest of my pizza and hit the door before I received any more life-changing news.

I made it to the Activity Center at 6:52. Jed would just have to live with it.

I headed into the gym to receive another shock. Jed was helping Keri Pipkin on the bench press. She was lifting almost as much as I did. And she was wearing her hair loose. And had a touch of makeup. I think this may have been a sign of the Apocalypse.

“Dude!” my friend called out as I walked in. “Why don’t you work with Fabrice and Jeremy tonight? I’m helping Keri and Erin. That’ll keep us in groups of three. The group that’s not lifting can do crunches on that bench at the end.”

I never even noticed Erin Bennett, who was hidden behind Jed’s bulk. If Erin was here, I wondered if that meant her...

“Superhero!” Coach Bennett boomed out as a meaty paw clamped down on my shoulder. “I hear you asked my baby girl out on a date! Walk with me, son.”

Coach Bennett escorted me out into the hall. I noticed several women still hanging around, but their attention seemed to be on Darius and Jerome doing curls.

“You know I’ve got to scare the shit out of any boy who asks my baby girl for a date, doncha?” he said, dragging me around a corner.

“I’d say you’re doing a good job of it, sir,” I said, trying not to sound too nervous.

“Good,” he said, looking to make sure we were relatively alone and easing his grip. “I really want to say thank you. Her mother’s been a little worried about how ‘close’ she and Keri have been lately. Now, I know what they’ve been up to and why, and I fully understand their reasoning. You might even say that, as a father of a teenage girl, I appreciate it.

“But now Keri’s set her sights on my starting center and I’m afraid Erin may feel left out. And don’t even think of suggesting my baby girl take up with another one of my offensive linemen. I don’t need that kind of drama in my house, especially not during football season.”

“I understand, sir,” I said. “But I have to explain some things first.”

I told him how I’d been dating Morgan pretty much since school let out, but that with her spate of summer programs taking up four of the next five weeks, she’d entrusted me to the care of her friends in her absence.

“When I asked out your daughter,” I said, “I asked five other girls out at the same time and told them to work out a schedule. I’m supposed to take Morgan out this weekend, then Bethany Metzger on Monday. It looks like Keri has withdrawn her candidacy to pursue Jed, but I’m still waiting to hear from the other girls, including Erin.”

Coach Bennett just looked at me like he didn’t know what to believe.

“Goddamn,” he said. “You really are a fuckin’ superhero if you can pull off that shit. Excuse my language.”

My conversation with Coach Bennett put me a little behind schedule. I had to race to catch up in my workout with Fabrice and Jeremy, doing two sets at every station my first time through.