Chapter 19

The morning sun streamed in through the hotel room window, waking Greg early and reminding him that he needed to close the curtains before bed. He blinked several times, trying to clear the sleep from his eyes.

Last night, Uncle John invited him and his brothers to play a round of golf bright and early this morning. David had accepted the news with the enthusiasm of a disobedient child being sent to the corner for a time-out, while Phil took it in stride.

Greg got out of bed and found a note from Joey saying she’d turned his offspring over to their grandmother and went for a run. He took a quick shower and then went down to the lobby, where he found Uncle John and David eating breakfast.

“Crystal seems nice,” Uncle John was saying.

“She’s so out of my league; hell, she doesn’t even play the same sport,” David said, shocking them both.

“I call bullshit,” Greg said.

“Tell me the truth. Before I did all the stuff that made me famous, could you ever see me with someone like her?” David asked.

“That sounds like something we should discuss,” Uncle John said.

David high-fived Greg and said, “Pay up, sucker.”

“What are you talking about?” Uncle John asked.

“Five minutes, thirty-nine seconds,” David said, checking his phone. “Not quite a record, but impressive.”

“We bet on how long it would take before you went into psychologist mode. I said it wouldn’t be until we got onto the golf course.”

“And David said it would be sooner,” Uncle John said, giving them a disappointed look. “You know I only do that to help you boys, right?”

“More like he can’t help himself,” David mock-whispered.

“I call a foul because you baited him. We both know you aren’t feeling insecure about dating Crystal,” Greg said to David and turned to his uncle. “And you fell for it.”

“Don’t be a sore loser. It means you get to go first and get it over with,” David said.

“What’s he talking about?” Uncle John asked.

“I have—I mean, I get to ride in your golf cart first,” Greg said, partially saving himself.

“Just for that, you both have to talk to me about your life goals.”

Greg and David both moaned. If Greg hadn’t been sure David was adopted ... well, they certainly acted and sounded like brothers.

Greg stood at the first tee, taking in the morning. He felt like he was completely surrounded, yet totally alone. He pushed that feeling down as he heard the gurgle of a mourning dove. A dog barked in the distance.

He got a tiny grin on his face as he addressed the ball. Greg had goaded his brothers into putting some money on the round. He swung his club and heard the satisfying crack as his ball traveled down the center of the fairway.

“We’re screwed,” Phil said.

“You’ve been playing with Dad,” David guessed correctly.

“We play a couple of times a week,” Greg admitted.

It was David’s turn.

“Oh, shi-shoot!” he said as his ball hooked into a sand trap.

“Easy money,” Greg goaded his brother.

David glared at him.

“Now you’ve done it. He’s going to kick your butt,” Phil said as he laughed at Greg.

Greg instantly recognized he’d made a mistake. When David got pissed, he would focus and, more often than not, win at whatever they were playing.

Greg was sitting with Uncle John in their golf cart as David hit out of the sand. Greg suppressed a laugh when his brother’s mighty swing caught all sand, spraying it all over himself, and the ball went straight up and landed back in the trap. They were going to be there for a while.

“Remind me of your life goals,” Uncle John said.

“My children come first; be a good example; find what makes me happy; don’t let others define me; and take a deep breath before making a decision,” Greg replied.

“You made those before you divorced Angie,” Uncle John noted. “Since then, you’ve had some significant changes. You began dating Joey, graduated, followed her to Venice Beach for her job at USC, and gave up your business here in Illinois. That’s a lot to take on.

“Why don’t we start with what’s going on with Angie?” Uncle John asked.

“I honestly don’t know. She just dropped off the face of the earth when she figured out that David wasn’t going to pay her to go away.”

“Do you resent her leaving you to raise Kyle, Mac, and Nate?”

“I would never say that,” Greg said.

“Okay, resent might be the wrong word, but you get what I’m asking.”

“Abandoned,” Greg decided was the right word. “There are times I feel overwhelmed and stuck, and I really can’t ask Joey for help because we’re just dating. I also don’t want to go to my parents because they have their hands full with David’s five.”

“How does that make you feel?”

“Like I failed. But the divorce happened. No amount of begging, pleading, bargaining, or praying kept her with me. I feel like my rock, my safe place, my best friend, is now gone,” Greg said as he shook his head, attempting to clear it.

“Do you still love her?” Uncle John asked.

“Even after the hell she put me through, I still do. I mean, I absolutely hate her, too, but she gave me Kyle and Nate, plus we adopted Mac. For that alone, I’ll always be grateful.”

“But do you love her?”

“There are times in a man’s life when he must choose between what he should do and what he wants to do. For me, I had to divorce her ... to set her free, even though I didn’t want to. I look back and try to figure out where it all went wrong and whether it was my fault,” Greg said.

“You end up at the destination you fix your eyes on. Look to the future, and you’ll get there; keep looking at the past, and you’ll find yourself back where you started,” Uncle John said.

“I understand what you’re saying, but I’ve had a hard time keeping it together,” Greg admitted. “You know the feeling—like all the powers in the universe get together and gang up on you, just for a good laugh.”

“But now you’ve moved on and are with Joey.”

“That’s a whole other deal. We moved to Venice Beach, which was right for her career. It’s been a bit jarring. I guess I’m a small-town kind of guy because all the people can feel overwhelming at times. I also can’t believe the prices of stuff. If it weren’t for Joey’s salary, I couldn’t live there,” Greg said.

“But you’re closer to your family.”

“That’s what has kept me from picking up and moving back. I mean, David bought us a house and renovated it for my kids and me.”

“You’ve said a couple of things about Joey that make me think something’s off,” Uncle John said.

“I’ve asked her to marry me, even though I promised myself I never would after the hell Angie put me through. There are just a lot of questions we haven’t really talked about. Does she want another kid or two on top of the three we already have? Could we handle a family that large? Can I continue to support her career while trying to carve out one for myself?”

“Did she say ‘yes’ to your proposal?”

“She said yes, but not right now.”

“When does she think the right time will be?”

“I don’t know, and I’ve been too chicken to ask,” Greg said.

“You know what I’m going to say.”

“Talk to her.”

“But before you do that, you need to figure out what you want to do with your life. Have you thought about what’s next?”

Greg sighed.

“The massage business did okay, but I honestly don’t know that I want to make a career of it. David talked to me about doing something with Cassidy, but that feels like I’d just be getting in deeper.”

“What would you really like to do?” Uncle John asked.

“I’d like to work for one of David’s companies.”

“You know he would find a place for you if you asked.”

“He’s done enough already by loaning me money—which I never paid back—providing our housing, getting Joey her job, and the list goes on. I don’t want to be that relative who always comes to him with hat in hand,” Greg said.

“I could see you eventually helping him run his businesses like your dad and I have done for him. Think about what he did for the two of us. He bailed your family out when your mom got sick. When your dad had heart problems, he made it possible for him to leave his job at the country club.

“For me, he became a partner in my farm, giving it a much-needed cash infusion. And he has helped more than just family. You should sit him down and have a frank discussion. It wouldn’t surprise me if he stepped up and helped you to get your MBA, with a plan that you work for him for a time to ‘pay him back.’ Something David values is the people in his circle of trust. If I know him, he’d be upset with you if you didn’t come to him,” Uncle John said.

They’d finished the front nine, and Greg had a lot to think about. More like he had to decide what he wanted, then man up and go for it.

On the golf front, Greg’s short game had deserted him. While David was all over the rest of the golf course, he was deadly when he got to the green. Greg watched in horror as his brother sank a fifty-foot putt on the fifth hole—one Greg five-putted. But Greg was still up by two strokes.

The surprise was Phil. He was steady and led all of them by three strokes.

Once they’d stopped to grab a coffee and a bear claw, it was Phil’s turn to ride with their uncle.

“Why do Greg and David get weirded out when you talk to them?” Phil asked.

“I think it’s like kids. The first one you’re overprotective of, the second’s too far the other way, and by the third, you finally find the right balance. On top of that, David got himself into a spot of trouble the spring before he entered high school. I had to help him grow up over the summer, or he would have turned out a lot differently.”

“So, what do you want to talk about?”

“Just tell me how everything’s going for you,” Uncle John said.

“Football is good. I’ve started to get more interest from a bunch of schools, but I’ve already verbaled to State. So, I’m torn as to what I should do.”

“I get that you’re trying to be a man of your word and want to play ball with Yuri and Roc. David tried to do that but changed his mind twice, for good reasons, before he ended up at USC.”

“Roc and I are talking to USC this afternoon.”

“What do you think about that?” Uncle John asked.

“I’m torn. When I went to the campus to visit David, I loved it. My first concern is for my mom and stepdad. I asked them to move here so I could get to know my brothers. Moving to LA would help with that because I do miss them with them both gone. But at State, I’d be close enough for my parents to come to all my games.”

“When Rob and I researched colleges, we found that USC has one of the best track records of developing quarterback talent that makes it to the NFL. While there are no guarantees, who was the last State quarterback who made it?” Uncle John asked.

“I get that. A big part of my wanting to go to Lincoln High School was learning from David and eventually becoming an NFL quarterback. But I have some obstacles. First, I’m not tall enough. Then there’s the competition at USC. I would be behind David and Matt Long to start with, and then Colt will slide into the picture.

“I might end up being a career backup if I go there, while there’s a clear path to playing time at State,” Phil said.

“Do you honestly think David would set you up to fail?”

Phil’s first thought was ’Hell, yes, he would,’ but then stopped himself. David would never pull something like that for anything that mattered. He might make a practical joke, but he’d been there when the chips were down. All Phil had to do was think back to when David beat the crap out of Mike Herndon for him while saving Jill, his girlfriend at the time.