Chapter 29

David had spent the previous evening with his kids. At about one-thirty in the morning, he was awakened by a call from the hospital, telling him that Lisa had lost her battle with cancer. He was sad, but the news was expected, so he was able to get back to sleep.

Once he woke up, he dressed, went to the house, and had a quiet word with his mom, who insisted on going with him to see the Turners. When he walked out to his mom’s car, he saw Duke was riding shotgun, so he got into the back. His buddy gave up his coveted seat to join David in the back to say hello.

“Did you talk Mom into a car ride?” David asked as he rubbed Duke’s chest and ears.

“I thought Sadie might need a distraction,” Carol said as she pulled out of the driveway. “How are you doing?”

“Sad, but the hospital staff warned me this was likely. Lisa fell asleep the last time I took Sadie to see her. She was worn out from the fight.”

“Losing one is the worst part of volunteering. But the best feeling in the world is when they get to go home,” Carol said, then asked, “Do you plan to continue?”

David shook his head ‘no.’

“Not right now.”

They were quiet until they reached the Turner home. When they knocked on the door, Sadie answered. She saw it was David, burst into tears, and rushed into his arms. Poor Duke hated to see anyone sad, so he nudged her with his nose, but Sadie needed a good cry.

While his mom talked to Janis, David sat on the couch so he could put his arm around his friend.

“They said my sister died in her sleep. I’m ... I’m afraid to sleep now,” Sadie whimpered.

Until that moment, he thought he had it all together. Seeing Sadie in so much pain broke his heart, and he could see she was exhausted.

“It’s okay. I’m here now.”

Sadie laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes. A moment later, she fell asleep.

A few minutes later, both moms found them.

“She’s exhausted from worrying about Lisa and apparently hasn’t slept much. Now she’s afraid to. She told me Lisa passed in her sleep,” David explained.

Carol put her arm around Janis, Sadie’s mom. “It’ll be okay. Kids sometimes think silly things at times like this. She just needs some sleep, and she’ll be fine.”

Janis showed David where Sadie’s bedroom was. He carried her in and put her into bed. Duke slipped up on the bed next to her and lay down. Once David was sure Sadie was really asleep, he returned to the living room, where he found his mom alone.

“Janis had to go to the hospital and needs to make arrangements, so I said I’d stay and watch Sadie.”

“Duke is in with her. I don’t think he plans to leave her side anytime soon.”

“That’s why I brought him,” Carol said.

David had to leave. He decided to walk so he could have some time to himself.

With all the morning’s events, David had forgotten he had an appointment with Dr. Carter, his academic advisor. Fortunately, his calendar app warned him an hour before they were to meet. He thought about begging off, but Dr. Carter had been working on his plan to get his MBA sooner rather than later, and that wasn’t something he wanted to postpone.

He found her office door open, so he knocked on the doorframe to get her attention.

“David. Come in,” Dr. Carter greeted him. “Please give me a moment while I wrap this up.”

It was apparent that she’d been intent on something on her computer, and he’d broken her concentration. It gave him a chance to look around. The room was clean and precise, with a look similar to that of a museum gallery. On the walls were the expected diplomas meant to provide third-party validation that she knew what she was doing. Everything felt staged to give her credibility.

David closed the door and took his seat.

“Tell me again what you want,” Dr. Carter said, seemingly to gather her thoughts.

“I’d like to get my MBA as soon as possible.”

“Why is that?”

“It will give me options. I can get a doctorate, take the LSATs and get a law degree, or move on to the NFL,” David said.

She opened a drawer and pulled his file out, then opened another drawer for her reading glasses so she could quickly review his information. The good doctor seemed to like everything in its place, giving him a glimpse into her personality.

David knew his academic aspirations didn’t fit her preconceived notion of an athlete. He worried she might be unable to think outside the box she tried to put everyone into.

“Normally, I would advise against such an aggressive approach because of the time you spend with baseball and football.”

“I plan to drop baseball this spring to focus on football, if that helps.”

As soon as he said the words, David kicked himself for not talking to Coach Deneau about that. He added it to his to-do list.

Dr. Carter’s eyebrows came together, and she sighed. He knew she would become his ally or obstacle in the next moment.

“You might be the exception to the rule because I see you’re a straight ‘A’ student who has proven you can handle the load and play ball. I took the liberty of putting together a schedule for you for the next few years.

“The courses with asterisks are electives you can swap out and drop another in. I just wanted to put this together to see how we could manage it,” Dr. Carter said, handing David a sheet of paper.

It showed he was academically a sophomore when he stepped onto campus, thanks to all the AP classes he’d taken in high school. David hated to admit it, but his mom’s changing his schedule back then was now paying off.

Last spring and summer gave him enough credits that he was now a junior, academically. This coming summer would start his senior year, and the following spring, he would begin his MBA. Dr. Carter had created a plan that would allow him to get his MBA in three semesters. She was definitely on Team David.

“If you plan to become a lawyer, you’ll need to take the LSAT at the start of your MBA or during that summer. I suggest spring because you’ll want plenty of time to apply to law school,” Dr. Carter advised.

If he went the NFL route, he could quit school and use the spring to prepare for the draft. This plan gave him a lot of options.

“Can I decide on the electives later?” David asked.

“Yes, that’s why they call them electives,” Dr. Carter said, surprising him with her sarcastic humor.

From her reaction, he amused her. David rolled his eyes because he realized he’d said something stupid.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you,” Dr. Carter said.

Her look said she didn’t mean it, which made him like her more.

“No, that was on me, and I deserved it.”

“We can also pull back if it all becomes too much. Just come see me, and we can rework your schedule as needed.”

“I like the flexibility, and this gives me options until I figure out what I want to do when I grow up,” David said with a half-smirk.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ to the aggressive schedule,” Dr. Carter said to get them back to business.

“And the electives are fine for now. So, just plan on registering me for these classes,” David said.

One of the benefits of using Dr. Carter and her staff was that they could use the clout of the athletic department to get him preferential placement in classes that filled up quickly. That became important when he needed to take prerequisite classes for one down the road. If the required class filled up, it could cause a domino effect, forcing him to take an additional semester.

David didn’t feel at all guilty about getting that help; it was the least USC could do to ‘compensate’ him for making them millions of dollars in football revenue. When NIL became a reality, and he could earn an income playing college ball, he might feel differently.

David had to run to catch Coach Deneau in his office. He’d been procrastinating about telling the coach his plans to drop baseball, but it needed to be done. He found the coach in, and they had a long discussion about it. Coach Deneau wasn’t happy, but in the end, understood David’s decision. The coach wished him well and said the door would always be open if he should change his mind.

Because Bec was filming this week and the main storyline was about the relationship David’s character had with his three women, he had to film daily. So, instead of his after-practice game film session, he had to run to one of the studio rooms to film with Bec and Callie.

Waiting for him was their production assistant, Moira. When he got close, she shoved a stack of papers into his hands.

“There’s been a change to the script.”

“Okay,” David said hesitantly because this looked like a lot of changes.

“Did you know Bec did musical theater?”

“Wut ... what?” David asked as his mind caught up to what that meant.

Then it hit him. “No!”

That was when he saw the camerawoman filming his reaction and realized this was retribution. He looked directly into the lens and said, “Adrienne, you are so dead.”

“I can’t wait until she gets here. She said you’d do it, or the payback will be worse,” Moira revealed.

He had no doubt it would be.

“I can do this,” David decided. “Lead the way.”

“Okay. In this scene, Callie’s character, Nikki, is having difficulty wrapping her mind around Mick’s lifestyle. Mick and Kirsten are talking her down off the ledge, so to speak, and do it with a song,” Abigail said to set the scene.

They were in one of the university’s music rooms, which had a baby grand piano. David had just learned that one of Bec’s hidden talents was she could play it.

Word had gotten out about them singing, and everyone working on the soap was there to witness David’s humiliation. He’d been clued in that the studio wanted someone to film the scene on their phone so the video could be leaked before the episode ran. It was a ploy to boost ratings.

“Places, everyone!” Abigail called out.

Each filming unit let her know they were ready.

“Action!”

“I know my having a wife and a girlfriend is a lot to take in, but we have history. Before I joined the military and had to leave, you were my girl. That means something to me. You mean something to me. If I didn’t try to be with you and do everything I could to make that happen, I could never live with myself,” Mick said intently.

Nikki had been looking down until the end. When she looked up, there was hurt and longing in her eyes.

Kirsten began to play the piano.

They’d picked a song he would never have thought of. It was an old one called Girls Just Want to Have Fun. It had been an upbeat ‘girl’ anthem back in his grandmother’s time. Bec had arranged it to be more somber for the occasion.

The song itself had great lyrics. It begins with a girl coming home late at night and being confronted by her mother, who asks what she plans to do with her life. Mick softly sang with as much emotion as he could that girls just want to have fun.

On the second chorus, Kirsten’s sweet voice joined Mick’s as he sang to Nikki. Mick could see that the song must have struck something deep inside Nikki because her eyes teared up with genuine emotion. He guessed that because this song was a conversation between mother and daughter, her reaction had to do with that.

The mother warns her daughter that she must grow up, while the girl just wants to have fun. The song’s second part has her mother warning her about boys and not letting them overshadow her daughter. Callie looked like she wasn’t playing a role anymore, like she wanted to be anywhere but there. So Mick reached out and caught her hand.

He looked deep into her eyes and smiled as he reminded her that girls just want to have fun. Kirsten joined him again as they finished the song.

At the end, Nikki had a line, but Callie looked too choked up to speak.

“Come here, baby,” Mick said as he took her into his arms. Nikki sobbed into his chest. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”