Junior Year Box Set

I felt an inner fury I had never realized myself capable of. I felt sad when I realized Cal had pushed me to this point. This was a different kind of mad from what I experienced when I found Alan and Tami in bed together. That had been intense, but I had pushed past it. This was different; it reminded me of what I felt for Bill Rogers and what he had done to Tracy. I would never forgive him for his actions, but the difference was Bill hadn’t done them to me. Cal had attacked me directly. I felt the full brunt of his actions and doubted I would ever forgive him.

As I headed home, I realized I needed to get my emotions under control if I planned to be effective in today’s meeting. I needed to keep my wits about me and not let my feelings rule my decisions today. In the big scheme of things, Cal didn’t really mean all that much to me. The person who would be in my life was Pam, and frankly, I wasn’t sure how I felt about her right now. It would take us some time to repair the damage that had been done. I just hoped that she hadn’t been an active participant in all of this.

◊◊◊

I went to Rachel’s cross-country meet at State. They held it at the University Golf Course. As I walked through the crowd, it was funny to see twelve- and thirteen-year-old girls react to me. For the most part, they were giggling messes. A few gave me looks that made me nervous. I was glad when I found Rachel, and she was all smiles.

“You made it!”

“I told you I’d be here. Are you ready?” I asked.

“I was about to stretch. Can you help me?” she asked.

I smiled inwardly because I could imagine what the other girls would think. I simply nodded and helped her get ready. Rachel seemed to be nervous, and it was getting to her. This was her first really important meet, and she wanted to do well. I quietly talked to her about running her race, and not being caught up in anyone that took off at too fast a pace. I explained the necessity to avoid the bunch-up at the beginning. I had learned all this from talking to Peggy. She had told me that elbows tended to fly and people got tripped up in the chaos of the start.

Rachel’s coach came over and gave her almost the same advice. She must have taken our advice to heart because at the start she avoided most of the trouble. Two girls took nasty spills when someone stepped on their heels as everyone bunched up.

Rachel had a naturally long stride that ate up a lot of ground. For her age, she was fast. She had settled into a comfortable pace, but I could see it wasn’t fast enough. The race wound around the golf course, so I took a shortcut and caught Rachel at about the one-mile mark.

“Speed up!” I called out.

Rachel looked up in surprise and smiled. She picked up her pace and started to get out of her comfort zone. I ran along the edge of the course beside her.

“Don’t overdo it, but concentrate on your speed,” I said, and she nodded.

I let her go and then headed to the finish line to wait for her. Rachel ran a heck of a race and finished eighth. She had knocked twelve seconds off her personal best. I gave her a hug and then had to go. I had a one o’clock meeting that I dreaded.

◊◊◊

When I came home, I made a quick salad for lunch, and then Mom, Dad, and I drove to the meeting at Mr. Fox’s office. He had an office in one of those places where you shared office space with other people. Mom’s real estate company had started to utilize the concept. It was actually a smart business model. You only rented an office when you needed it. It had everything you wanted as far as furniture, Internet, printers, scanners, and copiers. It also came with a receptionist and conference rooms that rented by the hour.

Mom could run her real estate business with her laptop and cell phone. The only time she really needed an office was when she met clients. There were a few of these offices throughout the county so Mom could use one near where she planned to show homes.

Since it was Saturday, there wasn’t a receptionist. That forced Mr. Fox to wait out front for us. It pretty well ruined his cool, big-shot lawyer image. We found Ms. Dixon waiting for us. She gave me a tight smile.

“Remember to keep your cool,” she warned us.

Tom, Kendal, Don, and Roy joined us. I looked at Ms. Dixon, and she just shook her head at me. I got the message to keep my mouth shut. We hadn’t invited them. I think they were worried and wanted to play mediator to make sure this didn’t get out of hand.