Senior Year Box Set

“This is turning into a circus,” I moaned.

“Are you serious about Kentucky?” she asked.

“Probably not, but I don’t want to burn any bridges, either.”

“Here’s how I would look at it. Use this one as a practice run. Have whoever you imagine would want to be part of the process come to this one, so they get an idea of how this all works. Then, when you meet with the ones you’re genuinely interested in, just have the key players there.

“Plus, are you crazy? Your recruiting will be a circus whether you want it to be or not,” Brook predicted. “Use this to help manage it.”

Everyone had been badgering me about where I planned to go. I sure hoped Coach Styles had a sense of humor. I suspected that this might be a unique in-home.

“Okay. I can see where this might calm some folks down,” I said, thinking of Tracy in particular. “Are you guys coming to brunch today?”

“Yes. On that note, I’m going back to sleep. Next time you wake me up on a Sunday morning at this time, there had better be a payoff, if you know what I mean.”

“I might have to come up with a new nickname for you. ‘Hotness’ might not be enough to describe you,” I said, dropping down into my sexy voice.

“It was just a thought.”

“I like how you think. We need to figure out how to dump Cassidy and Don. I love her to death, but I want to spend time with you,” I said, referring to our double date last night.

I’d tried to talk Wolf and Tim into taking Cassidy and Don on a double date. They’d both laughed in my face.

“You should get your brother to do it,” Brook suggested.

“I’m sure I could get my mom to babysit,” I said.

“No, ‘stupid boy,’ your other brother. The one who has a girlfriend and no car,” Brook said.

“You’re a genius because that would be perfect,” I said, imagining all the free time Brook and I would now have.

What could we possibly do?

“Okay. I’m done solving all your problems. I’ll see you after you get back from church,” Brook said, and then hung up.

◊◊◊

“You want to have how many people?” Mom asked at brunch.

The list had grown when I’d thought about it at church. I wanted Coach Mason and Coach Hope there. Then all the guys and their parents, plus their girlfriends and their parents. Then my family, including Phil and his parents. Dad had pointed out that Megan and Caryn should be there. The list felt like it might be never-ending.

“You should invite Jeff and his cameraman,” Dad recommended.

He had a point. The streaming video had attracted a lot of viewers. Jeff had done us a solid in the morning paper and followed Coach Mason’s spin. I suspected he planned to show the whole sequence in his documentary.

“Where am I supposed to put everyone?” Mom asked.

“Our House is closed on Monday nights. Let’s have it there,” I suggested.

“It’s a good thing you’re one of the owners. I’m not sure where else you could call and only give a day’s notice,” Ava said.

I could probably call Greg and have him get Monical’s banquet room, but she was right. Having your own restaurant for events like this was convenient.

◊◊◊

After brunch, the girls were going to the mall. Dad and I had a meeting with Caryn and Megan to talk about my businesses. We came in the back and found crates of mail stacked halfway up the wall. I looked closer and saw they were recruiting letters.

“What do you want us to do with all this?” Megan asked as she came back to get a soda.

“You should read it all,” I said, and Dad smacked me on the back of the head.

“Ignore him. We’ll take them to the recycling drop on the way home,” Dad offered.

We followed Megan into the conference room. On the wall were eight-by-tens of Wolf, Tim, and me in full color. In the background, there were black-and-white action shots of each of us from yesterday’s Washington game. There were eleven different photos. Each had us Photoshopped to wear the jersey of each school on our list, plus Kentucky. Each picture had the school’s name and logo, and underneath it had hashtags. For example, Ohio State’s string said: ‘#WhyNotUs #GoBucks.’

“This is cool,” I said.

“We’ll talk about that later,” Caryn said as she sat down.

Caryn linked up the video conferencing, and I soon saw Jack Mass, Frank Ingram, Shannon Goehl, and Kent Crain’s faces all up on the big-screen TV. Something must be up if the brain trust was all present.

Caryn was all business and called the meeting to order. She seemed to be evolving into the role of COO. I remembered when we’d hung out in my trailer on the set for The Secret Circle.

Shannon Goehl, our corporate counsel, was up first. She informed us that we now had all the companies registered with the appropriate government entities. The reason why everyone was on the line became apparent when Kent, the senior manager for Dawson Management, got his turn.

“We’ve been going through Craig’s contacts and talking to them about us being their managers. Kendal signed up six new clients, and I was able to sign four. They’ve also agreed to use IDC – Public Relations and Mass Investments,” Kent announced.