Senior Year Box Set

The rain seemed to settle in for the night. Brook gave me a quick kiss and raced to her car. I stepped in the back door of the house to find Duke and Bandit waiting for me.

“You owe me,” I heard Dad say from the kitchen.

I walked in to find him eating cookies and drinking milk and decided to join him.

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Your mom. I told her to leave you two alone. She thinks Brook might actually be the one.”

“I’m not sure about that, but I do like her,” I admitted.

“I can tell. You two seem to fit,” Dad observed.

“What did you think about this weekend?” I asked to change the subject.

“I saw a football program that’s trying to regain its glory, and I expect you would have a huge career there. But I don’t know if they’ll win a national championship anytime soon.”

“If that were my only criteria, I would probably pick Alabama, Clemson, or Ohio State. I’m not sure if winning it all holds the same appeal it did.”

Dad looked at me, curiously.

“I almost killed him,” I said, referring to Mr. Rios.

“He’s going to be okay.”

“Can we just make this go away? I really don’t want to see him in jail.”

“Are you sure?” Dad asked.

“Yeah. I don’t want to see their family have to go through that again. He just wanted to scare me, and I think it all got out of hand.”

“I can tell you’re reevaluating. Do you need to talk about it?” Dad asked.

“It’s the same old story. I worry that I’m missing out on high school and the chance to just be a slacker.”

“Your mom and I worry about that, too. In retrospect, your summer with your uncle was both a curse and a blessing. It seemed to help focus you, and since then, you’ve done things people only dream of. On the other hand, you missed out on just hanging out with your friends.

“Your decision not to go to the dojo four times a week is probably a good one. If I were you, I would try to find even more free time. If college weren’t such a big decision, I would recommend you not spend every weekend on recruiting trips. Wolf is right, even if he was joking. There are parties you’re missing.”

“This coming weekend is the doubleheader, Michigan and Ohio State. Let’s hope things become clearer, and we can decide what we want to do after that. I think we need to make the Clemson and Alabama trips, and I’d like an excuse to go to LA and see Halle. If I were going to cut back, I could see not going to Florida and Stanford,” I said, thinking out loud. “Both Tim and Wolf are worried about getting into Stanford.”

“Take your time and don’t force a decision. It’ll all work out,” Dad said.

He was right. I thought we had a good plan. There really wasn’t a reason to change it yet. I thanked my dad and picked up Bandit. Duke was dancing at the back door, so I let him out. I was happy to see there was a lull in the rain. There was a flash of lightning followed by thunder, and I had to tell Duke to finish his business. I was not inclined to get up at three a.m. to let him out.

We climbed up to my apartment and into bed. Bandit claimed his pillow, and Duke didn’t even hesitate to get on the bed. We both knew that with the thunder, he wasn’t sleeping in his crate. He laid his head on my stomach so he could get an ear rub.

Dad was right. It would work itself out.

◊◊◊ Monday September 19

Cassidy had gotten Paul to show her the video of my fight. She wasn’t happy when I announced that I didn’t want to go to the dojo, but grudgingly accepted my reasoning. She and Brook went instead. I made Paul drive me home and told him I planned to stay in for the rest of the night so that he could take the night off.

Instead, I got the Demon out and drove until I found myself at the Pearson farm. Zoe took one look at me and put me to work, mucking out stalls and putting down new straw as she did other chores. I wondered why I always seemed to get this job or washing horses. Not that I minded, but she brushed, babied, and fed them, while I did the dirty work.

It was exactly what I needed. When we were done, Zoe saddled two of the horses, and we took a ride. She got me talking about how I felt horrible for hurting Mr. Rios. We ended up on my farm, and I took her to the river and found my favorite walnut tree. She listened as I shared everything, and when I finally stopped, she nodded.

“Let’s pray about it,” she suggested.

I bowed my head and prayed for Mr. Rios and asked for forgiveness for my role in hurting him. I felt better after the work, talking to Zoe, and praying. Somehow, she always made me feel better, more grounded after we did this. Sometimes you needed to get back to basics, talk to a friend, and put it in God’s hands.

“Thank you, I needed that,” I admitted.

“I’m just happy you felt comfortable enough to share with me.”

“I hope we can still be friends even if you are seeing Johan, and I’m dating Brook.”

It seemed to surprise her that I knew about her date with Johan.

“I don’t know that ‘seeing’ is the right word. I just went out on one date with him,” Zoe said, pushing back.