More Than 44

  NINE

  Dave spent a lot of time that summer with his family. He even decided to play in a league with his old teammates. Tony had volunteered to coach Sarah’s team for the summer, and there was no doubt that Walter Abrahams would be coaching Dave’s team.

  The success of both teams had generated enough interest that the rosters were now filled with 12 capable players, which was quite a high number for a summer league. All of the leagues took place at Veterans Memorial Park and had the group nearly living there Monday through Thursday.

  Walter Abraham had coached Dave and the boys since they were ten, so they naturally called him either coach, or Mr. A. Dave spent most of his formative years by his dad’s side, whether they were on a basketball court, a baseball diamond, watching TV, or being a barbeque assistant. Although Dave had come to idolize players from professional sports teams, his dad always remained his hero – the guy that everyone looked up to – the person he wanted to be when he grew up.

  Dave often felt raw from Walter’s harsh and direct criticism, but knew that there was no disputing the extremely favorable results. The transition from player to coach was difficult at times for Dave. He was used to imposing his will on the outcome of the game by making the big shots when needed. As a coach, he had a more helpless feeling and wasn’t sure what to do with all of that leftover energy.

  “Put it into your preparation,” his dad said one afternoon at a July 4th barbeque.

  “What do you mean? Are you saying that I don’t prepare adequately?” Dave questioned.

  “No, stop being so defensive. You have to focus all of your energy on the practice and preparation, not the games.”

  “It’s not natural.”

  Walter nodded, “I know. On game day you’re there to motivate and make adjustments, not become too emotionally involved.”

  Dave chewed on that last point for some time. “Not emotionally involved? How is that possible?” he thought as he devoured a hot dog fresh off the grill. His parents’ backyard was filled with family and friends, yet something was missing. Sarah was missing. Dave felt helpless to detach himself from the situation, because his life was all about “emotional involvement” no matter what his dad theorized.

  Preparation was an ingredient that was sorely lacking in Dave’s classroom management. Teaching, in fact, was all about preparation – preparation of writing, reading, and visual materials; and preparation of state standards, lesson plans and grade books; preparation of grading tests and papers.

  The high school life was so much different than corporate life. Once you reach a level of competency in corporate America, the subsequent learning curve tends to flatten out. With teaching, the learning curve eventually flattens, but the level of preparation never seems to dissipate. So, Dave’s life was changing from purely reactionary to one of constant preparation.

  “I wasn’t prepared for that,” Sarah said to another female coach named Lindsay Price one evening while they watched a game at camp.

  “Well, there’s really only one question that needs to be answered,” Lindsay, a perky ex-point guard asked. She extended her arms and asked, “Who is Haley?”

  That name had been ingrained in Sarah’s brain since Dave mumbled the name in his half-awake state. She and Dave had talked about many things in the months leading up to the encounter, but the name Haley had never come up.

  Tony D’s phone vibrated in his shorts and he reluctantly decided to take the call.

  “He whispered, “Hello.”

  “Tony?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. Who is this?”

  “It’s Sarah. Can you talk?”

  “Not really. I’m in a movie theater and the lights are dimming.”

  “Who is Haley?” she asked.

  “Haley?” he thought for a moment before a sharp elbow collided with his ribs. “Let me call you back later.”

  Tony closed his phone and slipped it back into his pocket.

  Bianca Maglia leaned over and sternly whispered, “Who is Haley?”

  It seemed that everyone wanted to know who Haley was – well, everyone except Dave. He already knew who is ex-fiancée was. In his mind, she was a calculated, cold-blooded, assassin on a strict life schedule.

  His assessment proved to be true to the bone, as Haley and Jim Morton were engaged even before Dave coached his first game. She and her mother had planned and reserved The Chelsea Pier for a June wedding with Dave, but Haley went on as scheduled and married Jim on Friday, June 22nd, which was coincidentally the last day of school. She had a baby exactly nine months later.

  Tony D’s plans of kissing Bianca Magglia on their second date had as much of a chance of succeeding as Shaq jockeying in the Kentucky Derby. He tried to hold her hand during the movie, but she dug her nails into his skin until it drew blood. She was fuming about a girl named Haley calling her man right in front of her. Tony had slept with many girls in his life, but none had ruled with an iron first reminiscent of his mother in her prime. Getting the grip of death might have been a bit much, but he was happy to take a hit for his roommate.

  Bianca was silent until she and Tony got in his truck.

  “Who the fuck is Haley?” she yelled after he closed his door. “And if you lie to me, I’m going to cut your balls off!”

  Tony was usually a mild-mannered Adonis, but he quickly drove to the vacant end of the parking lot and got out of the car saying, “I really like you but you are crazy lady!”

  Bianca got out of the car, slammed the door and stomped to the front of the car where Tony was standing.

  “Haley is my friend Dave’s ex-fiancée!”

  “Why was she calling you?”

  Tony shook his head in disgust, “She wasn’t calling me. Sarah was calling me!” Tony explained and then muttered, “Oh, shit.”

  “Wait! Before you draw blood or cut something off my body, let me explain,” Tony pleaded.

  He then went through a five-minute explanation of the soap opera-like details until he could see the smoke clear. Tony lifted Bianca onto the hood of his car and the two met in a wild, passionate, ten-minute kissing and groping session.

  “She said, “Did you say that you like me?”

  Tony nodded and replied, “What’s not to like?”

  She growled and said, “You are my Tony the Tiger!”

  He kissed her neck and she let out a jeans-expanding moan.

  “It’s ggrreeat!” he said as he lifted her off the car and carried her back to the car.

  The next day Tony realized he hadn’t called Sarah back, so he sent her a brief text message.

  SARAH,

  HALEY IS DAVE’S EX-FIANCEE.

  HE BROKE IT OFF JUST BEFORE HE TOOK THE JOB.

  DOLPHIN PRIDE,

  TONY

  Sarah was busy all morning, but stopped at lunch to check her phone. She found a quiet, shady spot under a tree and flipped open her phone. “Message from Tony D” flashed across the screen. She read the message and became even more confused than before.

  “He was engaged?” she said out loud.

  She closed her phone and hustled up the hill to join her friend Lindsay in the lunch room.

  “He was engaged,” was the first thing she said as she set her tray on the long table.

  “He was engaged?” Lindsay surprisingly repeated.

  “That’s what I said!” Sarah exclaimed.

  “Didn’t you two ever talk about his past?”

  Sarah rolled her eyes, “We’ve been pretty swamped getting used to the whole school thing. Just then, it hit Sarah that Dave had told her about Haley, in so many words. She thought back to one of their first conversations and how their lives had changed so drastically.

  “This is a lot different than the city,” Sarah commented.

  “No doubt,” Dave replied.

  “My roommate was a little pissed that I decided to cut out early on the lease.” She went fishing, “Did you have a roommate, or did you l
ive alone?”

  Dave sat back in his chair in the coach’s locker room and replied, “Yeah, that’s a long story.”

  Sarah quipped, “What were you married, or something?”

  Dave rolled his eyes, “Almost.”

  The conversation then was put on hold by a slew of other coaches streaming through the locker room.

  Back to the present, “He did say he was almost married before he left Manhattan.”

  “But you never got any further in the conversation?” Lindsay asked.

  “No. Not until we woke up in bed together that morning.’

  It was funny how Lindsay and Sarah had become fast friends. They had competed against each other when they were in high school and now as coaches. Porter Bridge High School was 10 minutes by car from Bailey Woods but always had fine sports teams with winning records.

  Lindsay was definitely under a different kind of pressure than her friend, Sarah. Thankfully, the two schools were not in the same sports division – Bailey Woods in Class 1-A and Porter Bridge in Class 1-B, because of its smaller relative population – so this kept the friends from becoming too competitive.

  Sarah felt badly about the way she treated Dave. She might have been frustrated, but he definitely bore the brunt of her anger she was feeling toward her cheating boyfriend. It was obvious that Dave was a monogamous, one woman only, kind of guy. She thought about writing him a letter, but had no patience for gathering up paper, envelope and stamp. So, she constructed the following e-mail.

  Dave,

  Hi! It’s me, Sarah. Hope your summer is going well.

  Sarah

  It wasn’t exactly the leap of faith but she was able to hopefully re-open the lines of communication. Dave was pleasantly surprised to hear from Sarah, and e-mailed her right back.

  Sarah,

  It was great hearing from you!

  I wanted to formally apologize for that

  Night we slept together in my bed. The

  Sleeping part was fine… anyway – you asked

  Who Haley was, but I never got a chance to

  explain. You see, you’re not the only one

  that felt betrayed by a person you loved.

  Haley and I were engaged, but I’m not

  really sure why I even proposed to her in the first

  place. Once I heard about the open coaching

  and teaching positions, I also found out that Haley

  had been sleeping with my buddy at work

  (because she obviously wasn’t sleeping with me).

  I moved out the next day and came back home.

  Only a few weeks left in the summer. I have been

  Looking after your team and they are primed for

  a playoff run! You did a great job with them this

  year – we are all so proud of you!

  See you soon,

  Dave

  Sarah and Lindsay poured over the computer screen in a small, hot camp office.

  “Wow! He really let loose and poured his heart out,” Lindsay said. “It usually takes guys the better part of their lives to get that many expressive words out. What does this guy look like?”

  Sarah looked at her new friend like she had two grotesque heads. “You never heard of Dave Abrahams?”

  Lindsay scanned her mental database and replied, “Like ten years ago. Big guy, championship. That guy?”

  “Yeah, that’s him,” Sarah said as she pointed at a picture of him on the school’s web site.

  “He still looks good,” Lindsay said in a man-eating kind of tone.

  Sarah gave her a “Back off!” look and the Lindsay said, “I’m just saying…” You better rap that up before someone else steals your thunder. And I’m not talking about me here.”

  Back home, Dave was having similar feelings about Sarah. He never openly talked about it but he had become very lonely over the course of the school year. There was a fine line between being respected and sleeping with half of the free world. Most of the girls that he met at bars were just that, girls. Being barely legal to drink was a far stretch from being a woman. He definitely wanted to be with a woman, not a girl.