Page 24 of Everything's Better With You
Leslie accepted a plate from his mom and went to sit on the back patio to avoid any interference from his brothers. Days after migraines, it was hard enough to focus as it was.
“I have some time this morning, and maybe we can finish up another time if you need more.”
Malcolm was a soft-spoken, serious-looking biracial guy who Leslie often had a hard time reading. Thankfully, one-on-one, he sensed that Malcolm genuinely wanted to work closely with him. “I appreciate that,” Malcolm said with a smile. “This is a cover article, the main spread for the magazine, so yeah, we might need more than a few minutes.”
“Right,” Leslie said. The only reason he’d agreed to do this was thepossibility that the article could help his brother Barry and Greenvale, and he’d worked with Malcolm in the past so he trusted him as much as one could trust the press. “Yeah, well, I’m happy to do what needs doing.”
“Excellent. I’m going to record this, if that’s okay?”
“Sure,” Leslie said. “And I’m going to scarf down my breakfast before I head off to a meeting, if that’s okay.”
Malcolm chuckled. “Absolutely. Can you talk a bit about your decision to leave the network for a college coaching position? And rather than a top-ranked NCAA Division One school like you’ve done previously, you left for your alma mater, Greenvale College, which is in the NAIA?”
Leslie sighed. That had been a shock to everyone but his family. “Look, I love football, and I loved my time at UKC, but everyone who knows me knows that family is everything to me, and the opportunity to work with my brothers and be close to my mom felt like the right thing to do at this point in my life. I love the network and I loved coaching at the university, but Greenvale is a program with great growth potential where I felt I could really make a difference. With my brothers coaching with me, it’s going to be great. We’ll bring our philosophy of the Three I’s to Yellowjackets football.”
“Right. Inclusion, Integrity, and Ingenuity. I’ve heard you mention this before. Care to elaborate?”
“So many of the kids recruited for college teams, especially at the Division One schools, it’s all about stats and who looks most attractive on paper. I want to find those athletes that are great at problem-solving, who come from different backgrounds, and who know how to improvise and support the team rather than try to be a hero. There are three I’s in team as far as I’m concerned.”
“And those strategies paid off for you during your time at UKC. Your standout players there were often never heard of before they played for you. Your coaching brought out the best in them and made a mediocre team on the books into a powerhouse.”
Leslie laughed. “Why, thank you, Malcolm. Maybe you should be writing my CV since I’m rejoining the academic world.”
“Come on, Les. You could take your skills virtually anywhere,including back to the NFL. You’re known as the thinking man’s quarterback. Why hide out in small-town middle America? Did you lose a bet with your brother?”
Les chuckled, but Malcolm’s words stung. He knew people felt that way, but Les made this move for his own well-being and to spend time with his family, especially his mom, and he told Malcolm as much.
“Right, your mother was very sick for some time.”
“Crohn’s Disease is very painful and requires constant monitoring. Agnes Payton isn’t one to sit down and relax. She’s busier than me, so sometimes she needs a nudge to remind her of her age and fragility.”
“Kind of like her son?”
Les froze, although he’d known the question would come up. He’d missed a couple of weeks of the last NFL season due to his migraines. He wasn’t about to lie.
“I wouldn’t call an affliction that millions of Americans live with daily being fragile. Yes, I’m being monitored by doctors, but I’m perfectly fine. Well, as fine as a forty-five-year-old former quarterback in need of a double knee replacement can be.” He tried to laugh it off, but inside he was trembling. Admitting there might be more to his headaches than migraines was a terrifying prospect. He dreaded being compared to his father.
“Of course not. I have to ask, you understand. There will be questions. You coming clean about your TBI could go a long way in forcing the NFL to address the suffering many of your counterparts are experiencing.”
“I’m not doing this article to beat up the sport that’s given me an incredible life, Malcolm.”
Malcolm held up his hands. “Fair enough. Let’s talk more about this dream team of coaches your brother has lined up.”
The smile plastered on Les’s face couldn’t be avoided. He still couldn’t believe Joe was actually here, and that he hadn’t been scared off by the tornado.
“So far, we have the Payton brothers on football, plus Randy will be coaching baseball along with an unbelievably good candidate I can’t name at this time. We’re also bringing back US Olympic medalist BryceDanner for men’s volleyball and we’re interviewing candidates for women’s softball and coed wrestling.”
“That’s great, but you know I want to hear how you nabbed celebrity dancer Joe Judd. To be honest, he’s even more of a shock than you.”
Tell me about it.“Joe is a legend at Greenvale. He was the driving force behind Greenvale’s first coed cheerleading team and he was on the first championship squad at Nationals. We’re grateful he’s agreed.” Especially after the tornado.
“Will he be sitting out this season ofDance Machine?”
“Apparently he’s already choreographed what they needed from him, and he’ll fly out for a couple of the live shows.” Which Les was trying not to think about. Not that he wanted to keep Joe hostage here, but Leslie was counting on this time to implement his campaign to win Joe’s heart. If Joe was going to be gone a lot, and still have his foot in his dance world, would it even be possible to convince him to stay?
“Leslie?”
“Sorry, what was your question?”
