Page 8 of The Perfect Deal
Puzzled, I thought of the photographers we had on retainer that went to camp with us every year. “Oh, you mean Will?”
“Yes, him,” she said, not bothering to admit that she’d misspoken. Twice. “He can’t come this year. He said something about his wife falling down the stairs and breaking her tail. And breaking some bones.”
“Her tailbone?” I felt like I was on some sort of a game show where the other contestant was only allowed to say certain words, but I had to guess what they were talking about.
“Sure. So he has to stay home and take care of the stairs,” Karrie explained.
“Or take care of her, maybe?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Either way, we don’t have a photographer for camp now. So I guess we’ll just have to cancel the whole thing.” She stood up like she was about to go do just that, her bottom lip protruding like a child.
I shook my head. “No, Karrie. We’re not going to cancel camp just because we don’t have a photographer,” I assured her. “We have hundreds of kids ready to go, and we’ve already rented out the facilities. Just because we don’t have one of our photographers, that doesn’t shut the whole thing down.”
“It doesn’t?” She sat back down, her face beaming as she smiled at me. “Oh, good. Because I’m looking forward to going with you.”
I raised an eyebrow and stared at her a moment, thinking maybe she meant the general you and not you as in me, but she didn’t specify. I was so confused by the entire conversation it took me much too long to get to the obvious solution to the problem.
“Of course!” I finally exclaimed, slapping my forehead. “Don’t worry about it, Karrie. I’ve got it all figured out.”
“Really? Already? Don’t you need to post a social media message to try to track a photographer down?”
“Is that what people do these days?” I was baffled and shook my head again to clear it. “No, I know a photographer. I’ll have one booked by morning.”
“Oh, you know one? Great!” She clapped her hands and got up out of the chair. “Let me know when you have their name so I can get a new T-shirt printed.”
“Right. Thanks, Karrie,” I said dismissively, wondering why the T-shirt was so important.
“You bet. We only have a few days, you know? We leave next week, and that T-shirt will take time to order.” She started walking to the door but paused halfway there to turn and look over her shoulder, smiling at me.
“I’ll keep you posted,” I assured her. Once she left, I took a deep breath and ran a hand through my hair. How stupid was I that I hadn’t immediately remembered I knew a photographer? Karrie was messing with my head. Knew one? I’d been in love with one practically my whole life.
Pulling out my phone, I sent Liberty a quick text, asking her to call me when she got a chance. Then, I headed out to see if any of my kids for soccer clinic had arrived yet.
I wasn’t shocked at all to see that Robby and Axel were already there. Those two kids were on the fast track to becoming professionals one day. They were kicking the ball around on the inside field, laughing and having fun, complimenting each other on their technique. Though they played for rival teams during the school year, they could both appreciate each other’s talent, and I tried to teach all of my students to be good sports above all else.
“Hey, Coach Joshua,” Axel called as he handed the ball off to Robby. “How’s it going?”
“I’m good, boys. Kick that ball over here,” I insisted.
Robby dribbled a little with his feet before sending it my way. I caught it with my knee and bounced it up into the air several times before using my head to pass it back to Axel. He did a few tricks and then took it across the field to the goal. Robby tried to get in front of him to block it, but he managed to get the ball into the net before Robby could block it. All three of us laughed.
“Nice shot, man,” Robby told him, grasping his hand.
“Thanks. You almost got it,” Axel said humbly.
That was what I loved about working with kids. Hearing them compliment one another and share words of encouragement really warmed my heart.
Within a half hour, the rest of the kids arrived, and it was time for us to start our clinic. I had three of my other staff members with me, helping lead different skill sections while I supervised everything, hopping in to correct technique or share pointers with kids who needed a little more attention.
Coach Valin was a retired soccer player from Mexico who had been working with me for about five years. He was the best at teaching the kids how to sneak the ball into the goal in what appeared to be impossible situations. Coach Myra had been an all-pro in college. She graduated two years ago and came to work with me right away. The kids loved her because she was so funny but also knew how to speak their language. Then there was Coach Peter, who was Russian and looked scary, but he was really a teddy bear underneath it all. He’d been an Olympic athlete back in the day, though he was my father’s age.
When the clinic was over, it was time for me to go to the pool to work with the swimmers, but as the kids were walking out, I stood by the door and shook their hands, telling them I’d see them all tomorrow. “Have a good night, Robby,” I told the teen.
He squeezed my hand extra hard. “Thanks, Coach. This is the coolest clinic we’ve had yet.”
I smiled, so glad for the accolade, and thanked him. By the time I got to the pool, I was grinning from ear to ear.
In the changing room, I quickly put on my swim trunks and headed out to see how it was going. I could’ve stayed out of the water and just supervised. After all, I had another coach working with these kids, but I knew I’d want to jump in and do a lap or two. I’d been working with a young man named Quincy on his technique, and we had more work to do.