I follow Austin and Corey, as they are following my mom to the kitchen.
Olivia's giggling makes Ellie smile next to me.
"Gosh, it must be nice to have people go run your errands for you…" Aunt Jade teased Austin as she walked out of the kitchen as the rest of us walk into it.
When I get to Austin's side, I see him smirk as Olivia is focus on the noise mom is making in the fridge.
"Eggs!
…
Butter!
…
Apple Juice!"
…
"AGA!" Olivia squealed randomly.
"Yes, we'll get Aga too Olivia…" Mom said, still digging around the fridge.
Everyone laughed, and Austin tickled Olivia, causing her to giggle madly too.
Then she threw open the freezer and said "Ice cream. And I know we need coffee."
"The normal kind mom?" Corey asked, typing away on Austin's phone.
"Yes please." Mom said, shutting everything up and standing up. "Plus those prescriptions please."
"Will do." Ellie said happily.
"We'll be back then." Austin said, taking his phone back from Corey and starting to the door.
"Bye! Be safe!" Mom smiled.
"We will." I say, as Austin holds the door for everyone.
Once everybody is outside, I unlock the car and everyone piles in.
Corey decides to occupy Olivia as I start my car.
"Don't turn on the music, I have to call somebody first." Austin said quietly.
I glance up to the rearview mirror to get a look at Ellie, and she looks surprised.
But I start backing out anyway.
…
"Hey Grandma, it's me.
…
No, just running to the store. I was wondering if I needed to pick anything up for you, since I'm headed there.
…
Ok. I can…what was that?
…
Ok. I'll get poison ivy cream and the anti-inflammatory just in case.
…
Love you too. Bye."
Austin hung up the phone, placed his phone off to the side then turned on the radio.
I quickly turn it off though.
"Everything ok?" Ellie asked, as the whole back seat is looking at Austin, including Olivia, whose view consisted of the seat back.
"Yeah. My sister went hiking on some nature trip a few days ago with some friends and their parents. She got poison ivy, and might be contagious."
Ugh.
"That sucks." I say, stopping at a red light.
Austin shrugged. "I don't think she's allergic, but my grandma doesn't want to take any chances."
"You didn't say anything about being allergic earlier." Ellie injected.
"Yeah I did. I said she might be." Austin fired back.
"No, you said she might be contagious." Corey said quietly.
Austin suddenly made a face, and Ellie bit her lip and smiled.
"Same difference." Austin finally said.
"No, it's not." Corey said.
"Corey…" I say.
"Sorry sissy." He chimed back.
Austin avoided the correction part and kicked on the radio until we parked in the parking lot.
"I'll be over here if you need me." Austin joked, as he started to the pharmacy across the parking lot.
I smile and Corey followed him.
"I have the list. But who cares about that. He really loves Olivia doesn't he?" Ellie asked me, as Olivia is holding onto Austin's shoulder.
"Yup. He's her Aga alright." I say happily.
"What a name…" She said quietly, then I turn to start grocery shopping.
Robbie POV
"—supplies shopping in 2 weeks." I finish.
"We can do it like we did last year. That worked out well I think." Beck said, appealing to both Jade and Cat.
I look to Cat, and she said "Yeah, but Sydney and Ellie will probably want to buy their own supplies. I was thinking we might do the rest of the kids like last year."
"Good point. At least we got haircuts out of the way." Jade said.
Thankfully.
Both Kevin and Matt hate getting their haircut. Lucky for them, the shaggy haired look is in for their age group.
But they were too long not to get a haircut before school. So we (Meaning Beck, since everybody trusts his style) convinced the boys to get their hair cut early, and then allow it to grow into what they want by the first day of school.
I have to admit, it was a genius idea.
Corey's getting his cut next week, since he likes his short.
Looks better that way too.
Plus the fact that he rarely brushes it without either me or his mom telling him to.
But he's 8. Small potatoes.
"Speaking of the girls, what is our plan for them?" I ask.
"You know they'll want to do some sort of shopping."
"Way ahead of you. Syd came down with her laptop last night and asked me for some opinions. I told her to tell me when she had found what she wanted, so we could get it."
"Budget?" I nag her.
"$500.00. As I promised."
"Meaning $700 at least." Jade said flatly.
Cat simply grabbed an apple and chucked it at Jade.
Jade won the battle by grabbing a knife and spearing the apple on the tip of its blade.
Beck laughed, and I smiled grudgingly.
"It would have been 500, but she found two dresses that were more expensive than she thought. I couldn't say no to her okay…" Cat said defensively, and then flung open the fridge.
Jade smiled and took a bite of the speared apple.
Before I can reply, the doorbell went off.
"Doorbell?" Cat immediately said, celery stick in her hand.
"I'm on it…" I say.
The man of the house should greet all unexpected guests.
When I open the door, what I don't expect to find is a man in a suit, along with a man in more casual office attire.
Who is my boss.
At Deka.
Oh shit.
"Sir? This is an unexpected surprise. Come on in." I step aside.
Wyatt steps in, and allows his associate to come in before shaking my hand.
"Good to see you Robbie. How have you been?"
I smile nervously and say "Good sir. Busy here at home and prepping my next tour."
He laughed, then clapped me on the shoulder.
"Mr. Knight! How are you?" Cat said cheerfully behind me, and she quickly approached.
I hear them make small talk, then hear everyone advance to the living room sans Beck and Jade, who have apparently made themselves scarce.
"So, what can I do for you?" I ask the two men, as I sit next to Cat.
"Well, we're actually not here to talk to you. I was going to check up on your tour plans, but there is no rush on that. I believe we're on the same schedule as last year are we not?" Wyatt asked me.
"We are. I'm still locking dates and venues. But the ball is rolling on that." I say.
Cat then jumped in and said "He might be going again before St. Patrick's Day. I could be going on a small tour."
"Ahh, yes. I heard about your upcoming music. I can't wait to hear it." The man opposite Wyatt said.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"We'll make the necessary adjustments when the time comes. The agreement we have now is a good one, so that one parent is always there for your kids if need be."
"Won't be needing to do that much longer. Our youngest is now 8." Cat said quietly.
"Wow. Time flies." He smiled. "I remember authorizing the flowers we sent here when he was born. Seems like just a year or two ago."
I nod, and then Wyatt said "So, as to why I'm here…"
Sydney POV
"Don't get all the bags this time." I order Austin, as Ellie is grabbing Olivia.
"I'm helping sissy!" Corey piped up in the back.
I make my way to the back, only for Austin to give me one bag.
"There. I don't have all the bags." Austin teased me.
He still has like 4 of them. Corey has a couple and I have 1.
And Ellie has Olivia.
I close the back, then let Ellie lead us all back in.
"We're back!" Austin called out as Ellie gets the door open.
Once I get in, I notice that we have visitors.
"Oh! Sorry!" I say quickly, as Austin and Corey scramble to the kitchen.
"It's ok honey. Just get the stuff that needs to be put away put away please, and then come in here." Mom said quietly.
I exchange confused looks with Ellie.
Before I know it, the stuff is mostly away, and Austin is prodding me to go first.
But Corey barged on forward.
"Corey, go play upstairs with your brother and Matt." Mom said kindly.
His shoulders sagged. "Why?"
"Just go buddy. We'll talk about it later okay?" Dad said gently.
Corey walked upstairs, a big difference from his normal sprint.
"Everything ok?" Ellie asked, as her mom handed me a peppy cola, Austin lemonade and Ellie a raderade.
"Yeah. Come in here." Her dad gestured her in.
Austin nervously handed Olivia off to Aunt Jade.
Mom and dad looked to each other.
Then I look to the two guests.
One is in a suit.
One is business casual. Dress shirt, nice pants and loafers.
Business casual stood up and approached Austin.
"Are you Austin Harper?"
"Yes sir. And you are…?" Austin said nervously.
"I'm Wyatt Knight. President and CEO of Deka Inc. This is Phil Gates, our lead product and campaign designer."
Whoa.
They have the best equipment. Supply lots of pro sports leagues.
I know that they've sponsored Dad since I was around Corey's age.
I vaguely remember Dad being mad about it.
"Oh. Well it's an honor sir. I love a lot of your stuff." Austin shook the designers hand.
"Thank you. " The guy said.
"Now, we don't want to take too long, so I'll get down to business. We've been trying to get in touch with you Austin. Sent multiple letters to your residence, and a representative. The last one said that the house had a for sale sign outside."
Austin, who had sat down popped forward.
"What is the address?"
"97599 Appleton Court. Los Angeles, California 90211." The designer said easily.
"That's my mother's residence. Well, it was. She's moving. But I don't live there anymore. I live with other family now."
"Yes, when we arrived here and spoke to Mr. and Mrs. Shapiro they mentioned a divorce case that had that result. We're sorry to hear about that." Mr. Knight said.
"Thanks. Sorry about the misunderstanding." Austin said.
"May we have your new address?" The designer asked.
"Yeah…it's in my phone here…" Austin quickly scrambled for his phone.
I look up to Mom and Dad, who are next to Beck and Jade.
"We didn't have the new address." Mom shrugged.
Austin handed his phone over, and the designer inputted the new information onto a pearPad.
"Thanks." Mr. Knight said.
"No problem. Now if you don't mind, why have you been trying to contact me?"
"We're interested in offering you an endorsement deal."
"WHAT?!" I blurt out.
"A very good endorsement deal." Aunt Jade smiled.
Dad has a piece of paper in his hands.
Austin looks floored.
"How…why'd you come here to find me?"
Change of topic, but ok.
"Mr. Shapiro has had his comedy tour sponsored by us for several years. And since his daughter is your girlfriend, we had a feeling that coming here would shorten the process of finding you." The designer said simply.
"Although we weren't expecting you to be here right now. But it's a nice surprise." Mr. Knight smiled.
"Anyway, back to the sponsorship." Dad got us back on task, while handing his paper back to the designer.
"Yes. As we both know, you were drafted Number 1 overall by the Miami Marlins this summer. But you refused them, and now will be continuing your school. AS the top ranked baseball player in the next 3 upcoming drafts, we'd like to join you on that ride." Mr. Knight started pitch mode.
"Ok…what does this entail?" Austin asked.
"Some modeling. Clothing, baseball equipment, everything you need to excel fine-tuned to you and your skills. Requisite interviews from time to time, represent the company, boring PR stuff really." Mr. Knight said.
"But you would be an extremely valuable asset, since you are 15, a known commodity to the baseball world, and objectively attractive." The guy went red.
Ellie giggled, and I can't help but smile.
"Thanks. So…equipment and stuff. Plus I model for promotional material. Sounds like I could be making a visit to Beaverton."
"Beaverton?" Ellie asked.
"Deka headquarters. I've never been." Dad said.
"Door is always open." Mr. Knight said.
"Great. I'm very interested sir, but I'd like to talk to my family if that's alright." Austin said.
"Oh absolutely. No rush. We're here in LA for the next week or so. If you'd like to meet again with family we can do that."
"That sounds like a plan." Austin nodded.
"Here's a general outline of what we'd like for you to do, and what our end would entail. Not many specifics, but we can get those for you when we meet later."
The designer handed over a piece of paper.
I glance over at it and—
Oh my god.
…
Oh my god.
"What? What is it?" I dimly hear Ellie say.
I can't stop looking at that number.
That comma has to be wrong.
$10,000,000.
"I…is this number right?" Austin asked quietly.
Wait, which comma.
This can't be right. That's insane.
Mr. Knight took back to paper, glanced at it then handed it back. "Yeah, that's the right number."
TEN MILLION DOLLARS?!
I feel faint.
Behind my mom and Dad, who are trying to not look too pleased, Ellie's parents both look thrilled for Austin.
"Wow." I say quietly.
I won't even be the richest person in our relationship.
Austin and I looked it up online, and that's about a fourth of what Mom made last year.
"Now, to end, we want to inform you of something that's going around online." The designer said.
Suddenly Beck leaned forward with his phone and handed it to Austin.
Mom and Dad suddenly look grim.
"What?" I ask.
"Austin's mom talked." Dad said.
I look to Austin, who lost skin color as I watched him.
"She what…" He said.
"She gave a tell all on what happened with your dad. How you "robbed" her out of millions. The divorce trial, she slandered Sydney, whole 9 yards." Dad said quietly.
"I want to do something. She can't get away with that." Austin said heatedly.
"I was going to get something drafted up acknowledging that most of it is true, but that she slandered you, Sydney and that won't go unpunished."
"Basically she'll sue her ass." Jade jumped in.
"How long has this been out there?" Ellie asked.
Good question.
"It's been on the internet for 4 days. Which is the other reason we figured that finding you and extending our offer had increased importance." Mr. Knight said.
"Does this change the offer?" Austin tentatively asked.
"No. Deal is the same. We just want you to know the news and what is out there. Despite how we don't like marring good news with bad." Mr. Knight said.
Austin opened his mouth, then changed his words. "Thank you sir. I appreciate it."
"No problem Austin." Mr. Knight said, as everyone hopped to their feet.
The Deka contingent said good bye, then Dad saw them out.
Jade handed Olivia back to Austin, who seemed groggy.
"You ok?" Mom smiled at him.
"I…yeah. I have to make some calls though…I think."
Mom laughed, and Ellie smiled.
"I say this calls for a celebration. I'm going shopping." Dad suddenly announced.
"But we just got back from shopping." I say.
"Yeah, but things have changed now. Our plans of pork chops won't work with news like this."
Austin said "I…pork chops are fine. Sounds great."
Dad smiled and turned to Mom. "I'll be back. Can you let everyone know the good news? And invite his sister and grandma. See if they want to come."
"After I call them please…" Austin smiled.
"Will do." Mom smiled.
Aunt Jade snuck up behind Austin and hugged him, then whispered something into his ear.
"Bye!" Dad said.
"Agaaaa!" Olivia called out to him.
Everyone laughed, and Dad closed the door behind him.
"I thought that was my name." Austin said to Olivia.
Olivia just plopped onto his shoulder.
"Guess not." Beck smiled.