Play Maker(47)

My spirits rose. I was very excited about working with this charity. They seemed to have an amazing long-term plan for all the foster kids they supported that was evidenced by how many of their employees had benefited from their programs. And it had Ethan’s sign of approval. After our first meeting he had mentioned that he wished he had a program like that when he was kid.

“That’s a good sign, right?”

Ethan nodded. “A very good sign. If they weren’t interested, they would have just told me. They’re not meeting with you to say no.”

Suddenly the day was looking up. “When do they want to meet?”

“This afternoon!” Ethan began rummaging through my closet. “Come on, let’s get you showered,” he glanced back at me with a disapproving look. “And shaved.”

I rubbed my hand over the stubble on my cheeks. I could only imagine how I looked. Not good, I imagined. Definitely not good enough for For Foster Kids.

“Ok, ok.” I nudged Ethan out of my closet. “I’ll make myself presentable and I’ll meet you in the lobby.”

“Great,” he said, looking back at his phone.

“And mate?”

He glanced back at me. “Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

Ethan grinned and gave me the two finger salute. “Get dressed,” he ordered.

“Wanker,” I muttered, wondering what I had done to deserve such a good friend.



A half hour later I had showered, shaved and made myself look as respectable as I could manage in the time frame given. Ethan got the rental and we were headed towards the For Foster Kids office in the heart of Downtown LA. I watched out the window as we headed to the building, finding more and more to love about Los Angeles, the closer I looked.

Gloria was waiting for us in the lobby of the building.

“We’re glad you could make it,” she said, shaking my hand.

“I appreciate you meeting with me again.” I made sure to turn my politeness up to eleven. It was important to be on my very best behavior today. I needed to counteract the image the tabloids had put out into the world. One I was eager to get as far away from as possible.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said at our last meeting.” Gloria led us to one of the conference rooms. We all took a seat. “And I have to admit, I was impressed with the amount of research you had done on our organization.”

“It’s an impressive organization,” I told her, meaning every word. This was the charity I wanted to work with. This is where I could make the most difference. Where I could give back to a community that had given me my best friend. Their interest in my time and participation, not just in my money and fame, was one of the reasons I was eager to partner with them. I was interested in volunteering to assist the kids in their program as well as working on fundraisers with specific goals.

“Thank you,” Gloria said, pulling out a stack of papers.

I noticed, with a sinking sensation in my stomach, that on the top of that pile were several print outs of online tabloid sites. With today’s date if I had read correctly. Shite. What had Rick done last night? I tried to remember if he had even stayed at the stadium after the game or if he had taken off to party on his own. A knot formed in my chest and I tried to formulate an explanation for whatever nonsense my soon-to-be former teammate had gotten into.

But Gloria didn’t look upset. In fact, she had a smile on her face.

“I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d take our advice to heart so quickly. Most of the celebrities we meet with aren’t interested in making such drastic changes to prove something to us. You surprised me, Mr. Martin.”

She slid the print-outs across the table. They were several shots from last night, taken from across the room. I was standing with Mikey, introducing him to some of the actors there, my hand on his shoulder. There was even one of him hugging me after I came out of the locker room.

“Children with special needs are some of the most vulnerable children in our program,” Gloria was saying. “This kind of commitment to them is exactly what we’re looking for in the people who get involved with our organization.”

I was glad that she was seeing a different side of me, but I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea about Mikey. This was the first time I really felt angry at the paparazzi. They had always been an annoyance, but one I accepted as part of the price of fame. But Mikey hadn’t signed up for that. The urge to protect him surged through me. I pushed the pictures back across to her.

“I appreciate what you’re saying,” I told her. “But I just want to make it clear that this wasn’t some photo shoot that I arranged to impress you and For Foster Kids. Mikey is—” I paused, not really sure what he was. “Mikey is a friend,” I finally said. “And he was invited as a guest, not in an attempt to win favor or change my image.”

Gloria was silent and I could see Ethan put his face in his hand. A part of me realized that I might have just shot myself in the foot, but another part of me knew that I felt really uncomfortable with anyone thinking that I had used Mikey as some sort of prop to redeem myself in the tabloids.

Then Gloria smiled. “You’re a surprising young man, Mr. Martin,” she told me.

“Please, call me James.” I could feel the tension in the room dissipate.