“Are you busy?” I asked.
“Actually, I am.”
“I want to look for something in Dad’s office.”
“Oh, I’m in the Carroll meeting room. Just tell Kandace. She can let you into the office.”
“Thanks,” I said as I disconnected the call.
My unread emails were calling me, and I had no idea what I was looking for, but I followed my instinct and made my way through the executive suite to Aunt Rachel’s office. Once inside, I closed the main doors and stared around the large room.
“I need some answers, Dad.”
Chapter 28
Fin
* * *
“We should invite Jackson to meet with us for weights tomorrow,” Troy said as we walked toward our position meeting, our last meeting of the day.
Tomorrow was our day off, the day Troy Dennison and I utilized Maker’s Mark’s weight room.
“Good idea.”
While the long road to bring Josh Jackson into our quarterback fold was on my mind, I couldn’t help worrying about Vee and even, surprisingly, Preston Clark. Last evening, the guy seemed strange, stranger than normal. Now that I told Vee Clark’s far-fetched story, I wanted her to keep her eyes and ears open. If her uncle and cousin were out to get their hands on the Coopers they felt they were owed, there was no way to know what extreme measures they would try.
If they had anything to do with Reid Hubbard’s death, they already proved to be extreme.
Coach Garcia nodded as we walked into his office. Our quarterback meeting was a smaller gathering than, say, the offensive line with the starters and backups.
“Cody will be with us next week,” Garcia said. “He’s through surgery and taking some time to recover.” He met Troy’s and my stare. “You know about Joshua Jackson.”
We both nodded.
“Fin and I are going to invite him to lift with us tomorrow,” Troy said.
Garcia nodded his approval. “Barring something horrific, he won’t see playing time. We still need him to be able to run the plays in practice. Jackson has the experience. We need him to learn our language.” He opened his tablet. “Let’s talk specifics about yesterday.”
Troy reached out and patted my back. “Our man Fin was on fire.”
A grin curled my lips. It was good to hear that Troy had gotten over his anger at being benched, even if it was for his own good.
“You’re starting in Jacksonville,” Garcia said to Troy. “And Graham, be ready.” He narrowed his eyes. “Any visits to the trainers? Aches? Pain? How’s the rib.”
I shook my head. “No aches or pain. The trainers wrapped my torso pretty tight yesterday. I’d say this old man is healing.”
Coach Garcia laughed. “I’m not that much older than you, Graham. Don’t be calling me old.”
We shared a smile. My gaze went to Troy and back to our coach. “I have no doubt Troy will get us far enough ahead of the Jags for me to see the field.”
“Simpson’s injury…” Garcia prompted.
“He didn’t set his foot,” Troy said matter-of-factly.
“Graham?”
“I agree. Simpson has a habit of sashaying in the pocket. It was terrible timing the way the nickelback came down on him.”
