It took time for Mary to digest all this new information. A real life brother. An older brother. By at least seven years. There's an adult out there with a face like Jake's.
Mary went back to the hotel and started to address this. She took a picture of the picture with her phone and sent it to Wayne, Doug, and Dr. Moore. Then she immediately called Doug to give him a rundown. Even though he sounded extremely busy this past week, he stayed on the line for over an hour with Mary, discussing the new information she had found.
With this, he would have enough to ask the state about the real estate records for that house. It wouldn't be long until they find the father.
"Are you still wanting to go through with the adoption process?" Doug asked towards the end of the conversation.
"Yes, absolutely." Mary replied. "Just because we have an identity, it won't change the fact that we want what's best for Jake. His father obviously thought otherwise when leaving him with that woman. Hell, he didn't visit him since nor did he come to look for him after she went to jail."
"Mary..." Doug hesitated. "Never mind. I'll let you know more when I know more."
"What?" Mary asked, not understanding.
"Nothing is set in stone. You just worry about talking to all the boys, including Jake about the adoption and getting your paperwork in. Sooner rather than later."
Mary focused on those two items of importance. "Do you think you'll be able to expedite the process at all?"
"It helps that you're already fostering him and there's been no behavioral warnings against him. You've done the training and sat through the classes, but I'm pretty sure you and Wayne will have to do one more all-day class."
"That's fine! We'll do it!" Mary was excited that Doug was sticking with them and helping out. He sounded hesitant like there was something bothering him, but it got lost in the back of Mary's mind.
They wrapped up the conversation and ended the call. Mary and Wayne then had a phone conversation of their own. After a long afternoon, she got herself some dinner and prepared for tomorrow. For Friday, she would have to go to CSUF to go through some of the meetings with Zeke. Luckily, he had sent a text while she was visiting Jake's old, old neighborhood, saying he already sat through a college class. One less thing she would have to do.
Friday morning she packed up her bag and set it in the car. She wouldn't have enough time to come back before check out time anyways. She arrived at the school by 9:30am, meeting up with her son and one of the assistant coaches. She eyed him, wondering what happened to the head coach, but didn't say anything about it.
They followed the same routine of meeting with the financial aid office to talk about the cost of going to school here and what the out of pocket expenses looked like. From there they moved on to meeting with an academic counselor to talk about his grades and what they look for in applicants even if they have a coach recommendation. Both meetings were just formalities...Mary never had to worry about Zeke's grades, nor did she consider money a problem. Zeke was hell-bent on getting a full ride scholarship no matter how frequent she and Wayne told him that they would help with co-signing on loans.
Mary sat through lunch with him and the assistant coach after being joined by a few of the players. Zeke was quiet, but she found it normal since he hardly spoke at home with his brothers too. After the smooth, little lunch, it was time for another tryout. Zeke continued to show off his skills, and in his Mom's opinion, showed off why he deserved a full ride. She was proud of his hard work on the trip. Even though he got a week off from school, he had been working on his future plans instead.
After the tryout and playing with the team, Zeke was allowed a shower before leaving with his mom. They had to fight through Los Angeles traffic once more in order to get to the airport and fly home.
On the flight, Mary asked about what had happened to the head coach and why he wasn't present today for the meetings or practice.
Zeke stopped looking out the mini window and faced his mom. "He won't be there in the fall. He's moving on to a new university on the east coast."
Mary was bewildered. "Then why did he meet with you yesterday? Was today's assistant the new head coach?"
"He's contracted to the end of spring, but he mostly wanted me to take a visit to his new employer. I told him I wasn't interested. The east coast is too far. The coach at lunch will be the interim head coach for the fall but they are looking for potential replacements in case he doesn't do well."
Mary frowned. "That doesn't sound good. Any of it. A coach should have some more respect to his current job and not try to poach you. I'm glad you said no, but what do you mean by too far?"
Zeke looked out the window and mumbled. "I don't want to leave California."
Mary smiled. She could guess that he didn't want to be too far from home. A boy was still a boy.
"So I guess you can strike that school of your list, huh?"
"Not exactly." Zeke rebutted. "It's a full ride offer. And serious potential to be a starter as freshman. No need to redshirt and waste a year." The corner of his lips turned up. "It's in the running with Stanford. Neck and neck."
Mary swelled with happiness. He's seriously considering colleges. "But isn't your goal the College World Series? Can a team without a real coach be a contender?"
"CSUF has a long history with going to the Series. It's not just coaching but team mentality. Besides, the Coach you met at lunch may be young, but I liked him. I spoke with him a lot last night at dinner about the team's outlook." Zeke nodded to himself, satisfied. "It's an option. I liked it more than the LA schools. They were too crowded and there was so much traffic so you have to walk everywhere."
Thank goodness! Mary sighed with relief. She hated the traffic as well. CSUF had a high population too, but was in a more suburban neighborhood than an urban one.