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In the end, she just hugs and kisses me, her best attempt to make me feel better.
“When Emerson from school stole my pencil sharpener, we stopped being friends too,” she says, in a display of empathy out of character for her age. “Did Andrew steal something from you?”
Yes, sweet pea. My heart.
“Girls! Dinner!” Mom calls, saving me from having to come up with an answer.
Alissa runs to the table, much to mom’s chagrin. “We don’t do sports inside the house, Alissa.”
Alissa immediately stops as I pull out a chair for her. “But I wasn’t doing sports,” she protests.
“Oh, but running is a sport,” Carla says, cheerful. “I was a short-distance runner.”
Carla settles down beside Dan, and Ali turns to face her with interest.
“What’s a short distance?” Alissa wants to know.
“It’s a race on a small track, Ali,” Carla explains. “Almost like a dash.”
“Oh!” Alissa sits back, nodding as she listens. “Where can I see it?”
“I’ll show you videos after dinner,” Carla says and winks at her.
Mom serves the plates, and we all go around taking some spaghetti.
“So, I have three tickets for the Razorhawks’ game Saturday night. Who’s coming with me?” Dan asks, and I immediately frown.
“Will you meet that friend of yours?” Carla asks, covering her mouth to chew.
“I’m certain that can be arranged. Andrew is a good kid,” Dad says, the opposite of what I want to hear.
“Well, I wanna go, if only to tell everybody that I met a pro athlete!” Carla says, animated.
“I’ll go too.” I blurt it out with my mouth full.
Everybody except for Carla, who doesn’t know half the story, looks surprised to hear me say that. Even my baby looks confused.
“Um, sure…” Dan says. “I’ll come pick you up.”
“Can you take care of Ali, mom?” Only now I ask.
“Of course!” Mom elongates the vowels, smiling like a devious fox. “We’ll watch the game on TV, right, Ali?”
But Ali pushes her plate away, crosses her arms, and pouts. “I never get to go to a hockey game.”
“You have, dear. Remember that one grandpa played with his friends?” grandma says.
“I mean a real one!” She pouts even harder.
Chapter Five
ANDREW
We’re playing the Denver Tundra Titans and they are at our heels.
It’s the last period, and both teams have been scoring goals up to the last second, keeping us at a standoff.
With the possibility of overtime looming, it’s hard to predict if there will be a winner in regulation.
