Page 18 of Bittersweet Redemption

“Thanks.” I let my eyes linger on his beautiful brown eyes for a second longer before I follow Kayla out the door.

Chapter 9

Willa

By the time Saturday rolls around, I’m exhausted. I had a crazy week at work, and Roman had a hard week at school. They’ve started working on sight words, and he’s struggling with some. We’ve spent every night this week working on his flashcards, but when he gets frustrated, I get frustrated.

Roman wakes up early on Saturday but plays quietly in his room until I get up. Then I make us pancakes, and we watch some cartoons.

Around lunchtime, he gets antsy and needs to get out some of his five-year-old energy. I get all his pads strapped on, make sure his helmet is nice and snug, and take him outside to ride his skateboard down the driveway.

He starts off holding my hand as he rolls up and down the driveway, but then he does it on his own. He’s slow at first but picks up speed. It makes my heart race every time, but the huge smile on his face makes the anxiety worth it.

After we’ve been at it for a while, we hear a door open. I glance over to see Kai leaving his house and immediately look away. I haven’t seen him since I left the tattoo shop last weekend, and I can’t get the feeling of Kai’s eyes on me as I walked out the door out of my head. Roman, however, does not look away. In fact, he hops off his skateboard and hobbles over to Kai.

“Roman, stop,” I whisper-shout, but he must not hear me. “Roman, get back here. Don’t bother him, please.”

I sigh. My kid has tunnel vision and ignores anything else right now. I don’t know what his fascination is with our neighbor, but he can’t seem to stay away no matter how many times I ask him to.

“Mr. Kai!” Roman shouts. I do an awkward walk-jog to catch up with him.

Kai turns to see Roman standing there, covered head to toe in black pads. His knee pads cover almost his whole leg, his elbow pads make it hard for him to move his arms, and the wrist braces look like his entire arm is wrapped up.

“Hey, kid.” He looks Roman up and down with amusement in his eyes. “Wow, the only thing you’re missing is some bubble wrap.”

Thankfully, Roman just smiles, not understanding that Kai is teasing him about all the protective pads I have him in.

“I’m practicing skateboarding.”

“I saw,” Kai responds, and my head immediately rises. He saw? Was he watching through the window? I don’t know why I care. He wasn’t watching me. If anything, he was watching Roman skate. That’s normal. It’s cute to watch little kids doing things. He was definitely not watching me. “You’re doing good.”

“Thanks. Um, Mr. Kai? Can you come to my soccer game tomorrow?”

My eyes widen as I say, “What?” I’m completely horrified that my son is inviting a practical stranger who hates my very being to his soccer game. What world am I living in right now? “Roman, what are you doing?”

But my baby, my flesh and blood, my ride or die, proceeds to ignore me as he adds more details to his request. “It’s tomorrow afternoon.”

“Oh, um.” I can tell Kai is uncomfortable. I’m sure he wants to decline, but something is stopping him from doing it.

“Please, Mr. Kai? I want to show you how good I’m getting.”

“What time is it?” Kai asks.

Roman finally looks in my direction. He doesn’t know how to tell time, so he needs my help.

“Two,” I choke out.

Kai considers my response. “Sure, I’ll drop by.”

I braced myself for my son to be rejected, so I’m more than a little surprised when he agrees to go. Somehow I tell him the park and field number, and he nods.

“How’s the tattoo?” he asks, and it takes me a minute to realize he’s asking me a question.

“Oh. It’s good.” I raise my arm to show him the artwork. “It’s healing nicely.”

“Good.” He turns his attention back to Roman. “I gotta get to work, but I’ll see you tomorrow, kid.”

The smile on Roman’s face hasn’t faded. I just hope Kai doesn’t disappoint him. He has enough disappointment from his father. But Kai has absolutely no reason to come to Ro’s game. In fact, with the hatred he has for me, he has every reason not to come. My stomach clenches at the thought. I wish I could tell him not to get my kid’s hopes up, but he ignores my hesitance and drives off.