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“Is this it?” the Uber driver asked.
Drew peered out at the galvanized steel roof and the paint peeling off the dingy wood siding. “Yes, it is.”
“You said you wanted me to wait for you, right?” the man asked.
“Yeah, I should only be a few minutes,” he said, getting out of the car. As he closed the door, he caught sight of the basketball court across the street. Drew rapped on the driver’s window. “You can take off,” he said. “I’m going to stick around for a bit.”
Drew went into the taco shack and ordered three chorizo and steak street tacos with extra cilantro. These tacos had been his dinner countless nights after practice, when his mom was pulling a second shift and his uncle, Elias, was either out looking for work or hooking up with some girl.
Drew brought his tacos over to the basketball court and took a seat on a bench that probably hadn’t been painted since he’d played here fifteen years ago. He mindlessly ate as he watched some teen boys battle in a three-on-three pickup game. How many afternoons had he spent doing the same?
And why did the memories leave such an uneasy feeling in his gut?
It wasn’t as if anything traumatic had happened during his time here. He’d excelled in Austin, accomplishing more than any of the teachers or counselors at his previous schools had ever encouraged him to achieve. But there was something about being back here that made his hands clammy and his chest tight.
His attitude toward Texas had undergone several metamorphoses over the years. When his mom had first moved them here during his junior year of high school, he’d been as indifferent to Austin as he’d been to any of the other places where he’d lived. He began warming up to it when he started to make a name for himself at Barbara Jordan High, but Drew had learned from an early age to never let himself to get too attached to any one place. They’d averaged fourteen months tops in all the other cities they’d lived.
There was something about Austin that was different. Something about Texas that changed the game.
His mom had fallen in love with its wide-open spaces. After he left for college, she’d moved to a small town about an hour west of here, in the foothills of the Texas Hill Country. She’d remained in that tranquil little town, with the flower baskets that hung from the streetlights on Main Street and shop owners who knew every customer by name. She told him the only way she would leave would be by hearse.
And that’s exactly the way it had happened.
Drew winced.
He wasn’t in the right mood to think about his mom right now, not when he had all these other emotions about being back in Austin to contend with.
But thinking about his mom reminded him that he owed his uncle, Elias, a call. His mother’s much younger brother had stood in as his pseudo-dad for much of Drew’s life, even though only eight years separated them. His uncle had settled in Fort Worth. Like his sister, he had developed an unexplainable love for Texas.
Drew pulled out his phone and clicked into his favorites. His uncle’s number was one of only a few saved there.
Elias picked up on the third ring.
“What’s up, old man?” Drew said in his usual greeting.
“Hey, nephew! You in Austin yet?” Elias asked.
“Yeah. Believe or not, I’m at the playground near our old place. I would shoot a few hoops if I wasn’t wearing my good shoes.”
Elias laughed. “What are you doing all the way out there? You feeling nostalgic?”
“For tacos,” Drew said. “But I’m about to head back downtown. The apartment I rented became available earlier than expected, and I need to get settled in before meeting up with the team from Trident later. Say, if you’re in the mood for an impromptu vacation, there’s a nice suite at the downtown Austin Hilton that’s fully paid for until Wednesday.”
“I would if I could,” Elias said. “Can’t afford the days away from the job.”
Drew rolled his eyes.
He’d waited until after he’d earned his first ten million before offering to buy a house and provide a stipend to both his mom and uncle so they wouldn’t have to work anymore. He’d known they would both turn him down if his net worth were less than eight figures, but had hoped they would take him up on it if they figured he was financially secure.
His net worth was nearing the nine-figure mark, yet Elias still insisted on keeping his job as a mail carrier, claiming that he’d worked too hard to earn his pension and he wasn’t letting it go.
“I may drop in on you in a few weeks, though,” E said. “Me and a few buddies are driving out to Big Bend later this month for a long-overdue fishing trip. I figured I’d leave a day early and hang out with you in Austin. That is, if you’re still here.”
“I’ll still be here,” Drew said.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” his uncle said. “But, while youarehere, I think you need to take a drive out to Hye and go through Doreen’s things. You can’t leave her house sitting like that forever.”
That’s exactly what Drew had planned on doing. His mother’s home had stood untouched since she passed away last year. He wasn’t ready to face it. He wasn’t sure if he ever would be.
