AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Give these to Amber, koritzaki mou,” Yiayia demanded as she unloaded her haul onto the counter. “She loves tomatoes.”
I laughed out loud. “She doesn’t love tomatoes, Yiayia. Amber hates tomatoes.”
“Well, she gonna love these ones. Sweet!” She held one up in her hand. “Look at that skin. Is perfect!”
I smiled. This woman had carried me so often over the past three decades, it was a wonder to me that she wasn’t bent in half.
“I’ll take them, Yiayia,” I agreed.
“Good girl.”
Jace picked up his backpack again, and I grabbed my purse, my book bag, and the tomatoes.
“Look after Mommy, agoraki mou. Tell your cousin to do extra reading, or I boil him.”
Jace and I both laughed at the idea of Alex reading. That would require him to sit for any length of time, and he rarely did that.
Driving in the car, side-by-side, was where Jace and I had some of our best talks.
“How was the first week back at school, agapi mou?” I asked.
“Good.” He paused and fiddled with the radio. “There is a new club starting for adventurists.”
My boy was quiet, introspective, and brave. So brave, he scared me on the regular. He had a thirst for life, and I feared he was a bit of an adrenalin junkie. Go-cart racing, skateboarding at the skateboard park, pounding up and down concrete stairs on his BMX bike, any opportunity he could find for his feet to leave the earth, he took it.
“Oh?” My heart thudded once, hard, in my chest, and I rebuked myself. How bad could it be? They were only in the sixth grade!
“Yeah, it looks good. I’d like to join. Is that okay?” He asked.
“Sure.” I shrugged. “What does it involve?”
“Cool!” He breathed, then continued excitedly. “Weekly meetups after school, and monthly field trips.”
“It’s run through the school?”
“No. The university is running it. Some of the same people who ran the summer camps.”
Jace and Alex went to summer camp at the university. They did an excellent job, rounding up physiotherapy, physical education, and sports medicine students to run and oversee the programming.
“That’s good! Where are the meetings?”
“At the university, but don’t worry. They have buses that pick kids up from their schools. You only have to worry about picking me up when it’s over. Alex is going to join, too, so we can come home on the bus together, or I can get a ride home with him and Uncle Gus.”
Jace and Alex attended the same school, played the same video games, and shared many of the same interests. They were on the cusp of their journey to manhood, and they’d both been deprived of a consistent man in their lives, though Angus showed up as much as he could since he and Amber separated.
They needed this.
“That sounds good, agapimeno. If Alex doesn’t join, I’ll figure it out. No problem.” I assured him. I didn’t want him to feel like he always needed to be thinking ahead, solving problems that weren’t his to solve.
For some reason, the cars ahead of me slowed to a stop, unusual for this time of day. I ran my hands up and down the steering wheel.
“I wonder what’s going on,” I murmured.
“It’ll clear in a minute, Momma.”
I craned my neck, trying to see. I hated being stuck. I glanced at the rear-view mirror. Cars lined up steadily behind me. Soon I would be locked in.
“Maybe I should turn around?” I contemplated out loud.
