AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, drive carefully. Goodbye, Liam. Bye, Sarah.”
Her arms are crossed over her middle as we drive away, and Owen is back to standing behind her, hugging her with his chin resting on top of her head.
Sarah lets out a deep, cleansing breath once we’re down the street. At the stop sign, I see a little kid riding full-speed on her bike, pink tassels hanging from the handlebars and a faux purple mohawk helmet on her head.
Coming to a stop, she slaps one hand against her chest. “Oh, thank goodness I caught you!” I’m this kid should try out for the lead in her school play this year because she’s got skills. Breathless, she says, “I wanted to tell you I’m turning nine on September nineteenth, and you two are invited to my birthday party, ok?”
“That’s really sweet, Olivia. Can we let you know? This is pretty far from where we live.”
I nudge Sarah’s thigh and whisper, “Just tell her yes,” to which Sarah gives me a look, one that says,I’m not lying to a little girl. I can’t help but shake my head.
“It’s not too far,pleasecome…Please, please, please—”
“Olivia, I told you to stay on our street.”
Leo comes jogging up and tells her that he’ll put her bike away for good if she disobeys him again. To which Olivia pouts and says, “You said to be,” she taps her chin like she’s trying to remember, “a independent thinker.”
“Anindependent thinker…And don’t twist my words.”
Turning to us, he tells Sarah he’s glad he got the chance to meet her, and then leans down to look across to me. “Remember what I said, ok?”
“The party is going to be humungous!”
“Let’s go, Libs.”
“Bye, Liam,” she sing-songs as Leo is pulling her bike by the handlebars. “Bye, Bug!”
“She’s a trip, isn’t she?”
“Yeah,” I agree. “A handful, but very cute.”
“What was that between you and her dad?”
“Oh, Leo?”
“Yeah,” she laughs, “your good buddy Leo.”
“Nothing. He was just interested in knowing about how I got into fixing crap, to which I couldn’t really give him an answer.” I look between Sarah and the road. “You know how many times Jeff beat my ass because I was always taking shit apart?”
“He sounds like a monster.”
“That’s an insult to monsters.” Taking the turn that has us heading back east, I tell her about being a kid, and being able to figure out how to fix stuff just by watching someone do it or just by trial and error.
“It’s like people who can hear a song then sit down at the piano or some other instrument and play it. No lessons, no endless hours of honing a skill. What you have is a gift,” she tells me.
I shrug, uncomfortable with being compared to the truly gifted, but lapping up her praise nonetheless. “Anyway, he said to get in touch when I’m ready to start applying for schools, said maybe he can help me with work study grants through his company. Apparently, he’s some big deal.”
“Great!”
“Cool your jets, Tiny. Don’t go jumping on the grand plans for Liam wagon, ok?”
She’s practically dancing in her seat, but then looks to me with her brow furrowed and a fake-ass frown. “Understood.”
When we hit the highway, it’s already after eight and the sun is going down. “The GPS says we’ll be rolling in around one, one-thirty.”
“I’m going to text my parents and tell them not to wait up.”
“But you know they’re going to.”
