“He doesn’t let you call me if you ask?”
“No. He says it’s man time, and I shouldn’t be worried about talking to you because I don’t call him when I’m with you.”
“You know you can call your dad whenever you want, right?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to.”
This was not the conversation I expected to have with him this morning.
“I’ll look into getting you a phone, but in the meantime, think of a backup gift and what you want to do for your birthday.”
“Okay.”
“So, your dad stopped by yesterday.”
Naomi didn’t bring him home until it was time for him to get ready for bed, so I hadn’t had a chance to tell him.
“Did you argue?”
Ignoring his question, I said, “He came by to take you shopping to get stuff you need for football.”
“But Mom?—”
“Hold on, Son. I told him you didn’t want to play football or basketball.”
“Was he mad?”
“He wasn’t happy, but he has no choice but to accept it.”
“Thank you. I’m excited about art class.”
“Wow! Your birthday and art class. You have a lot to look forward to.”
“Yeah. I think I know what else I want to do for my birthday.”
“Let me hear it.”
“Can I go toArcade Universewith Mr. Graham, Trey, and Mr. DJ?”
“Oh, umm, I?—”
“You can come after we finish playing games and have pizza, cake, and ice cream.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to Mr. Graham and see if he’s available.”
“Yes! This is gonna be so much fun.”
I glanced in the rearview mirror and caught Keelan smiling like he’d just won a new video game. Hopefully Graham didn’t have plans, because my son would be crushed.
“This is Keelan’s?”I asked as I studied the artwork Naryah had put in front of me.
“It is.”
When she returned from dropping Keelan off at his art class, she texted me to come over. We’d finally exchanged phone numbers on Sunday after leaving the studio.
“These are . . . I don’t know what to say. I would never guess this was a child’s work. He’s gifted.”
When Naryah told me that Keelan liked to draw and paint, I had no idea his work was that good. He was a lot more talented than I expected.
