Oh my God, this kid iskillingme.
“Alright, alright, but better not let your mom know.”
Kevin beamed at Shane and scrambled into the passenger seat. He pulled the seatbelt over his shoulder and Shane helped him adjust it down.
“And don’t make me regret this. if I get pulled over, you better scramble back there as fast as you can.” He pointed to the back seat.
“Oh, it’s okay, George won’t arrest you. We’re all friends.”
Shit, the kid’s smarter than I am.
Shane closed the door, went around to the other side, got in and started the engine. “Alright, I’m driving slow and careful, but it’s not a long drive, so talk fast. Why did you run away?”
“I didn’t run away. I came to you to talk,” Kevin replied in a perfectly reasonable tone.
And he’s on his way to becoming a lawyer.
“Man to man. Right. So, you got me. What do you want to talk about?”
Kevin hesitated. “Well, today I got into a fight with Regis Sumner.”
“Regis Sumner, huh? Between you and me, I’d fight him, too,” Shane joked. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Kevin’s body relax into the seat.
“Regis is always a jerk. The teacher doesn’t do anything about it, and I hate being a tattletale anyway.” He looked at Shane. “Snitches get stitches.”
Shane tried not to snort. “Go on.”
“I try to ignore him, but it just makes him madder. Today, I couldn’t anymore.”
“Why not today?”
“Because Regis was saying bad things about my mom, so I defended her.”
Why the fuck am I not surprised?
“Okay, well, that’s… noble.”
Kevin smiled. “See? I knew you’d understand me, Shane.”
God, that gutted him in a way that also made his heart swell with a fierce love for this kid.
“It’s Shane, now, huh?”
“Well, wearetalking man to man right now.”
“Yeah, good point.”
“When we’re done, I’ll go back to calling you Mr. Foti around the grownups.”
Jesus.
“So, what was His Royal Highness Regis Sumner saying about your mom?”
“That’s funny. Mom calls him that, too, only she abbreviates it to HRH Regis Sumner.”
Just like she did to Leslie in school.
“But not when she thinks I’m listening,” Kevin continued. “Just when she’s talking to Gramma or Grandpapa. She’s trying to teach me to be respectful.”
