“Agree.”
“Done.”
“Christian is home, I’ll let him know.”
“Cool. We won’t be long,” I say, ending the call and walking back to the two most important women in my life.
“Everything okay?” my mom asks.
“Yeah, Walsh flies home tomorrow, so I’ll go with Seth and Christian to pick him up.”
“Oh, that will be good for him—to get back to his routine. I hope you can find out what happened to the poor boy.”
“Maybe,” I say with a shrug, knowing how withdrawn Walsh has been about it. I turn to Rachel, “The boys werethinking we would go pick up Walsh together. Take him out to dinner, try to get some answers…. just us boys. If that’s okay with you? I mean, if you wanna come, that’s fine.”
“No, I think that a really good idea. You boys just go.”
My mom sighs, turning her head back to Sam. She laughs as he runs around the backyard, completely in his element, playing with my old toys.
“Are you replacing me with a cuter version?” I ask my mom from behind my grin.
“Never, my baby…but I think Sam and I would have a fantastic time together. And look,” she points, “he keeps his clothes on.”
Rachel giggles. “So that started at an early age?”
“I can’t remember a time that he was ever happy to wear clothes.”
“Seriously, Mom,” I protest.
“You had such a cute tooshie and always wanted to show it off. Remember that time in the middle of the shopping center you pulled your pants down and peed in the flowerpot. Your butt cheeks were showing and you were so proud of yourself.”
“Anyway,” I say, reaching for Rachel’s hand as she laughs at my expense. “We should be going.” I pull her up and to her feet.
My mom sighs and steps toward me as I release Rachel’s hand to wrap her in a hug. “Okay, my boy, I’ll see you soon.”
She hugs Rachel next. “It was so lovely to meet you, and that precious boy of yours.”
“Thank you for having us.”
“Oh please, anytime you want to visit, you are more than welcome to.”
Christian: *added Seth to the group*
Christian: Spoke 2 Seth, down with just us guys picking up Walsh. Shelby agreed.
Walsh: I love how Cap has to check with the GM (girlfriend manager).
Christian: I didn’t check with her….
Walsh: Next jersey order, putting her name on the back instead of his. Lol
Christian: *finger emoji*
Me: Cool, I’m in.
We climb in my truck after strapping Sam in, but not before promising Mom we would all be back soon for a visit. Sam also put up a fight as he wanted to spend more time with my mom, which I know secretly made her happy. “You know what’s not fair?” I say to Rachel.
“What?” she says, looking over to me as I reverse out of the driveway.
