“Good luck at your meeting,” I get out before I hang up. I jog to the backyard where I stashed the sidewalk chalk behind the garbage cans. After Henry realized how dirty it makes your hands, I know he won’t appreciate it. Quinn might.
It’s a ten-minute drive to the school from Julia’s. I make it to the brick building with one minute to spare and spot Miss Amy’s long auburn hair twisted in a braid over her shoulder. She’s waiting outside the door with a handful of backpack-wearing toddlers. From a distance, Henry’s towhead is hard to miss, but Quinn I don’t see until I get closer. When she sees meshe reaches for his hand, and he bats hers away again.Poor girl.Won’t give up.
“Henry, your auntie’s here!” Miss Amy points to me and waves as I hop onto the sidewalk.
“Hey, buddy! How was school?” I’m looking at his teacher as I ask my Julia-inspired question. She always wants a daily report. If I don’t ask, I don’t get much out of Henry to share.
“We’re still working on eye contact, but he seems excited for his playdate with Quinn.” She rubs her hand on Quinn’s backpack.
Is she guessing or assuming? Henry doesn’t get excited in the same way other kids do. Not in big smiles and a jumping up and down sort of way. He talks faster and louder. Right now, he’s standing stock-still, not saying a word.
I squat down in front of Quinn. “Are you ready for our playdate?”
She gives me the reaction the teacher probably expected from Henry.
“Okay! Let’s go.”
Out of habit, I ask both of them if I can hold their hands to cross the street. Quinn accepts mine willingly; Henry tolerates me guiding him by the wrist. It’s a good compromise. I pull open the passenger door, and Henry pushes past Quinn and climbs in first.
“Henry… Quinn’s going to use your car seat, okay? You get to use that cool booster seat next to her!”
“This is my seat,” he states matter-of-factly.
I didn’t warn him. Henry does better when he’s prepared. But this was last minute, and I couldn’t do that. All I have to work with is making it sound as if it’s the most exciting thing to happen to him today.
“I know it’s your seat, buddy, but Quinn is smaller than you.”He has a few inches on her. Even if the seat belt hits Henry’s chin, it will completely cover Quinn’s face. “Can you use the booster seat just this one time? It’ll be really fun! I promise!”
With a disgusted look on his face, he shakes his head. “I don’t use that seat. I use this seat. This is the seat that I use. It’s my seat. She can sit in the other seat.”
I sigh. We might not need that key in Rhett’s backyard after all. I don’t think we’re leaving this parking lot any time soon.
“I know. I know it’s your seat. It’s always been your seat. But just fortoday,” I emphasize as if noting that it’s temporary will be enough to change his mind. “We’ll share it, okay?”
“No thank you.”
I cover my mouth with my hand so he doesn’t hear the laugh that slips from my lips. Julia’s been working hard on teaching him to use manners, and I love that he chose to use them now with anoattached to it. I can’t argue with that. He was polite. Now what am I going to do?
“Waeybut! Waeybut!” Quinn squats down to the pavement and presses the tip of her finger to its back leg. It springs into the air and lands on the car tire.
“That’s a grasshopper,” Henry corrects her. “They have ears on their belly and regrow their legs when they get hurt.”
“Wow! That’s interesting! Where did you learn that?” I ask him.
“Coyote Peterson.”
I thought he might say that. Henry is obsessed with the YouTube showBrave Wilderness, where a guy in a cowboy hat travels the world for animal encounters.
Quinn scoots forward and touches its back leg again. “Aw-puh,” she repeats. It springs so far in the air we lose track of it.
“Good job saying hopper.”
Henry doesn’t turn and look at her like I do. “You can ride in my seat.”
My eyes widen. “Wow! That’s really nice of you, Henry. Good job sharing!”
“Mom says if you do a good job, you should get a reward.”
I realize now that’s what he expects. The surprise bucket of chalk certainly isn’t going to do the trick.
