“I go to the coffee shop next door. The one where Belle works to get some work done.”
Ava nodded. “I like Belle.”
“Me too.”
“Maybe someday, when I’m old enough, I could be a Grimm Reaper. I think it would be so awesome. I would have skulls all over my helmet.”
I nodded. “I can totally see it, baby, you would knock’em all down.”
We drove the rest of the way home in peaceful silence, but my mind was anything but. Maybe Belle was right. Maybe somewhere inside of me hid the heart of a Reaper.
That night as I sat in bed, I decided it was time to take a risk. I took my phone from the nightstand and pulled up Belle’s contact.
Eleanor - So, how does one go about becoming a Reaper?
Belle - Don’t toy with me, Tremaine.
Eleanor - Forget I said anything.
Belle - Neverrr! Come to the rink. I’ll talk to Mel and find out a good time.
I put the phone down and tried to breathe. Was I actually going to do this? Being impulsive like this was something I’d given up long before I’d settled down. And now I had Ava, but maybe showing her how to take risks was important too.
I picked my phone back up.
Eleanor - I have kind of a weird question.
Alex - I’m intrigued.
Eleanor - Do you want to meet me at the rink sometime? I’m considering trying out for the reapers, and I might need my personal medic on call.
Alex - That’s amazing! It would be my pleasure to bandage any scrapes you may get with my medical expertise, complete with pokemon bandaids.
17
ELEANOR
The next day, after I got Ava dropped off at school, my mom was at her weekly Bridge club. I decided to take advantage of the alone time. I hadn’t roller-skated in at least a decade, except for the disastrous attempt at the picnic where I had fallen. My body was making sure I remembered that.
“Okay,” I muttered to myself, wobbling dangerously as I clung to the side of the garage. “You can do this. You are a grown woman. You have given birth. You have survived grief. You can absolutely roll across your own driveway without dying.”
The skates felt foreign on my feet, heavier than I remembered, like someone had swapped my childhood wheels for cinderblocks. I pushed off carefully, rolling a few inches before my balance shifted at a betrayal angle.
“Nope nope nope?—”
I flailed, windmilling my arms until I managed to steady myself. Barely.
God.
Tomorrow.
I was meeting Alex tomorrow at the park for a skating lesson.
And I really, really didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of the man who made me feel soft and fluttery and?—
I pushed off again, managing a slow, shaky glide. It wasn’t pretty, but it was movement. And right now, that was enough. I took a deep breath, straightened my knees, and tried again. Wobble. Glide. Arms out. Wobble. Try not to die.
I was concentrating so hard on not eating pavement that I didn’t hear the car until the tires crunched over the end of the driveway.
