When we arrived at the truck, the vendor smiled at us. I wasn’t surprised she was happy considering all the money Marcus had spent on ice cream and coffee this week.
“Hey, it’s my favorite superhero, and you brought Batman today,” she said.
“We’re a team!” Noah announced again.
The vendor grinned. “What will it be today, Robin?” she asked.
“Um, I don’t know. Can I have two scoops this time?” Eyes hopeful, Noah lifted his gaze to Marcus.
“You think you can eat two?”
“I know I can,” the little boy said with confidence.
“All right, let’s see what you got. You can have two scoops.”
Noah put in his request for strawberry and cotton candy so quickly, it was clear he had been plotting to do this.
Marcus had his usual cup of coffee, but I skipped the ice cream. I realized last night I was setting myself up by eating ice cream every day, as if I were a seven-year-old boy instead of a thirty-three-year-old woman whose metabolism was not what it used to be.
We headed back across the park like we usually did, with Noah leading the way, and Marcus and I strolling behind him. Since Marcus and I were spending so much time together, I had done a Google search on him and learned he was one of the top-selling real estate agents in Houston. He had a listing coordinator and two buyer assistants, which enabled him to devote time to Noah’s care early on.
While his godson sat down on a bench to finish his ice cream, Marcus and I remained standing in the grass nearby.
“How’s he doing?” I asked.
“Incredibly well, except for wearing the costume. He still refuses to wear regular clothes.”
“It was really sweet of you to put on the Batman costume for him.”
Marcus took a sip of his coffee. “When he asked me, I couldn’t say no. It’s something his dad would’ve done. Brandon wore the costume when he took Noah trick-or-treating last year, and I guess he’s been holding onto that memory.”
“That could explain why he’s been so attached to the Robin costume in the first place. It’s a core memory.”
“Exactly.”
“Have his eating habits improved?”
“They have. He’s finishing meals now. His appetite isback, and of course, you’ve been good for him.” He shot a look at me from the corner of his eye.
“Me?” He had genuinely surprised me with the compliment.
“Don’t act like you don’t know you’re the reason we’re here. I bought ice cream for him at the store, and he wouldn’t eat it, but for some reason, he loves the ice cream from this truck.”
“That has nothing to do with me. They make a good product. But back to your comment about me, all I do is eat ice cream with you.”
“Nah, you do more than that.” His voice became serious. “You consistently talk to him in an engaging way, and it’s worked to pull him out of his depression. The first time he smiled was because of an interaction with you. His therapist is impressed by his progress, by the way. At his appointment on Thursday, she asked me what I was doing. When I told her I’d been taking him for ice cream, she laughed at first but sobered when she realized I was serious. ‘Keep doing what you’re doing,’ she told me.”
Warmth filled my chest. “He’s a great kid, and if I helped in some small way, I’m happy.”
We were silent for a moment as he drank more coffee. “His aunt called again.”
Because of our daily meetups, we had developed a deeper bond, prompting him to confide in me on Wednesday about the problem he was experiencing with Noah’s paternal aunt. She wanted the boy to move to Tennessee right away, but Marcus believed it was better for him to finish the school year in Houston.
Which made sense. No point in uprooting him unnecessarily and causing more disruption in his life. Besides, schools closed in about a month, so her continued insistence on having Noah move to Tennessee immediately seemed odd.
“What did she want?” I asked.
“Same shit, different day,” Marcus grumbled. “I told her once and for all to accept that he’s not coming to Tennessee before the end of the school year, and I think she finally got it. Then she started talking about after school closed, which I’m more open to.”
