The boys had suffered enough. I stepped back and high-fived Scott. “Nailed it.”
“Yep,” he said, proud of himself. “That’ll resurface in college.”
“So, can we go?” Kyle asked.
“Go where?” I said.
“To the skate park.”
I looked at Jake. “Did you forget something?”
“I can do it when I get home.”
“You skipped yesterday,” I said. “You’re the one who told me to hold you to an hour a day on the piano.”
Kyle frowned. “Why would you say that?”
“Because I want to get better.”
“You’re already better.”
Jake shook his head. “Better’s not good enough. I want to be the best.”
“Then four minutes a day won’t cut it,” I said.
He sighed, fingers dragging through his hair. “How about thirty now?”
“And thirty when you get home,” I said, meeting him halfway. I’d learned the hard way not to push a kid so far that they started to hate the thing they loved.
Jake exchanged a look with Kyle, then nodded. “And then we go to the skate park.”
“Not so fast,” I said. “With who?”
“Just us and Dalton.”
I checked with Scott who, of course, couldn’t care less. He was the permissive parent who believed kids needed to be kids. I’d been raised to believe otherwise, which meant when I put my foot down with ours, I was always the bad guy.
“Okay,” I relented. “But only the skate park, and no hanging out with that Lynch kid. I don’t trust him. And you have to be home at six for dinner.”
“We know,” Jake said. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Don’t thank me now. To the piano.”
Jake disappeared around the corner. A second later, he was hammering the keys, but what came out was not the complicated concerto we all knew he was capable of. No, the song Jake chose to start his countdown wasI’m Too Sexy. Scott and I glanced at each other, smiling.
“I mean, heisplaying,” Scott said.
“Yes, well, I don’t think that’ll get him into Juilliard.”
Scott blinked. “Juilliard? He wants to go there?”
“Jake and I have talked about it. Why?”
“Because I’m going to have to start stealing from my boss right now if we’re going to be able to afford it.”
“I think your son is good enough for a full scholarship.”
“I thought full scholarships required good grades.”
