“You know you can have some of mine,” I chuckled, already knowing her tactics.
I paid for our ice cream cones and we sat by the window. My heart clenched as I remembered the last time we were here. Jude and I had picked up Sol, sitting right here as we asked her about school and enjoyed listening to her talk about her friends and her class.
“How do you like school so far?” I asked, watching her devour her ice cream.
She shrugged. “It’s ok.”
“Just ok?” I asked, feeling a little worried.
“I just miss being home with my mom, Teddy Bear, Colty and Atty,” she pouted.
“I know, going to school after summer kind of sucks, but we have to exercise that brain of yours,” I said. “You’re super smart and we all need to go to school so we can get smarter. Everybody needs to go to school.”
“Mom says we all need school because when we get older, we get jobs,” she said, looking so sad eating her ice cream.
“It’s a part of getting older,” I said, wondering what the hell I could say to make her feel better, but not fuck up what Nova was teaching her.
Jesus Christ, was parenting this stressful?
“I don’t want to get older,” she said.
“Yeah, you do,” I said. “I heard you want to barrel race.”
Her eyes lit up. BINGO.
“You know you need school for that,” I said. “I needed school for hockey. You know the way I hit a puck determines where it's gonna go, I need to know what muscles to use and need to work on and stretch. I also need to know what I need to eat to make sure my body is in tip-top shape. If you want to be a barrel racer, you're going to need to learn a lot of things for it.”
“Yeah, but I’m going to learn that when I get a coach,” she scowled.
“True, but it's so much more than that. Learning is like a muscle, you have to keep at it like exercise, the more you do the better you get,” I said, feeling like I was being watched. “And there's always things I use now that I learned when I was younger that help me. I know school keeps you away from family, but it's going to help you so much when you get older and you’ll be able to spend so much more time with your mom because you went to school.”
“Webby is right, Sol,” Jude said, standing by our table.
My cheeks grew red as our gaze connected. He gave me his bashful smile before looking at Sol.
“Because I went to school and I kept studying, I have a job that keeps me close to family,” he said, as Sol scooted over to make room for him to sit next to her. “If for some reason I ever have to move, I have a pretty good job that I could probably move anywhere.”
“Is that why you go to see Webby often?” she asked, licking her ice cream.
“Yeah, it’s why I’m able to go see Webby often,” he said, his cheeks going pink.
“That’s awesome,” she said. “I want a job that lets me work and stay with family.
“Well, that's why you need to go to school and study hard so you can get a cool job and stay close to family,” I said.
“That’s a good idea,” she nodded. “Webby, where is your family?”
I wasn’t prepared for the question like I normally was, but Jude was always ready.
“They are in Texas,” he said.
“Oh, how come?—”
“I bet I could beat you in Pac-Man,” Jude said immediately.
“Nuh-uh. I've been practicing.” She narrowed her eyes towardshim.
“You know, I’m the reigning champion,” he taunted.
