Page 117 of Fall For Me
She started with: “Do you think Granny’s wings are big like Mommy’s?” Then she moved to questions like: “Where is heaven?” and “Are Mommy and Granny together in heaven?” but the one that really got me was: “Can I visit heaven? I miss my Granny.”
Now, that broke my heart. I don’t know how much more I can take.
“What, sweet girl?” I finally answer her.
“Can God see me poop?”
What is it with kids and their obsession with poop?
“God sees everything, princess.”
“Well, that’s just embarrassin’.”
Shaking my head, I laugh as she calls my name again.
I glance at her through the review mirror, ready to spout off another mentally rehearsed response. “Yes, mija?”
“If you swallow your gum, will it will stay in your butt for seven whole years?”
Nearly choking on the gum I’m chewing, I ask, “Who told you that?”
“My daddy. He said if I swallowed my gum, my butthole would blow bubbles.”
“Your Dad is silly,” I laugh, putting the truck into park.
Jade pushes the sunglasses that I bought her up on her nose as I scoop her out of the truck, then wraps her tiny arms around my neck. “Ready to do your schoolwork?”
“Nope. It’s fall break. I get to play today.”
“What kind of homeschooled kid gets fall break?”
“This one.” She giggles, pointing at herself. “I get a whole week off for Thanksgiving.”
“That’s probably why you don’t know that your butthole doesn’t blow bubbles. You spend more time on break than actually doing schoolwork.”
We never got a fall break. We had spring break and only three days off for Thanksgiving.
“Hey, munchkin.” Aspen greets Jade as I set her on her feet right outside the game room.
“Hi, Aunt Aspen.”
“Tucker’s in there if you want to go play,” she says before her eyes settle on me. “I’ll watch her until Aiden gets here.”
Jade leaves me standing in the hallway without a hug or goodbye. So much for being her favorite.
“Alright then. Since I’m no longer wanted, guess I’ll head on down.”
“Oh, don’t be a baby.” Aspen laughs, turning toward her office across the hall. She looks back over her shoulder. “Good luck out there today. You’re gonna need it.”
What the hell?
As I make my way down the stairs, I find my team sitting in the stadium seats, then clock the sludge that is our ice rink.
“Mac. Glad you found your way to work this morning,” Coach says, arms crossed over his chest as he stands in front of the guys.
“Sorry I’m late,” I mutter, heading farther down the stairs. “I had to go pick up Jade. Aiden had court this morning.”
Coach nods, accepting my excuse, then claps his hands together once, pulling everyone’s attention from me to him. “Alright! Listen up. Before we start, I want to go ahead and introduce our new team coach.”
