Page 57 of Ring Rust

“I know!Role model, who?”

“Anyway,” Jasper continued, biting back a smile. “Do you mind if I go?”

“Of course not. Nina and I are going to watch The Acorn Mystery three times in a row.”

“Yeah!” Nina said. “Can we have popcorn?”

“We can have popcorn if you go pick up the laundry in your room and wash your hands.”

“Okay!”

She hustled down the hallway, leaving Jasper and Ryan alone.

“You’re sure you don’t mind?”

“I will only mind if I don’t hear from you and Craig texts me to come pick you up.”

Jasper bit his lip. “I am sorry about that.”

“But, um…” Ryan stood up from the ground, groaning at his aching knees and back. “Goddamn. Getting old is rough.”

He limped towards the front door, the joke about getting old falling flat, because it was obviously more than that. Jasper was struck by how visible the physical cost of Ryan’s career had become. Decades of bumps, falls, and injuries had settled into his joints, and it was something Jasper hadn’t spent much time considering until now.

Ryan came back with his own car keys in his hands. “Take the Rover.”

“What? Why?”

Ryan raised an eyebrow and gestured to the window where they could see snow falling.

Jasper grabbed the keys without further argument. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Popcorn!” Nina yelled from the kitchen.

“That’s me,” Ryan said. “Have fun tonight. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“I won’t.”

Jasper watched Ryan disappear into the kitchen and was surprised when he felt a small part of himself wishing he could cancel on Craig and stay home to watch a movie about squirrel detectives.

“Okay, little chicken,”Ryan said, lifting Nina onto the couch. The effort tweaked something in his back, and he groaned, breathing through it as best he could. “Jasper is gone. We could watch the Acorn Mystery, but what if we watched Uncle Ryan’s best of tape? Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Best of what?”

“My best matches. I miss wrestling, and I feel a little sad about it tonight. Watching it might make me feel better.”

She seemed to ponder it for a moment but shook her head. “No, thank you. Acorn Mystery, please.”

“Okay. Just thought I’d try.” He leaned forward to kiss her head and felt another flash of pain. He let out a yelp.

“Why are you making those noises?” Nina asked.

“I’m old.”

“Like a dinosaur.”

“I’m not as old as a dinosaur, but I’m getting there,” he said. He twisted at the waist to stretch his back, but it made everything feel worse. “Okay, um. I actually need to lie on the ground.”

“Okay.” Nina hopped off the couch to lie on the ground, too.