Page 14 of Ravage

I feared there was only one man who could do that, and he was the one man I couldn’t have.

3

RAVAGE

Friday nights at Malone’s had become a regular thing for me and the kids. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had them that we hadn’t gone there for pizza. It was what they always wanted. Personally, I was dog-tired and ready to call it a day. I would’ve been perfectly fine with picking up some burgers or grilling out, but when I mentioned it to the kids, neither of them seemed too keen on the idea.

So, I caved.

I’m not proud to admit it, but I didn’t like disappointing them, especially when it was easy to avoid it.

We’d barely gotten settled into our usual booth when Sam announced, “I may not get to play in next week’s game.”

“Why’s that?”

“I bombed my math test today, and my teacher said she was gonna call the coach.”

“Why’d you bomb it?”

“Cause fractions are stupid, and so is my teacher. I don’t understand what she’s talking about.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“All of it.”

“You’re eleven. You’re not supposed to know all of it just yet.”

“Tell my teacher that.”

I cocked my brow. “You need to be the one who tells your teacher.”

“I did, and she tried explaining it. I just don’t get what she’s talking about.”

“I get it.” I shook my head. “I used to suck at math.”

“You did?” Sam asked, sounding surprised.

“Aw, yeah. I was terrible at it.”

“But you’re a grown-up.”

“Yeah, well, about a hundred years ago, I was a kid just like you, and I never thought I’d need half the crap they taught me in school.” I leaned in as I told him, “Turns out I was wrong… I use math almost every day.”

“How?”

“Alright, let’s say I bought a part for a hundred bucks and end up charging a customer a hundred and fifty. I gotta know how much profit that’d be.”

“It’d be fifty bucks.”

“Exactly. Then, I gotta figure out the sales tax, what I paid for the part, how much the shop needs to make, and how many hours the mechanic worked on it.” His eyes widened. “And that’s just one way I use it.”

“Dang.”

I saw the disappointment he was trying to swallow, and it hit me harder than I wanted to admit. Sam always tried to act tough, especially around his sister, but I knew him well enough to know when he was worried that he’d let me down and when he needed me to remind him that one bad grade didn’t change how I felt about him.

“I know it sucks, but one way or another, you gotta learn it. You’re smart. You’ll get it.”

“I know. It just sucks that I gotta miss the game.”