Page 80 of Again, In Autumn

“Vienna,” Adam calls out to me, waving me toward him. I peel my legs off the stair. I don’t know what he wants from me now, but we’re old enough not to hurt each other anymore and to speak our minds.

Kate’s head bounces between the two of us as the others clean up the yard.

Adam squints as I join them. “You good?” he asks.

I swallow, watching his hands fiddle with a dead brown leaf. If I could go back in time, I’d take that hand. I’d tell him how wanted he is.

“Good,” I say instead.

He leans toward me. “Well, Grayson here doesn’t believe you can do a back handspring.”

“That’s because I can’t.”

“See!” Grayson shouts.

“I used to,” I tell my nephew, “but I’ll probably end up ruining my spine.”

“Boo,” Caroline laughs. “You can still do it.”

David begins to chant, “Vienna, Vienna, Vienna…” It doesn’t catch on.

Grayson throws his ball in the air and Copper runs off to chase it. He taunts, “I told you Auntie Vee can’t do superhero stuff.”

My jaw drops. “Superhero stuff?” I repeat incredulously.

“Yeah, like Spiderman.”

Francesca snaps her head up. “When did you watch Spiderman?”

David tenses. “It’s a kid’s show.”

“No, it’s not,” she says.

“There’s a cartoon one, Fran –”

“You know how I feel about weapons and encouraging him to do dangerous stunts!”

I put up my hand to garner her attention. “Excuse me, Grayson, but you think I don’t have what it takes to be super? All right then…everyone get back.”

Francesca groans, “Don’t do this, I don’t want to go to the emergency room today. We don’t have time for that.”

“My honor is on the line.” I stretch out my neck and wrists, quickly arch my back and touch my toes, and shake out my muscles. This will hurt tomorrow, but my reputation is at stake.

When a path is cleared, I begin to run. My feet hop into a roundoff, and my hands press into the grass, muscle memory taking over. I finish the back handspring with a flourish, wrists flicking in the air. Though my body clenches painfully, the group cheers my skill which makes it worth the Epsom salt bath I’m going to need later.

David admits, “I did not think you were going to do that.”

“Ow, ow, ow,” I whimper to myself, walking off the pain.

“Very nice,” Adam says, coming up beside me. “Perfect form. Ten out of ten.”

My head tips back, and I whimper, “I think I broke my body.”

“Yeah, yeah, been there. You’ll go to sleep tonight a young adult and wake up tomorrow needing a Life Alert,” he quips. “At least you’ve still got spirit.”

I fight off a smile. If I don’t at least pretend to fight, it’ll be an all-out grin to match his, the kind that reflects enough sunlight to power a small home. Adam and I are joking with each other. Adam’s trying to make me smile.

His hand meets mine as we bend to pick up the same lavender plant marker, and he doesn’t flinch from the touch. “What did you and Maggie talk about?” he whispers with a curious brow.

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