Page 87 of Engulfing Emma

I take a slice from the box and put his pepperoni on my slice. “Here you go.” I set him up at the picnic table.

Bonnie chastises me. “You could at least wash your hands,” she says, tearing Leo’s slice into bite-sized pieces.

I look at the grease and grime coating my hands and laugh. “True mechanics don’t wash their hands. Right, Jay?”

Jay shrugs and picks up a slice.

We sit next to Leo, the three of us eating grimy pizza. Bonnie rolls her eyes and goes back inside.

I say to Jay, “She’s going in to make a salad or some other girl food.”

He laughs. He’s been doing more of that lately. At first it was hard to get him to laugh. But in the past few weeks, he’s taken on the carefree attitude his mom said had died along with his father.

I gaze fondly at the car. “It’s really coming along, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he says. “Have you decided what color to paint it yet?”

“I was thinking I’d let you choose.” He has no idea I’m going to give him the car. I cleared it with his mother last week. They have a shed out back where he can park it when he turns sixteen.

“Me?”

“What do you think? Blue? Green? Silver?”

He looks at the Mustang. “I’ll have to give it some thought. It’s a big decision.”

“It is, but we have time.”

Bonnie comes out to collect Leo when he’s done eating. “I think this one’s ready for his afternoon nap.”

“Sleep tight, little man,” I say, ruffling his hair. “Later today we’re going to a baseball game with Joey and Uncle Denver.”

“Yay!” Leo claps his hands as Bonnie whisks him inside.

“You want to come, too?” I ask Jay

“Me? Why would you want me to come?”

“Because we’re friends? And friends do things together.”

“How come you’re always so nice to me?”

“I like to think I’m nice to everyone,” I say.

He picks at his pizza. “Not many white guys are nice to me,” he says. “All they see when they look at me is a poor black kid.”

Hearing him say that makes me fume. “I guess you’ve been hanging around the wrong white guys then. Come on, what do you say? It’ll be fun. We usually only stay for half of the game. It’s all Leo and Joey have the patience for. You’ll be home by eight.”

“Okay.”

“Great,” I say giving my hands a clap. “Then we’d better finish before Leo wakes up. I’d say we have about ninety minutes.”

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and see who’s calling. It’s Amanda. I point at the car. “Get that belt on. I have to take this.” I move a few yards away. “What’s up?”

Amanda’s been calling more lately. She even came for another visit a few weeks ago. I suspect seeing me with Emma made her realize what she’s been missing. It doesn’t matter, though. I see through all her bullshit.

“Hey, babe,” she says cheerfully.

I shake my head. For two years, she didn’t use that endearment for me. And now that we’re divorced, she thinks it’s okay to start using it again? “What do you want, Amanda? I’m a little busy right now.”

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