Page 95 of Man Advantage

This kid was something else, just like his brother.

Just like their dad.

God, no wonder I’m so stupid for Trev.

I focused, though, and continued helping Zane practice the various techniques he was learning. The class broke for lunch in the middle, and we both happily ate the sandwiches I’d packed. I’d worried briefly that Zane might not be hungry, but like me, he seemed to love the switch from something blindingly sweet. The turkey and cheese sandwiches were a nice balance to the steady stream of sugar we’d both been eating since the class started.

As we reconvened after lunch, Marci chirped, “Now I’m going to show you how to make afilledcupcake.” She held up a melon baller. “Step one… scoop out the middle.”

I worried that Zane might balk at that part, since he wanted to be decorating larger cakes instead of cupcakes, but he was actually quite into it. Like me, he probably hadn’t given a ton of thought to how the filling got into a cupcake. He seemed fascinated, and when Marci turned the kids loose to fill a couple of cupcakes, he was excited as he tried to decide between the different fillings.

He ultimately settled on raspberry for one and chocolate cream for the other. The first cupcake broke apart when he used the melon baller, but he didn’t get discouraged or upset this time. He just went a little slower on the second one, and the center came out without much fuss. Using the bag to add the filling went smoothly enough; he’d had enough practice with it so far that he seemed to understand just how much would come out when he squeezed it.

The rest of the class went smoothly. Zane had a few frustrating moments, but talking him down was even easier now that he’d seen himself get the hang of things after a few tries. He was still determined to have perfect results, but he was giving himself grace while he learned the various movements.

In the end, he had half a dozen elaborately decorated cupcakes placed carefully in a cardboard carrier, which he asked me to show his dad. The congratulatory“those look awesome—save one for me, okay?”text from Trev lit up Zane’s whole world.

I’d worried that a four-hour class might be too much for a seven-year-old. I’d been prepared to bail early if I thought he’d had enough, or we could step out for a few minutes if he needed a breather. It wasn’t like this was an SAT prep class or something; if he missed a segment, someone would probably fill us in.

By the time we left the art center, though, Zane probably would’ve happily sat through another four hours. Marci ravedabout how much she enjoyed having him in her class, and two of the moms mentioned that he was amazingly focused and well-behaved.

“I’ll pass the word along to his dad,” I said on the way out.

Zane was all smiles, carrying his carton of finished cupcakes down to the car, and he chattered excitedly about all the ideas he wanted to try on a bigger cake.

“The cupcakesarefun, though,” he admitted as I pulled out of the parking lot. “Do you think we can make some?”

“Sure, yeah, we can make some. Not today, but maybe this week?”

“Okay.” He was quiet for a moment, and then, as I was sitting at a red light, he said out of the blue, “I wish Dad could’ve come.”

I glanced at him in the rearview. He was gazing out the window, a touch of sadness in his expression. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I know he’s gotta go with his team. But sometimes I wish he didn’t have to miss stuff.”

I winced. “That has to be tough. I know he misses you guys a lot while he’s away.” I flicked my gaze to the mirror before refocusing on the road. “He says the highlight of his day is FaceTiming with you and Zach.”

“He does?”

“Of course. And he knows it’s tough on you and your brother.” I paused. “Marci said she has more classes like this during the year. Maybe we can see if your dad wants to do one with you after hockey is over.”

Zane looked up, meeting my gaze in the mirror. “Yeah?”

“Sure. Would you like to do that?”

His smile warmed my heart. “That would be fun!”

I nodded, fixing my gaze on the road as the light turned green. “I’ll talk to him about it.”

Hopefully I hadn’t just put my foot in my mouth and committed Trev to something he wouldn’t enjoy. Though I reallystruggled to imagine him objecting to doing something that one of his boys enjoyed. Especially something they wanted to do with him.

Besides, he made me to go soccer, so he couldlivewith cake-decorating.

I picked up Zach from his friend’s house, took the boys home, and fed them dinner. After hearing his brother talk about the class, Zach was suddenly interested in it himself, so I made a mental note to mention it to Trev later.

Then we packed their schoolbags into the car and I drove them over to Bryan’s condo. At least Tim was on the road with Trev. He was probably driving Trev nuts, but he could handle him better than I could handle two-on-one. God, I hated that guy.

Bryan let us in, and the boys hugged me goodbye before wandering into their bedrooms. Alone in the kitchen, Bryan and I managed a cordial conversation, which was a lot easier without Tim lurking nearby. I brought him up to speed on homework; Zach was struggling a little with the latest math unit, and Zane was having a hard time with the reading module.

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