Page 64 of Between Now and Forever
“Total Mom joke,” Carter says, making Dylan laugh.
“You laugh at a seven-year-old but not me? Cool.”
Carter sprints ahead of us and comes back with a box of doughnuts.
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “We have bagels and cream cheese, thanks to Dylan. We don’t need this much food. It’ll go to waste.”I think. With the way they’ve been eating, maybe not.
“These aren’t for us,” Carter says.
Dylan looks at me, his brows pulled together.
“Then who are they for?” I ask.
“Jay.”
I slow my walk.Did he say Jay? Surely not.“Excuse me?”
“These are for Jay,” he says again.
It takes me a moment to get my bearings.
“Why would we get doughnuts for Jay?” I ask, confused.
“Are we talking about our neighbor?” Dylan asks.
I shrug. “I think so.”
“Yes, silly. Our neighbor, Jay. How many other Jays do you know?” Carter asks.
I scratch my forehead. “So why are we getting Jay doughnuts?”
“Because,”Carter says, as if we’re too slow and need to catch up, “he’s been sad. So we need to get him a treat. Because that’s being nice, and we should be nice to our neighbors. That’s what you always say. Treat your neighbors like you want to be treated. If I was sad, I’d want doughnuts.”
That was before our neighbor was an infuriating, confusing, gorgeous man that I’d like to forget exists at this point.
Dylan looks at me. “Ball is in your court.”
I start to speak but stop. I have so many questions that I don’t know where to start.
“We haven’t seen Jay since last weekend,” Dylan says. “How do you know he’s sad?”
Well, I saw him Monday in the basement, but that’s neither here nor there.
“Maybe you haven’t seen him, but I have,” Carter says, bouncing from one foot to the other. “I saw him yesterday.”
“Where?” I ask.
“I went to his house. My ball needed air again, and I was gonna ask to use his pumper. But he was all cranky again, so I didn’t ask.”
I force a swallow. “Didn’t I ask you to leave him alone?”
“Yes, you did. But he’s my friend. And he’s having adult problems and is sad. So I have to see him. That’s what you do. You taught me that.”
I never thought I would regret teaching my child manners. But here we are.
“Why do you think he’s having adult problems?” I ask as nonchalantly as I can manage while my brain is working overtime.
“He told me.” He shrugs, placing the doughnuts carefully into the cart. “I gave him your tricks and told him to try them.”
