Protecting Her(61)

He looks up at me. “Can we come back tomorrow? I don’t want to wait until Saturday.”

“I don’t know if we’ll have time. You have a busy week. You have football practice tomorrow.”

Garret loves sports and wants to play all of them. Right now, he’s on a little kids’ football team. He’s only six but he takes it very seriously. He even draws out plays in a notebook and then practices them with his dad in the back yard. Garret also plays soccer, basketball, and baseball, and when he’s not doing those things, he swims. I don’t know where he gets all his energy.

“Honey, could you pick up the other towels?” I ask Garret as he tosses his towel in the bin. I just taught a bunch of five-year-olds and they’re not always good at picking up after themselves.

I put the equipment away as Garret gathers the towels and adds them to the bin. He’s so helpful. He helps out at home too. I couldn’t ask for a better kid.

“Bye, Mrs. Kensington!” Alyssa waves at me as she walks out of the locker room.

She’s one of the little girls in my swim class. She’s only in kindergarten but acts older than that. She loves fashion and tells me she’s going to be a designer someday. She wears these crazy outfits that she puts together herself. Today it’s a denim skirt with pink-and-white striped tights, a pink shirt with hearts all over it, a white sequined headband in her hair, and furry white boots on her feet.

“Bye, Alyssa.” I wave back at her. “I’ll see you next week.”

I notice her eyeing Garret as he picks up the towels. Then suddenly she slips on some water around the pool and falls.

“Alyssa, are you okay?” I hurry to get to her but Garret gets there first.

“I got it, Mom,” he says, helping her up.

I stand back and watch the two of them.

“Thank you, Garret,” Alyssa says, tilting her head and smiling at him.

“You shouldn’t wear those boots.” He points to them. “That’s why you fell. You should wear sneakers.”

“The boots go with my outfit.” She sticks her hip out to the side and poses for him. “Don’t you like it?”

He shrugs. “It’s okay, I guess. But it’s too much pink.”

I cover my mouth as I laugh. This is too funny.

“What is she up to?” I turn and see Leah, Alyssa’s mom standing next to me, holding Alyssa’s pink coat.

“I think she’s flirting with my son,” I say.

Leah laughs. “Sorry about that. She has a huge crush on him. She talks about him all the time.”

“That’s funny. I guess I never noticed how much she liked him.”

We stand there watching them.

“He’s a very cute little boy,” Leah says. “I can see why she likes him.”

“He looks just like his dad. And he’s probably going to be just as tall as him. He’s already the tallest boy in his class.”

Alyssa is still talking to Garret and he’s starting to look bored.

“Why not?” Alyssa yells, sounding both angry and offended. She puts her hands on her hips.

“Because I don’t want a girlfriend,” he says, walking away from her.

Alyssa is now pouting as she watches Garret pick up the last two towels.

Leah nudges me and smiles. “I’ll have a talk with her. I’ll see you on Saturday.”

“Yeah. Bye.”

Leah leads her away, and as they go, I hear Alyssa mumbling, “Boys are stupid.”

Now that they’re gone, I laugh.

“I’m done,” Garret says, meeting me by the locker room doors.

“Thanks for your help, honey. Go change and I’ll meet you out front.”

I always worry about him being in the men’s locker room alone. He’s not really alone. There are other kids and adults in there, but he’s only six so I worry. But he kept insisting he could change in there by himself so I let him try it a couple weeks ago, and so far, there haven’t been any problems.

He’s mature for his age and looks older than he is because he’s tall. It kind of makes me sad because I don’t want him to grow up. I want him to be six forever. I said the same thing at five, and four, and three. Time goes way too fast.

I go in the women’s locker room and quickly change, and when I get to the front entrance of the gym where I always meet up with Garret, he’s already there, in his jeans and a white polo shirt, looking just like his dad. It’s really amazing how similar they look. He’s a miniature version of Pearce.