Protecting Her(62)

Garret’s talking to Brady, the guy who works at the front desk. He’s a college student and loves sports so Garret always talks to him.

“My dad took me to a Yankees game last summer,” Garret tells Brady. “And he might take me to a Patriots game. My dad played football in high school. I’m going to play too. I’m going to be quarterback.”

“What about your swimming?” Brady asks.

Garret shrugs. “I can do both. I have to get better at swimming. I’m not as good as my mom. She’s really good. She’s so good she was on a swim team. I want to be on one too, someday. My dad can swim but he’s not good like my mom.”

Hearing him talk about Pearce and me makes me smile. He’s still at the age where he thinks his parents are cool, especially his dad. I’m sure in a few years he’ll think we’re not.

“Ready to go?” I come up behind Garret and put my arm around him.

“Yeah.” He looks at Brady. “See ya later.”

“Bye, Garret.” He smiles at me. “Bye, Mrs. Kensington.”

“Bye. Tell your mom I said hi.”

His mom and I were on a committee I chaired for an auction held last month to raise money for lung cancer research. I learned all about lung cancer when Holton had it, so when this opportunity came up to help with the auction, I volunteered.

I started volunteering a lot more once Garret began kindergarten. I’m now on several committees for different organizations. I also give talks on American history to school groups. It’s not the same as working at a museum and giving tours, but it at least lets me use my history degree and knowledge.

“Which store do you want to go to?” I ask Garret. We’re on the hunt for a Halloween costume. It’s Tuesday, and Halloween is on Thursday, but Garret couldn’t decide on a costume so we didn’t get one yet.

“Jared got his at the mall. He’s gonna be a fireman.”

“What do you want to be? Have you decided yet?” I turn onto the road that takes us to the mall. We don’t have a mall in our small town but there’s one that’s not far from the gym we just left.

“Maybe a football player,” he says. “Or a baseball player.”

He’s so obsessed with sports. It’s all he talks about. In order to have conversations with him, I had to have Pearce give me lessons in every sport. My dad taught me about football but that’s it. I didn’t know anything about soccer or baseball or basketball.

“You could be a superhero,” I say.

“I guess.” He doesn’t sound too excited about that. “What was dad when he was a kid?”

“Your dad didn’t dress up for Halloween. Your grandparents didn’t celebrate it.”

“Why not?”

“They’re not really into holidays.”

“I love holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. Except I don’t like Valentine’s Day. It’s for girls.”

“It’s not just for girls. It’s for everyone. Someday you’ll like a girl and you’ll want to give her a valentine.”

“No way.” I glance at him in the rearview mirror and see him making a face. “I’ll never like a girl enough to give her a valentine.”

“Not now, but you will someday.” It makes me wonder what his future wife will be like and when he’ll meet her. Will he meet her in college? Or maybe he’ll meet her at work, when he’s older.

“I do NOT like Alyssa,” he proclaims. “You need to have a talk with that girl, Mom.” He’s so serious I almost laugh.

“What’s wrong with Alyssa?”

“She wants to be my girlfriend. I told her no but she didn’t listen. She told me she’s gonna tell her whole class I’m her boyfriend.”

“It’s okay, honey. You don’t go to her school. Nobody will know who she’s talking about.”

“I don’t care. I still don’t like her. She wears too much pink and she smells funny.”

“Garret, that’s her perfume.” I’m trying really hard not to laugh.

“Well, it stinks.”

I pull into the mall and park by the Halloween store. It’s only here for October and then it turns into a Christmas store. We go inside and Garret looks around a little, but ends up picking out a football player costume.

While we’re at the mall, I stop in one of the department stores to check out the dresses. Pearce and I have a party to go to this weekend and I’m not sure what to wear. The party is at Royce’s house. I don’t like Royce or Victoria, and neither does Pearce, but we’re still expected to make an appearance. It’s one of those rules of high society. You attend parties hosted by people you don’t like and pretend that everyone gets along. It’s something I’ve come to accept over the years although I still find it completely ridiculous.