Just showered. Am eating a turkey sandwich. Have a
video to watch. I'm alone on a Saturday night.
He might be expecting an answer, but that wasn't part of
the plan, so I put my phone back in my pocket and turned
my attention to my own dinner.
'Paige!' Tyler bounced into view as I opened the oven and
puled out the pizza, cheese overbrowned. 'Guess what!'
I set the pizza on the special marble trivets Stela had
ordered from Italy when they redid their kitchen. 'What.'
ordered from Italy when they redid their kitchen. 'What.'
'I got al the way up to level seventeen on Windago
Diamond! C'mon, come and see!' Tyler tugged at my
hand stil covered in the hot mitt.
'Give me a minute, Ty.' Together we studied the pizza.
He made a face. 'Do we have to eat that?'
'I thought you loved pizza.'
He leaned forward. 'But it's gross.'
'Yeah. Sorry, kiddo, it's what your mom left.'
He sighed and leaned on the counter. 'Can I have peanut
butter and jely?'
Wow. If the kid was giving up pizza in favor of PB & J
that was pretty bad. 'What if I take you guys out? Want to
go to Jungle Java or someplace?'
They had pizza there, overpriced and not much better than
the one Stela had left. At least it wouldn't be burned. And
yeah, it was a little selfish of me. If the boys were running
rampant through the playground or in the arcade I could sit
rampant through the playground or in the arcade I could sit
and read my magazines in as much peace as the constant
noise would alow me.
'Yesss!' Tyler pumped his fist in the air. 'Jeremy, c'mon, let's go! Paige is going to take us to Jungle Java!'
One young boy shouldn't have made so much noise, but he
was going to be tal like our dad, and his feet were already
bigger than mine. Tyler thundered into the den with me at
his heels. We found Jeremy sulenly thumbing the controls
of the game hooked up to the big-screen TV in the corner.
He didn't even glance up when Tyler bounded down the
two steps to the sunken room and flew onto the couch to
bounce his brother.
'Get off, retard!' Jeremy shoved Tyler hard enough to rol
him onto the floor.
'Hey!' I shouted before either of them had the chance to
get into it. 'Shut up, both of you. Cut it out, or you can
stay here and eat your mom's shitty pizza.'
Two pairs of wide eyes looked at me. I knew it was the
language, but it had worked at getting their attention. I
gestured at the TV.
gestured at the TV.
'Turn that off and get your shoes on. Let's go.'
