Hard Row

113

MARGARET MARON

feelings when you left Jake out and made him cry, so

now it’s your turn to miss the fun. You’ll stay home

from the next Canes game and I’ll go with your dad.

You can say it was your idea and you have to make him

believe it or else he’ll ask you for the whole story. If that

happens, you’ll have to tell him yourself and you’ll still

stay home. Is it a deal?”

He nodded and by his chastened look, I knew I’d

gotten through to him.

“If I hear from Aunt Kate that you’re not trying to

turn this situation around with Jake, you’re going to

miss the next game after that as well. Three strikes and

you’re out of all the others the rest of the season. Is that

clear?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah?” I said sternly, unwilling to let him get away

with that deliberate show of disrespect.

“Yes, ma’am,” he muttered.

“Just because Mary Pat is six months older than you

doesn’t mean you have to let her lead you around by

the nose.”

“But then she may not want to play with me,” he

protested.

“I seriously doubt that, Cal. You’re smart and funny

and you can think up lots of games that take three peo-

ple. You don’t have to play what she wants every time.

Isn’t there anything besides television that you like that

Jake can do, too?”

Again that shrug, but then he grudgingly admitted

that Jake was getting pretty good at Chinese checkers.

“He almost beat me last week. And when we played with

the blocks, his tower was higher than Mary Pat’s.”

114

HARD ROW

“There you go then. See? You guys are going to know

each other the rest of your lives and the older you get,

the less it’s going to matter that he’s four years younger.

By the time you get grown, four years won’t make a

smidgin of difference. Your dad’s six years older than

me and that doesn’t matter to either of us, does it?”

“What doesn’t matter?” asked Dwight, who came

into the kitchen yawning widely.

“That you’re an old man and I’m your child bride,”

I said as I got up to pour him a cup of coffee. “Rough

night?”

“Tell you about it later,” he answered. “You two look

awfully serious. What’s up?”

“Guess what?” I said brightly. “Your son’s giving me