Page 60 of Chris

Maria saw Chris looking her way, and the worry on her features morphed into a bright smile. She waved, and he returned the gesture with a wink. For whatever reason, the girl slipped out of the screen door, and headed past her parents. They didn’t even note her leaving the house or coming down the stairs.

Maria came to stand in front of him. Chris kneeled to the ground to be closer to eye-level with her, uncaring that he was dirtying the knees of his slacks. He always thought it ignorant for adults to loom above kids when they talked to them. How would they like it to have someone much larger than them hanging overtop of them while they talked?

Not well, he bet.

“Hey,” he said.

Maria beamed. “Hey. I made you something.”

Chris blinked. “Did you?”

“Yes.” Digging in the pocket of her dress, she added, “We’re friends, right? Friends make promises, and you made me a promise.”

Kids, man.

They had a way of simplifying everything. Of taking any kind of gesture and turning it into something more, innocent or otherwise. It reminded him of the good in the world when he was surrounded by things others might consider immoral, or even evil, sometimes.

“We are friends.”

Maria glanced up at him, her hand stilling in its quest to find whatever item she wanted in her pocket. “Best friends? Like Mamá and me?”

Chris grinned. “We can be, Maria. But you didn’t have to make me anything to be that, okay? Friends are just friends because they want to be—we don’t have to give anything to our friends to keep them. Just our kindness, and the goodness in our hearts, huh? That’s what counts.”

She shrugged tiny shoulders. “But I wanted to. You’ll wear it, won’t you?”

“Wear what?”

She found the item she had been searching for. Pulling it from her pocket, she held it high for him to admire. A woven bracelet made from a dark, thin leather cord. She smiled, her eyes glimmering with pride as he stared at it.

“That’s amazing,” he said.

“Aunt Abril showed me how to braid it. Do you like it?”

Chris took the bracelet and held it flat in his palm. “So much, thank you.”

“Put it on!”

He laughed but did as she said. It was a little too loose, but she showed him how to pull on one of the two end cords to tighten it firm to his wrist.

“It shouldn’t get wet,” she said.

“Okay, I’ll make sure it doesn’t.”

“But you’ll wear it always, anyway, right?”

Her genuine request had his chest tightening.

Chris nodded. “Absolutely. Always. I won’t take it off.”

“Good.”

Maria darted forward, and gave him a tight hug, her little arms snaking around his neck so hard, he almost lost his breath. He didn’t get the chance to hug her back before she stepped away from him and turned to dart back to the house.

She didn’t get far.

Valeria stood two feet behind her daughter, now, surveying the scene with a soft gaze. She gave them a small smile, and then said to Maria, “Better get back in the house. Jorge forgot something and had to go back in to get it. We don’t want him getting angry that you didn’t listen when he told you to stay inside, right?”

Maria peeked over her shoulder at Chris, but turned back to her mother. “Okay, Mamá.”