AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nah, squirt. You’re doing everything right. In fact...” I crouch down next to her. This is something I want to be on her level for. “You didso well,I don’t think you need my help anymore.”
Her eyes go wide. “No, Mister Dominic, I can’t—”
“Shhh. Hear me out, okay? The past couple loops around the street, I still had my hand on your bike seat. So if you started to fall, I would’ve been able to catch you, I promise. But I wasn’t helping you balance at all. You were doing that all on your own.”
She takes a second to process. I half expect her to get mad, but I guess I did things right this time, because she doesn’t.
“I was doing it all by myself?” she whispers.
I nod. “You were. All by yourself. I was there, but I wasn’t helping you at all. And I think you should do a loop or two by yourself.”
“I’m ready?”
“You’ve been ready, squirt.”
She squares her shoulders, adjusting her grip on the handles. “I’m ready!”
Before taking off again, she checks for cars, and then she’s gone. She doesn’t wobble at all, and she lets out a, “Wheeeee!” as she picks up speed.
As she circles back, she keeps her eyes on the road. “Mister Dominic! Auntie Jade! I’m doing it!”
“You’re doing so well, honey.”
When I glance at Jade, she’s blinking rapidly, and her eyes look glassy. At some point, she got up and walked down the driveway, so she’s only a few feet away from me.
“You okay?”
She wipes at her eyes. “Yeah, just the sun.”
We watch Rosie as she rides smoothly down the street and then back again. She’s grinning, her little feet peddling furiously.
“Again? Please, Auntie Jade?”
“One more,” she says. Then, quietly, “Thank you, Dom.”
“No problem.”
When Jade and I first met, I didn’t think she’d ever warm up to me. She seemed too fiercely independent, a little judgmental, and kinda grumpy—which is ironic since she’s the one who gavemethe nickname “grumpy.”
But over the past year, I’ve seen glimpses of who she is behind all the walls she’s put up. A smile here, a loving glance at Rosie there. And lately, a longing look that I can’t quite place. As she watches Rosie, it returns to her face.
Maybe she’s lonely.
You’re projecting again, you idiot.
When Rosie stops in front of us, she shouts, “I did it!”
“I’m so proud of you, hon.” Stooping down, Jade helps Rosie undo her helmet. “You can practice more tomorrow afternoon.”
With a giddy gasp, Rosie hops off her bike. “Mister Dominic, I start school tomorrow!”
“Yeah, I know, squirt.”
“What? How do you know?!”
I chuckle. “Your aunt told me a couple weeks ago.”
“You remembered the date,” Jade says. Her tone is flat, and she’s looking at me with surprise, but with something else, too. Something wary, almost angry.
