Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 124320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
He runs off and out the door to the backyard.
“I should be there,” Aiko says despairingly. “I’m missing his birthday, and he’s going off to camp for weeks. What if he—”
“You’re exactly where you should be,” I interrupt before she can spiral. “And you’re an incredible mom. You’ve sacrificed a lot for him, for me, for this family. Delayed things in your career, put off some of your dreams. This trip is just for you, and you deserve it. He’ll have a great birthday today and see you when you get back.”
“You sure?”
“Am I sure that he won’t be emotionally scarred because you missed this one birthday party? Yes. Besides, the trampoline and the sleepover cover many transgressions.”
“You always know what I need to hear.”
“You have nothing to feel guilty about.”
“Oh, God, but I do.” Affection and torment and tears flood her eyes. “I slept with Chaz.”
I allow her words to sink in, waiting to see if I’m angry or hurt or jealous, but I’m not. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” I tell her, glancing out to the backyard to make sure Noah is still there. “We’re not together anymore.”
“I know.” Fresh tears fall over her cheeks. “He wasn’t you, Ezra, and I haven’t been with anyone else for ten years. I felt like I was cheating on you.”
“You’re not, and if you’re worried about my feelings, I’m fine.”
She hesitates and then releases her next words in a rush. “I know you said before there wasn’t any one in particular you were attracted to,” she says, barreling ahead before I can amend that statement. “But I want you to promise me something.”
“What?” I ask warily.
“When you…” She swallows and closes her eyes. “If you sleep with someone else, I want you to tell me.”
I’m already shaking my head. “Ko, you know how you get. You’ve got a jealous streak a mile wide. How would that even be helpful or healthy?”
“I’m not that bad.”
“Jill Schaffer.”
“That bitch,” Aiko spits. “She was after you from the moment we met her at parent-teacher conference.”
“No, she was just being friendly. You thought she was after me, and made that poor woman’s school year a nightmare.”
“She should not be teaching children if she’s going to lust after their fathers.”
“My point,” I say, pausing to let it sink in, “is that me telling you if I sleep with someone else won’t go as well as our conversation about Chaz did, and you know it.”
With perfect timing, or bad timing, depending on how you look at it, Chaz walks into the hotel room wearing a pair of neon board shorts.
“Babe, you ready for that swim?” he asks.
When he’s fully in the room and realizes she’s on Skype, red crawls under his skin. “Dude, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were—”
“It’s fine.” I give him a very civilized smile. “I gotta go prepare for this party anyway.”
“Take lots of pictures,” Aiko says, blinking at tears again. “And video, Ezra. You always forget the video. I’ll text Mona.”
“Good idea. Have a great swim.” I flick a glance between her and her new lover. “Goodbye, Ko.”
Once I’m done Skyping with her, and then talking with my mother about Noah’s upcoming trip to New York, it’s almost time for everyone to start arriving. I barely have time to shower and change.
“This is not the eighth-grade dance,” I tell myself while contemplating what I should wear. “Just throw on something, man.”
My options are basically cargo shorts…or other cargo shorts. I always look neat at school, usually wearing a suit since the kids are required to wear uniforms, but out of school? I’m not exactly concerned about what I’m wearing.
“It’s just me!” Mona yells from downstairs. “You here?”
“Uh, yeah!” I pull a YLA T-shirt over my head and grab cargo shorts option number one. “Coming.”
From there, it’s a blur of balloons, cake, ice cream, a random piñata Noah insisted on, and lots of people. So many people. His entire class, but also everyone on our street and several YLA students. Barry is here. Mona made sure to announce it when he arrived, lest I forget her genius plan to hook Kimba up with the math teacher.
“You think Kimba’s still coming?” Noah asks.
“I don’t know, son. She’s a really busy lady. Something may have come up that she had to take care of.”
His face falls a bit. “I really like her.”
“Yeah, I do, too.”
I’m in the kitchen lighting candles when she arrives. From the other room, the low, seductive roll of her voice mingles with Mona’s. I freeze, the lighter suspended over the cake for a second. My damn palms start sweating.
“Not eighth grade,” I remind myself grimly.
I walk the lit cake out to the backyard, and Mona starts the birthday song. We cut the cake, and I still haven’t actually seen Kimba, but I know she’s here somewhere.