I tilted my head and pointed to Ryla’s ear. “Hey, what’s that?”
“What?” Ryla looked confused.
“Behind your ear,” I explained, reaching behind her ear with my right hand. “I swear I saw something.”
Doing the first magic trick I ever taught myself, I moved the quarter from where it’d been hidden in the soft web between my thumb and palm and pretended to find it behind Ryla’s ear.
“You better keep track of that.” I handed Ryla the quarter, her little body practically vibrating with amazement.
“Holy moly!” Ryla screeched, scratching wildly behind her little ears, looking for more coins. “How’d you do that?” Ryla grabbed my hand, turning it over in earnest.
I spread my fingers wide and held them up. “Magic!”
It was only then that I glanced at Polly and Max, who had twin expressions of guarded amusement: cheeks upturned in a smile, but eyebrows knitted together. I slyly reached into my pocket again.
“You’re Max, right? I’m Jace.” At my greeting, Max moved closer to his mom. I played it off and pointed at him. “Wait a minute, do you?” Extending my hand behind his ear, I produced a second quarter.
I wanted to puff out my chest at the look of wonder on Max’s face and the small step he took toward me.
Placing the quarter in his hand I teased, “You two need to do a better job of keeping track of your money.”
“I keep mine in TotesBaa-goats.” My head swung to Ryla at her comment, swearing she’d just made a little bleating noise. She jerked a thumb at her brother. “He spends all his on video games,” she said, making me laugh and Polly hiss, “Ryla.”
“What?” Ryla’s expression was pure innocence, though I got the impression she knew exactly what she was doing.
Polly rolled her eyes. “Alright, kids. Thank, uh, Mr. Jace here,” she said, stumbling over my name. “It was nice to see you again.” Polly began to corral her kids down the hallway, so I grabbed my suitcases to walk with them. Once we got to the front entrance, I walked briskly ahead and held the first double door open.
“Allow me.”
Polly gave me a curt nod as she and Max moved through the doorway. Ryla shot past them reaching the outer door first, pushing against it with all of her might.
“UUUnnnnggghhh,” Ryla grunted as she pushed the door open, holding it for us. “Quick! Before I lose it!”
Once we all dashed through the door, Ryla let go and her little chest heaved with her effort.
“Thank you for holding the door open. My arms are so tired from the puppet show, I don’t know if I’d have ever gotten that open.”
“But you have such big muscles.”
I guffawed as Polly chided, “Ryla!”
“Look at his arms, Mom!” Ryla accompanied this by pointing at my arms. Admittedly today, I was wearing a T-shirt that was on the snug side. “Can I feel ’em?”
Closing her eyes, cheeks flushed red, Polly shook her head slowly at her daughter’s request. I was trying not to preen like a peacock whose feathers were just complimented, even if it had been by a five-year-old.
I moved the lighter of the two spinner suitcases toward Ryla, gesturing to the parking lot behind her. “I’m parked just down the row there. If it’s ok with your momma, want to help me get this to the car?”
Ryla glanced at Polly, who nodded. Then with a determined look on her face, Ryla was off, practically sprinting down the veranda, pushing the suitcase in front of her. For a little thing, she was actually pretty fast. “Come on slow pokes!” Ryla called out behind her.
I fought back a chuckle, starting after her. Polly certainly had her hands full. I wondered if their daddy was in the picture. Glancing to my right, I noticed Polly wasn’t following us. Glancing behind me, I saw her kneeling in front of her son. Max was stock-still, face stricken, chest moving quickly up and down as he clutched at his momma’s hands. Polly was crouched down, murmuring and looking intently at her son’s glassy eyes.
Shoot, I hadn’t even noticed he was having a hard time. I’d never had a panic attack, but my own mother had them on occasion. From the way Polly was reacting, my guess was this wasn’t his first one. Opting to give them some time and seeing that Ryla was almost to the parking lot, I jogged after her. Thankfully, she stopped at the juncture where the veranda met the parking lot. After catching up with her, I noticed she was looking back at Max and Polly. I briefly wondered if I was doing the right thing, giving them space.
“He has more butterflies in his belly than other kids. He just needs time to calm them down.”
I turned my head back to Ryla, who apparently had the wisdom of someone ten times her age. She was just as much of an enigma as her mother.
After looking down the road both ways, Ryla pushed the suitcase ahead of her and I walked beside her. Confidence blaring, she led me down the rows of cars even though she didn’t know which car was mine.
