Grandpa laughed. “Thanks, Koda.” He led the way out the front door.
“Let’s go to Jade House,” I suggested as we stepped onto the sidewalk. “I’ll buy.”
“Big spender.” But Grandpa nodded. “Good idea. We all support each other here.”
Jade House was two doors down from our store in this little row of businesses. The restaurant had been around almost as long as Nina’s, and Grandpa considered the Zhangs good friends. They were doing a brisk weekend lunch business when we walked in, but Devin, the young server, caught sight of us, hurried over. “Mr. Fitzpatrick. Give us a moment and we’ll have a table cleared for you.”
“No rush,” Grandpa said.
Devin grinned and I couldn’t help a subtle look up and down, because he had silky black hair, cheekbones for miles, and a dancer’s build, and had grown up since the last time I’d seen him. He didn’t do the same, though, so he probably didn’t bat for my team. He said, “The busboy’s my little brother. He can work a bit harder. Hey, Logan, get a table cleared for our neighbours!”
“On it.” A younger acne-plagued version of the server hurried to clear the dishes off a two-person table and wipe the top.
“Come sit.” Devin led us over and set down menus. “I’ll get your places and waters in a minute.”
“No rush, Devin.” Grandpa sat gradually with a hand braced on the tabletop, and a pained hitch that said his back was acting up again. “Thank you.”
I took my place across from him, my chest tight. Grandpa was healthy, but he was seventy-four. He should’ve retired years ago. He’d saved me, taking me in when my parents capsized their rented boat and drowned, and he was part of the reason I battled so hard to get to the NAPH. I was going to give him a million dollars before he died. I’d sworn that to myself. “You look a little sore,” I said, fake-casually because he hated when I made a fuss.
He waved me off. “Did too much yesterday. I got it in my fool head to clean the front windows by hand and stretched a bit too high. It’ll pass.” He pushed the menu aside, familiar withevery dish in it. “Tell me about yesterday’s game. I’m afraid I fell asleep halfway through the second period.”
As Devin came by to lay our places, fill our water, and then take our orders, I filled Grandpa in on our sixth win in a row. He nodded and made insightful comments, a long way from the guy who’d asked what a faceoff was, all those years ago. “Brosman must be getting tired of sitting on the bench watching you win,” he said eventually with quiet satisfaction.
“Coach is putting Brosky in net tonight,” I told him. “He can show us what he’s got.” I’d played six games in a row, and our opponent Barracudas were on a losing streak. I had mixed feelings about it, of course. I wanted to play, and to win, but I couldn’t deny having a game off in this back-to-back pair would be good for me. Plus every winning streak has to break sometime, and I was selfish enough to hope that when it did, it would be on Brosky’s night.
“I won’t try to stay up and watch, then,” Grandpa said.
“You should get some rest, give your back a break.” I nodded thanks to Devin as he brought out our food, but eyed Grandpa without picking up my chopsticks. “I could stick around for a couple of extra hours right now, so you can go home and stretch out.” Sully could wait for his boxes.
“Meh. It’s not that bad. Keeping busy keeps me from stiffening up.” Grandpa popped a bite of eggroll in his mouth, then went on, “But if you really want to save my spine, you can come round tomorrow and do some weeding at the house. Get a head start on the nasty green buggers. It’s been so warm, they’re popping up already.”
“I can do that. Gladly.” We had Monday off practice so I’d have all day.
“You might stop in next door, too. See if they need a hand with anything.”
“Next door? You mean the Evanses? I doubt Zeke wants my help with anything.” I fought down a flush, remembering how I’d rejected his assistance with the first flat tire of my life. I’d been sorry later, when the process had taken me half an hour and multiple online searches, but Ihatedwhen people said I couldn’t do stuff.
“I don’t know.” Grandpa chewed his food slowly. “Death in the family is always hard. And Krystal, God rest her, ran that house with an iron hand. I haven’t seen Zeke around more than once or twice in the last couple of years and suddenly there he is, responsible for the house and property and Josiah too. It costs you nothing to see if there’s anything you can do.”
“Okay, sure, I’ll ask.”
“You’re a good boy, Callum.” Grandpa took another big bite and nodded to me.
Grandpa was wrong, but even at twenty-three, hearing him say that made the world a little brighter. He used to say the same when I broke things, accidentally-on-purpose, in my directionless rage after Mom and Dad died. He said it when I got sent home from school for fighting, and even when I ran away and it took him six hours to find me.“You’re a good boy, Callum. Sometimes you don’t think things through, and you make mistakes, but that doesn’t change who you are. I love you and you’re the best thing in my life.”
I’d said,“Must be a pretty sucky life, then.”He’d just laughed and hugged me, when I felt totally unlovable. He kept right on doing that, to this day.
“Thanks,” I said, my throat tight. “I have all day tomorrow. Write me a list of all the things you want done. I’ll come by around nine and I’ll ask the Evanses too.”
Grandpa’s smile was a bit more crooked and less white these days, but no less kind. “Great. Now eat up and you can help medecide which of those fortune cookies is yours, which is mine, and which one we bring back to Koda.”
“Who says they get a cookie?” I teased, digging into my pork and rice.
“Mrs. Zhang. She would never let me leave without an extra cookie for her dear Koda and a message to tell them they should come in more often.”
“They are such a suck-up,” I pretended to grumble, though secretly I was glad Koda had allies besides my grandfather on this block. They’d only been working for him about five months, and most people wouldn’t clock them as nonbinary, but there are assholes everywhere. Of all the people who’d passed through the store, they were the hardest-working I’d seen, and the first to take jobs off Grandpa’s hands while teasing him so he wouldn’t notice. I hoped they’d stick around a long time.
Grandpa grinned and mumbled around his eggroll, “Pick a fortune.”
