Chapters (41)
- Cover
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Also by Mike Lupica
The night air was starting to get much colder. Lucas barely noticed. By now he’d worked up a good sweat. He was as into the drills they were running as if this were an official practice, and his teammates were out here with him.
But it was better than that.
It was basketball and it was Gramps.
Lucas loved his mom, totally and completely. He knew how difficult it had been for her without a partner, trying to be two parents at once. He knew how hard she had tried to tell him about his father, trying to tell the story of his life through old photographs and old home videos. Gramps had done the same. Lucas understood they were trying to explain the person and the father he’d lost. He could see how much they both had loved his dad. He sometimes imagined how awesome it would have been to have both his parents and his grandfather around.
But as hard as he tried, he couldn’t feel a sense of loss about someone—and something—he’d never had.
It was why he loved Gramps as much as he did. Lucas knew he was trying to be grandfather and father the way his mom was trying to be father and mother to Lucas. And that was all right. Sometimes he would get sad when he’d look at the pictures of his dad holding him when he was a baby. Or looking at a video of his dad holding him on his first Christmas.
But he was still happier with what he had than sad about what he’d never had. He’d read one time that sometimes you didn’t have to go looking for heroes, because they found you. He had his mom. He had his grandfather. He had a lot.
When they were finished working on the pick-and-roll, Gramps kept feeding Lucas the ball so he could work on his outside shot, which was getting better all the time. Even at the age of twelve, Lucas knew he was a pass-first point guard. He liked making a great pass more than a good shot. But as many assists as he’d gotten last season, and Gramps swore Lucas had led the league, and even though he’d been named to the Twin Lakes All-Star Team, he could see guys playing off him, daring him to shoot from the outside, making it harder for him to drive to the basket, and create opportunities for himself and the Wolves when he did.
He had vowed that this season would be different.