“He’s fine.” I hear Justin’s voice, and I sit back down in my chair. “We are just letting you know that we are on our way, and we’ll pick you up at work.”

“But it’s early?” I say, and then look at the clock on the wall and the computer to make sure they are both right.

“Yeah, the rink had a power outage, so we left early, and we got some ice cream. We’re going to come and get you.”

“But—” I start, and then Dylan cuts me off.

“Mom, I did a three-pointer again.” I close my eyes.

“That’s great,” I say, and then the other line rings. “Okay, I have someone on the other line. I’ll call you right back.”

“No need,” Justin says. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes. Come out when you finish,” he says and then disconnects.

I press the button to switch to the other line. “Hey, this is Travis,” he says. “You called earlier about hockey equipment for a kid.”

“Yes,” I say softly. “That’s me.”

“We got skates and a helmet,” he says. “I can let both of them go for two hundred,” he says, and I close my eyes.

“Thanks for letting me know.” I hang up the phone and try to think of ways that I can pay for it, and I literally can’t. There are so many things coming that I have to pay for, especially my phone.

After turning everything off and then tucking in the chair, I walk out into the daylight and hear Dylan laughing. I turn and see that Justin has him over his shoulder like he’s a sack of potatoes while he tickles his stomach. “Okay, fine, fine, you’re better than Matthew.”

“You better say that,” he says, and then he spots me. His eyes light up, and his smile gets so big. “There’s your mom.” Justin puts him down, and Dylan runs to me. I almost go back a step, but I hug his head, leaning down to kiss his wet head.

“Mom,” he says. “Justin is a grasshopper.”

I look up at Justin, who just groans. “He was in the car when my brother called, and he calls me grasshopper.” He walks over to us and towers over me and leans down and kisses my cheek. “Did you have a good day?”

“Um …” I say. My cheek’s still tingling when he puts his arm around my shoulder and walks me to the SUV while Dylan hugs my waist. He goes on and on about what he did, talking a mile a minute, and I just want to savor it.

“I’m starving,” he says right before climbing into the back seat, and Justin opens the passenger door for me. “Mom, can I have a whole pizza to myself?”

“No,” I answer the same time Justin answers, “Sure.”