Page 71 of Love By The Falls

“I think it’s jinxed.”

“Don’t tell her that. You know how she gets about sports and jinxes. She takes them seriously.”

I grab the car keys, my oversized purse with Charlie’s water, and some jujubes. “All set?”

Jane nods. “Charlie! Austin! Anthony! We’re ready to go!”

Charlie runs inside from the backyard. He’s already sweating from playing with Anthony and Austin outside. “Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!”

I chuckle. “That’s what I said.”

Austin walks up to Jane and kisses her softly. I turn around to give them privacy, even though he only has eyes for her.

“Here,” he says, taking the cupcakes from my hands. “I’ll put those in the trunk.”

“I can’t believe I’m heading back to Queens. I didn’t think I’d be back so soon.”

“Well, this time will be a much more pleasant experience.”

“Yeah. And maybe no one will threaten to throw me in jail this time.”

“No promises,” teases Austin. “Jane can get pretty wild during a ballgame.”

Jane rolls her eyes at Austin’s playfulness and smacks him on the shoulder.

Charlie and Anthony talk furiously during most of the car ride to the stadium. I look out the window and think how much of my life has been unplanned. For someone who organizes and writes every detail in a lesson plan, I haven’t been able to follow any sort of pathfor myself. Over the last few years, it seems I’ve been simply keeping my head above water.

Despite sitting in the backseat with the boys, my head drops to the window, and I fight to keep my heavy lids open.

I must have dozed off for a bit because when Charlie’s elbow rams into my boob, my eyes pop open and I spot the stadium on the other side of the freeway.

“Oh, wow, is that it?” asks Charlie.

“It sure is,” says Austin.

“It’s huge.”

“That’s what she said,” quips Austin, and I smile when Jane smacks him again on the arm.

When we drive past the building Sage and I broke into a couple of months ago, panic sets in. “Um, our gate is nowhere near that building, right?”

“Is that the one—”

“Yes.” I cut Austin off, not wanting Charlie to hear that security dragged out of a downtown office.

“Don’t worry. We go through a gate like everyone else. It says so right on the tickets Casey gave me.”

I fall back against the leather upholstery and breathe a little easier. I’m distracted by Charlie bouncing in his seat next to me, so I grab his hand to settle him. He squeezes my hand and the exuberant smile on his face is enough for me to call Casey right now and tell him Iowe him whatever he wants. Although there’s nothing I could afford that Casey could not.

I pull my baseball cap down to shield my eyes from the sun. It feels so good now that the weather is finally warming up. We had a terrible winter of heavy snow, wind, and freezing temperatures. Each winter I swear I’m going to move to Florida, but I can’t imagine leaving my family and friends. So, I brave the winters each year.

We follow Austin through the sea of fans, mostly wearing NY Lions jerseys and caps. There are some brave souls wearing L.A. Jets gear, but they’re vastly outnumbered. Even though Casey plays for the Jets, we’ve stayed Lions fans.

The staff member checking Austin’s tickets directs him to the left and we follow. I steer Charlie and Anthony with a firm hand on their shoulders when their eyes desperately try to glimpse the park. “I promise the view will be worth it when we get to our seats,” I say. The Lions are trying to acquire Casey, so they gave him some free tickets to today’s game. He told us they were pretty good seats, so I feel confident telling the boys they’ll have a good view.

But when we climb up higher and higher to our seats, I worry that the Lions skimped out on these tickets. “I guess we’re not sitting in the front row,” I tease.

Austin chuckles, but not wanting to sound ungrateful, I add, “But free tickets are nothing to complain about.”

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