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After practice, I walk Grady home, and thankfully he says nothing about the words I shared with Austin. Though, as you expect, this will come back to haunt me.

He does, however, rattle off facts about elephants. “What’s with you and elephants?”

“I think they’re cool.” He shrugs, holding a football in one hand and his cleats in the other. He’s making me carry everything else. “They’re the largest land animal.”

I’ve done some research on elephants in the last few days so, like I know what I’m talking about, I pop off with, “Did you know elephants have six sets of molar teeth. When they lose their last set and they can’t eat, they die.”

Grady stops walking. “I have a loose tooth.”

Then he sticks his dirty hand in his mouth, and I have to hold back a gag. People touching their teeth grosses me out. Unless you’re a dentist and wearing gloves, I don’t like the idea of someone touching their teeth. Kids included.

“Let’s hope you don’t die when you lose them all.”

His hand drops from his mouth, and he starts walking again, kicking fallen leaves as he drags his feet. “I doubt I will. I’ll probably live forever.”

I laugh. “Pretty confident there.”

“Kids don’t die when they lose their teeth. Only elephants.” He’s quiet for all of two seconds and then asks, “When did you leave your parents’ house? Like. . . um, how old were you? Male elephants leave the herd between the ages of twelve to fifteen. Did you leave home at fifteen? I figure I have just a few years left with my mom. I don’t know where I’m going to live yet.”

This kid is something else. “First of all, that was like three questions in one. Slow down.”

He chuckles. “I ask a lot of questions. Sorry.”

“No kidding.”

“Do you like my mom?”

I nod. “I do. I’ve known her since she was three.”

“Why didn’t you marry her?”

“Someone beat me to it.”

“My dad?”

I nod again, wishing he’d shut up already. “You could say that.”

“How old were you?”

I shoot him a confused look. “When?”

“When you left home.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t about to tell Grady I basically got kicked out of my dad’s house for being a shit head. “When I was fifteen.”

His blue eyes brighten. “Just like an elephant.”

And just like that, we’re back to elephants. I gotta get this kid a new animal to like. It’d be cooler to like a panther, or hell, a gorilla. But an elephant? They don’t do anything but stand there.

“Have you ever seen an elephant in person?”

He frowns. “Yeah, a long time ago though. My dad said he was going to take us to Safari West but never did. I really wanna go.”

What a fucking dick. Austin. Not Grady. Safari West is a private wildlife reserve that’s basically ten minutes from Calistoga. The fact that Austin can’t take his kids ten minutes away makes me wish I would have hit him today.

I don’t promise I’m going to take him. I don’t promise kids anything. But I make a mental note to take them soon. Maybe Sunday after the races.

Grady pushes open the front door, drops his shoe and football by the door and goes running for the couch where he sees Cash sitting with his DS in his hand.