set her purse down on the counter with a sigh. “It’ll probably be a month or two before he’s back to normal. The doctors think he might’ve ripped a tendon around his ankle when he fell, but we won’t know for sure until his appointment at the ortho tomorrow.”
She began getting both of them dinner.
David sighed. “If I’m lucky, I’ll be better by the play-offs. And if I’m not…” He shrugged. Using his new set of crutches, he hobbled off to his room.
Dad sat at the kitchen table, looking weary. “Since he can’t drive, I’ll have to take you guys to school in the morning.”
Mom put her hands on her hips. “I guess I can pick them up. But I’ll have to wait for the boys to come home first, so I may be pretty late some days.”
I stood up straight. “You don’t have to do that, Dad,” I said. “I have my license, remember? I can drive us.”
He didn’t seem so sure about that, though. “I don’t know, Rachel. There’s a lot of traffic in the morning…”
I scoffed. “You’ve let David drive since he was old enough and had his license.”
Mom gave me this look like she was trying not to smile but also warning me about how I went about asking Dad for things.
I waited for Dad to say something.
Mom set down his dinner plate. He thanked her quietly, and she grabbed her plate next.
“So?” I went on. “Can I, Dad? Please. David will be with me the entire time. It’ll be good practice for me for after he leaves for school. And you won’t have to be late for work.”
Dad took a bite of his dinner. I could tell he was thinking hard, probably wishing he had some good reasons of his own to say no.
But finally he nodded. “Okay. But only until David is better.”
I squeaked in excitement and went over to hug him. “Thanks, Dad! I’ll be careful. Don’t worry.”
I ran upstairs and let David know. He hardly looked up from his homework. Just let me know he wouldn’t be riding home with me in the afternoons. “I’m gonna ask my friend Ricky if I can ride home with him right after school. No point in going to practice right now. Coach says I need to rest it.”
So I’d get to drive home on my own, music on full blast? Cool.
Maybe Dad would finally see how responsible I could be, possibly even let me have a car of my own in time for summer?
I hated that David was injured and that he couldn’t play basketball for a few weeks, but maybe this was the perfect way for Dad to finally let me have some freedom.
4
The final bell rang, and I left English and headed toward my locker.
Just as I reached it, my eye caught David. Aaron was with him.
My locker was only a few feet away from where they were talking. I worked the dial and tried to listen. It seemed like a serious conversation, which was odd for them. They only got serious when it came time to discussing stuff like the NBA finals.
As I pulled open my locker, my brother’s voice carried. “Like I said, I’m sorry, bro. Ricky is gonna be giving me a ride home after school for now. Coach told me to keep my ankle iced and elevated as much as possible. The faster I recover, the faster I can play again. I wish I could keep giving you a ride home from practice, but maybe Frankie or one of the other guys can drop you off?”
Aaron didn’t sound so sure, though. “Yeah, man, no worries. I’ll ask somebody. And try not to worry too much about that ankle. I bet you’ll be playing again soon.”
They said goodbye, and I turned toward them. David was headed toward the front of the school, probably to meet up with his ride home.
Aaron stared after him. The way he exhaled and then glanced down for a little too long… I could tell this wasn’t the best news for him.
I didn’t have to ask him to know what was going on.
Ben and his brothers usually struggled more than anyone I knew. Their mom had always barely gotten by, and I knew she worked a lot of hours to cover the bills. Ben had his well-loved Jeep, and he took his brothers to school, but afterward, he had to get to work.
It wouldn’t be the first time I’d seen one of the Garcia brothers walk