When they were close enough, Eric saw how annoyed Sofia really was.

She looked right at Alex. “Mom did not say I had to walk home with you guys. All she said was to come straight home.”

“We’ll take you straight home, Sof.” Alex grinned.

They were all on the move now. She rolled her eyes.

“Zat your boyfriend, Sof?” Romero asked.

Before she could answer, Alex drove his bike into the back wheel of Romero’s bike. Again, Romero almost lost it.

“C’mon!” Romero yelled, barely able to recover before hitting a tree.

Sofia and Eric exchanged glances, then she huffed, “Of course not—like I’ll ever have a boyfriend with you guys always around.”

“Good,” Alex said.

Eric smiled. His thoughts exactly.

Age 14

The swing set in their backyard held so many memories. Sofia sat at their backyard picnic table, watching her brothers and her dad take it down. It was bittersweet to see it go, but it had been years since they’d used it for anything else but to sit on. The old rusted thing had become an eyesore.

She remembered the time she jumped off the top of the slide, pretending to be Wonder Woman. Her forehead hit a sprinkler Angel had forgotten to put away, and she ended up with six stitches. Alex had been livid. At first with Romero, for being the one who suggested they jump off in the first place, then with Angel for having left the sprinkler there.

Romero and Eric strolled through the back gate of her yard.

“No way!” Romero stared at the piled up pieces of swing set on the grass. “Old Nellie’s finally seen her last days?”

“Yep,” Alex said, throwing a pole on the ground with the rest of the set, “this thing was falling apart already.”

Eric sat down next to Sofia and nudged her. “You sad?”

Sofia smiled. “Nah, I was just thinking about all the memories we had on that thing.”

“Oh, yeah,” he chuckled, “remember when Romero almost hung himself?”

Sofia laughed. Poor Romero, he always learned the hard way. Angel and Romero joined in with more stories about the swing set. In just about every story, Romero didn’t fare well. He’d always been the reckless one of the bunch, and he’d paid the price.

Once her dad’s truck was loaded with all the remains of the swing set, Alex, Sal and her dad got in, with Alex at the wheel. He’d only had his permit for a few weeks, and was eager to drive any chance he got.

Angel and Romero played catch and Eric sat with Sofia. He’d been doing that a lot lately.

“I’m gonna see my mom again.”

Sofia turned to him. Usually, his amazing light brown eyes gleamed when he spoke to her. Right now, they seemed troubled. Eric had only met his mom in the past year. She left him and his father when he was just a baby. None of them really knew the story about his mom. All she knew was he lived with his dad, and his mom just wasn’t around. That is, until he told her about it a few months earlier when his mom suddenly showed up. He hadn’t even told her brothers, just Sofia. It made her feel special that he’d confide something so personal to her—it meant something.

“You are? When?”

“Tonight. She’s taking me to dinner. She wants to go to the movies, but I don’t know.” Eric turned his attention to Angel and Romero, who tossed the ball around.

Sofia knew Eric was still hurt about his mother leaving them. “Why not?”

He shrugged, “Still feels weird. I’ll do dinner, but I’m not sure about the movies. We’ll see how it goes.”

“You nervous?”

Eric’s eyes were back on her. “A little, but only about being alone with her. It’s uncomfortable.”

The ball hit the bench next to Eric and bounced off, rolling near his feet. Eric bent over to pick it up.

“You’ll be fine,” Sofia said as he stood up to throw it.

He threw it, then turned back to her and smiled. “Yeah, I will.” He started to walk off toward Angel and Romero, then turned around. “Maybe I’ll come by after, if it’s not too late, and tell you about it.”

Sofia smiled. “Okay.”

*

The drive home from dinner was quiet and uncomfortable, as was the usual case when Eric spent time with his mom. He asked her to drop him off at Angel’s house, said he needed to pick something up he left there earlier.

“Eric, I don’t want to push. So you give me a call whenever you want and we’ll plan another dinner or lunch.” His mother paused as Eric opened the door to her car. “Or maybe breakfast. That way I won’t take up too much of your time. Okay?”

Eric nodded and turned to face her. He smiled, not wanting to make her feel bad, but he wasn’t about to hug her, much less kiss her. “Okay, I’ll see you.”

With that, he stepped out of the car and headed toward the front door. He could see the light was on in the garage. The guys most likely were in there working out, but they weren’t who he was here to see.

Sofia opened the door before he even got to it. She must’ve just taken a shower because her hair was still wet. She wore shorts and a faded La Jolla High T-shirt. It was too big, but she still looked cute in it.

“Hey,” she smiled, “how’d it go?”

He made a face. “Same as the last time—weird.”

Sofia opened the door all the way for him to come in.

“Hi, Eric,” her mom said from the sofa in the front room.