Jacy skated for an hour with her new teacher, leaving me alone and bored in the parking lot, repetitively checking Facebook and spying on them from behind a shitty car that smelled like weed. They'd moved to a little ramp, a group of guys scattering, as the boy hopped up and extended a hand to help Jacy mount the two-foot-tall block. My heart reared again at the sight of her board hovering unsteady over the lip of that ramp, the concrete suddenly twice as hard, and her little body a million times more breakable than it had been this morning, but the boy held her by the shoulders, his own foot steadying her board.

Jacy took two deep breaths before he let her go.

She zoomed down the ramp, did a neat little spin on her back wheels, and she jetted right back up, swooping cleanly up the front face. My mouth hung open again, dumbfounded that she'd managed to do that, watching as she flew right into the boy's arms. She would have gone clear over the far side of the ramp if he hadn't caught her, a "Whoa there, Kid," from him as he set her back on her feet.

I let out the huge breath I'd been holding.

Still terrifying. No wonder there were no parents here.

When my stomach started rumbling, I hopped off the car and edged closer to the park. The boy was standing near the grass, watching Jacy zoom around. A lot of the other boys had left, and she had free reign over an entire section of concrete. That, or she was repelling the rest of the skaters with her "girl power" vibes.

"Hi," I said, sidling up next to the boy, keeping my eyes on my kid. "I'm Jacy's mom."

He looked at me, and from the corner of my eye, I could see him make a face.

"Who's Jacy?"

"The little girl you've been helping." I pointed her out as though her pink helmet wasn't a dead giveaway.

"She told me to call her Jack."

I laughed. Of course she did. "I thought she was going to be a boy."

"You're her mother?"

He said the word as though I'd really told him I was a unicorn. I looked at him then, the confusion on a face that was all guy. He was definitely older than I'd thought from far away. Definitely.

"Pretty sure." I nodded. "I was there."

"No way," he huffed, still with the unbelieving face.

A chocolate unicorn, then.

"Hey, I don't see any 'no parents allowed' signs."

"No, I mean…" He shook his head. "How are you old enough to have a fifteen-year-old?"

"She's eleven."

"Figured that, seeing as she wants to be called Jack and all."

"That was really really nice of you. To help her, like that."

He shrugged, like it was no big deal. "Been trying to get my niece on a board for years now. She likes ballet better."

Jacy sped over to us, probably coming to make sure her mother wasn't embarrassing her in front of her new friend. The boy held out his hand for another high five that she met with a palm full of joy and a grin splintering her face.

"Gettin' pretty good there, Jack." He winked at me over the top of her pink helmet. "Keep it up, and you'll go pro by next week."

AN:

All of my love belongs to HH.

Thank you for reading.

HB