and buckle him in.”
I worked the charger cord loose off Eli’s hands myself. His wrists were so small. He watched my face the whole time, not the cord, my face, trying to read whether I was safe. I kept talking low to him the whole time. Told him about my motorcycle. Told him it was the loudest, fastest motorcycle on the whole highway and that he could look at it the entire ride.
I peeled off my riding jacket. Forty years of road on that leather. Cracked and worn and warm from my own body. I draped it over that little boy and it swallowed him whole, and he gripped the collar of it in both fists like he was never letting go.
Tasha stared at me putting my jacket on her brother like I’d handed her something made of solid gold.
Then I got back down on that
