Rainbows Ever After (Rainbows 1.50)

I didn’t want to settle either.

I’d always wanted to behead a Goliath.

Like she’d said, she and I were going to make waves together.

PART THREE

THE FUTURE & FURTHER INTO THE FUTURE

THE FUTURE

THEA

He’d been upset for the whole weekend, but had just kept it bottled up until now. He looked back at me, and I nodded. Taking a deep breath, he stood straighter, and, holding a piece of paper in his hands, he knocked.

“Come in.”

Tiptoeing to the door with the sippy cup top I’d just finished washing, I cracked the door a little more to hear. Levi glanced up from his desk, his glasses low on his nose.

“Ulric? What is it?”

Again, Ulric turned back to me, and I winked at him. He turned to his father and lifted the paper to read. Levi glanced at me, and I tried not smile, but I couldn’t help it. He rose from his desk, and walked around to our son.

“I, Ulric Pierre-Od … Oid-ss—”

“O-id-hche.” Levi helped him pronounce, still confused as to what was happening but patient, nonetheless.

“I, Ulric Pierre-Oidche-Black, am quitting baseball...”

“What?”

“Levi,” I hissed out his name, and he glared at me so I glared right back. We battled through our eyes until he finally looked back down at our son.

“Go on.”

“I, Ulric Pierre-Oidche-Black, am quitting baseball ... not because it is hard. But because … because…” He sighed. “Because everyone sucks, Dad.”

“Ulric!” I stomped into the room.

“It’s true! I’m the MVP, but why do I have to do everything?”

Levi released a breath of relief, dropping to eye level with our seven-year-old MVP of the Boston Beagles Little League.

“Kiddo, I know you are upset about losing the championships, but remember, it’s a team sport. You can’t let your teammates down.”

He groaned. “But they let me down.”

“So you want to quit? That’s not what sports are about, son.”

“No … ugh.” He scratched his curls and lifted the paper again to read. “I’m not quitting because it is hard, but because I want to play tennis. And I promise not to quit again.”

“Tennis?” Levi looked at him like he was an alien.

But Ulric grinned, happily nodding his head. “If I play tennis, I still get to be on a team, but each game is just me and somebody else. It’s like what you and Mommy say Willow and I have to do.”

“Share?” Levi asked, still frowning.

Ulric shook his head. “No, co-promise.”