Free A Promise Kept by Anissa Garcia

white Converse decorating her feet. Her hair was still bunched up on the top of her head.
    His smile was returned with a twinkle in her eyes. “Hi Evan. Okay, Jake, take off your shoes at the door please.”
    Jake. “Oh, Jaime’s kid?”
    Grace nodded as Jake began to take off his Vans. “Excuse me, guy, you have to take off your shoes too.” Jake pointed to Evan’s Nikes. “You can’t get the floor dirty.”
    He grinned and shucked off each shoe. “Gotcha, bud.”
    “Now, guess what the flavor is. You won’t guess.”
    Evan began to call out random flavors for the green-colored shaved ice as they walked inside. He called out spinach, broccoli, celery, and boogers as Jake yelled out things like, “sick,” “no way,” “disgusting,” and “gross.”
    As they made their way into the kitchen, Jake interrupted one of his guesses. “Excuse me, you can give it back to me now, guy.”
    Grace spoke as Evan placed her snow cone down on the kitchen island. “Jake, this is Evan. Do you recognize him?”
    “Yeah,” Jake said, grabbing his cup and spoon tightly and sitting at the dining table. “He’s your boyfriend.”
    Evan laughed and watched Grace’s cheeks turn a shade of pink. “Where did you hear that? He’s not my boyfriend, Jake.”
    “That could change,” Evan smirked as he set down his mail on the kitchen counter nearby. Grace handed him the pizza box with paper plates and napkins above it, disregarding his statement.
    “Take that to the table, please, and you’re more than welcome to join us for dinner.” She moved to the refrigerator and took out a pre-made salad and dressing.
    “Mommy said he was your boyfriend,” Jake announced with a mouthful of ice. “When I saw him on TV, she said that.”
    Evan was getting a kick out of the situation, and it also gave him something he needed. Hope. “I see you and Jaime have been discussing me?”
    She brought the salad, dressing, and utensils to the table as Evan passed out the plates and napkins. “I think that discussion was held between her husband, Dean, and her, if anything. I don’t spend my days pining over you, Mr. Hollywood.”
    Sitting next to Jake, she continued, “Your mommy is making that up, Jake. He’s my next-door neighbor.”
    “Is he your friend?” Jake peered up at Grace and she hesitated before gazing over at Evan’s eager eyes.
    “Yeah, we’re friends,” she answered with a smile.
    “And he’s a boy, so he’s your boyfriend,” he said matter-of-factly as she opened the pizza box from Home Slice Pizza and served him a piece. Jake grabbed at it quickly, ripping through it, forgetting his snow cone. “Mommy said when you were fighting the aliens on TV that aliens aren’t real. But I was still scared and Mommy turned it off. You don’t fly, anyway. Superman can fly. He’s cooler.” He took another big bite of the pizza, the pepperoni hanging out of his mouth as he tried to chew.
    “Jake, that’s not nice,” Grace scolded. “Batman can’t fly.”
    “I don’t like Batman either. I like Superman.”
    “Don’t talk with your mouth full, please.” Grace served herself a slice as Evan began putting the salad on each of their plates.
    “Well, to be fair, I’m just a space captain,” Evan clarified as he grabbed the dressing. He was surprised as Grace pushed her snow cone toward the middle of the table offering to share. He scooped up from her spoon and ate what appeared to be strawberries-and-cream flavor.
    A flash let him imagine kissing her and tasting it on her lips, but he focused instead on Jake. The kid was honest and funny. He loved that about children. They didn’t take bullshit from him. Then again, neither did Grace.
    Jake continued, “But they say on the movie that you’re a superhero.” His big eyes studied Evan a moment before blurting out, “You look different in real life.”
    “Well, I have to color my hair lighter and I have cool costumes on in the movies, not gym clothes.” He began to