Apollo’s jaw clenches as he scans the rest of the items on the shelf. “Myteam. My team.”
“The professional football team? The one you watch on TV? TheStallions?”
“Yes.”
“Not a team you’re on. Just a fan of. I see.” I almost giggle at his frustration. Arms crossed as if gearing up for a fight about it. I set the green comforter down and toss the navy one in the cart along with a set of sheets and pillows. “White okay to go with it? It’s our team’s secondary color after all.”
Apollo bounces on his toes and joins me at the end of the aisle, murmuring, “Ourteam.”
I shrug. “I guess I have to be a fan, too. I did participate in the family ritual. Atlas even gave me socks.”
“You’ve been officially inducted.”
I hold back another giggle at his passion for his team. “I don’t mind. Your family is nice. And the game was fun.”
His eyes sparkle with something like pride.
“And you’re close with them. With your brothers?”
He nods, shoving a wayward lock of hair off his forehead. “Yeah. Really close.Tooclose, I’d say. Everyone’s in everybody else’s business. And the group chat can get heated with competition.”
“Must be fun. I had two annoying brothers. Can’t imagine three older ones.”
“It sucks being the youngest. You take all the abuse. And I had no one to take it out on. Dad would have killed any of us if I made Athena cry.”
“Same with me and Bo. Once, he stole my Barbie to cut off her hair. I got so mad that I punctured his football. All he had to do was run to Mom and cry. I was punished. He got soothed.”
He rolls his eyes. “Yep. That’s how it goes.”
As we shop, I realize Apollo has ataste. He likes what he likes. Patterns. Bold and intricate. I never give much thought to things in my environment. Sneakily, I let him decide most of it. Unless I have an opinion.
He definitely likes shiny things. Probably what others would callkitschyor outlandish in some cases. But I just let him roll with it. Except for the shower curtain. I insisted on a white one. I don’t want a headache staring at the patterns while trying to relax.
“How about this one?” He reaches for a box and tosses it into the cart with a small smile.
“What? That’s a stethoscope.” I laugh, holding it up. It’s bright pink with glitter and has a daisy on the end. Probably a pediatric one.
In the medical supplies aisle, he tosses in a blood pressure cuff. And a package of bandages. Some medicines. “Yeah. You’ll need it someday soon, right?”
I remove the stethoscope but leave the other stuff. “Someday, yeah.”
“So why medicine?”
I shrug. “My mom’s a doctor. I wanted to help people. There’s no big story there. But I was the one to patch up my friends when I was younger. Ryan and Aiden Cardell often broke their bones doing something stupid. Logan Dawson, theBetasecretary? He and I would pretend we were fixing them up—fake stitches. Blood transfusions. They’d both make us swear not to tell their dad. But Logan always did. I was sneakier than that.”
Apollo’s gaze is enraptured with me. The intensity of it, like he’s picturing what I’m telling him, makes me feel shy. But his smile warms me up. “You’ll make a great doctor.”
I tap the cart to encourage him to keep moving. “You think so?”
“Absolutely. I mean, you mended my broken bone last night.”
I groan, deep and long, as he laughs like it was the funniest thing anyone’s ever said.
“I think we got a nice haul,” I say as we reach the check-out lane. When the clerk finishes and announces the total, I have the sudden realization that Apollo and I don’t share money. We never discussed it. The weight of our divide becomes apparent once again.
Apollo flounders for a moment with his pockets, a deep crimson rising up his tan cheeks.
“Oh! I remembered our wallet. Just a second.” I pull mine from my purse as Apollo stiffens beside me. “Got it!” I say casually as I swipe my card.