Marley and his Mom walked across the school parking lot and across the school’s front lawn until they reached a bench, Lisa double checked to make sure no one was around then said, “OK, so Marley, I’m going to ask you something, why do you want to go to dinner with Paul and his family so bad?”

Marley paused to consider his answer, there were several reasons but he wanted to tell his Mom one that would make her want to go. “Umm, I… Well since Dad went you know, it’s just me, you and Ann, and it sounds fun.”

“Yeah I agree, but,” Lisa pulled the billowed shirt out and held it up, “Doesn’t this bother you, I can’t understand how you could want to go out with them in this, aren’t you embarrassed.”

“Yeah, I wish I was in my clothes,” Marley said.

“Umm, that’s what I don’t get Marley, you don’t seem to be that bothered by it,” Lisa said.

“Well, I…,” Marley stammered for a moment. “Once I saw that everyone just thought I was a girl it didn’t seem like as big a deal,” Marley answered. “It’s so weird it’s like I’m not really acting or talking any different, but I wear these clothes and everyone thinks I’m a girl.”

Lisa was pretty sure she knew where this was going. Marley had yet to start puberty at the age of 13, most of the other boys he knew had experienced changes they were all growing taller, more muscular, and their voices were changing. “I know son, but you’re just a little late, things will happen soon.”

“Mom, I really thought I would beat all those girls, shouldn’t a boy be faster than a girl?”

“Well, a lot of them were older than you, but you’ve got to keep in mind that we’ve only been training for less than a year, and those girls have probably been training longer,” Lisa answered.

“But you won and you’ve only been training for the same time as us?”

“Well, I used to race and I think my body kind of remembered that, and I do most of my really hard training on days that we don’t all ride together,” Lisa said.

“Wow, I would have sucked so bad if I’d raced with the boys,” Marley said.

“You don’t know that, but don’t worry about it, the only person that you’re really trying to beat is yourself,” Lisa said as she hugged her son. “Listen, I won’t lie to you, I want to go to dinner with Paul, catch up on old times and find out how his life turned out. So we’ll go, and see how it goes, I’ll tell him the truth later and we’ll work out what to do then, OK.”

Marley smiled and hugged his Mom back, “Thanks.” After a moment he raised his head, “Oh one more thing, what’s swag?”

Lisa laughed, “Oh it’s like stuff that they give away, kind of like prizes, but kind of random, sometimes it’s just junk, sometimes it’s really nice.”
“Cool, lets get some swag,” Marley said.

The next few hours went by kind of slow, with all their races out of the way the May family hung out around the race, and watched all the remaining races finish. These were two more men’s races, the pro, cat 1, and 2, and cat 3 men, and the cat 1, 2, 3 women who all raced together. Marley noticed his new friend Will, the big friendly guy, finish near the back of his race, he seemed really happy even though he didn’t even come close to winning. Paul was pretty busy, at some point he had switched out of his riding kit in casual clothes. The May’s realized he was the main coordinator of the race, and therefore not riding himself. Lisa let him know that they were going to take him up on dinner. Amy and Mandy had apparently left the area as Marley didn’t see hide or hare of them.

The pro and cat 1 men were the last to finish and they came in to the line like rolling thunder. Marley was stunned by the spectacle of a huge group of riders barreling to the line. When the peloton flew by they pushed air like a car on the highway. Marley was fixated on the men’s legs, they were huge, and yet their bodies were relatively small. He also noticed how the men’s legs were completely smooth and hairless, like a girls. “Hey Mom, why do those guys have no hair on their legs?” he asked.

“Well, most men bike racers shave their legs,” Lisa answered.
“Wow that is so weird,” Ann laughed.

“Why do they do that?” Marley asked.

“That’s a real good question, sometimes they say it’s for massage, or so that when they fall and get hurt it’s easier to change bandages, but really I think it’s because they want their legs to look good,” Lisa laughed.

Soon all the remaining people were gathered around the podium, the announcer called up the winners of the men’s race and then Paul took the Microphone, he had Mandy and Amy with him. “I want to thank everyone who hung around until the end. This year we had plenty of new faces and even some old,” Marley was sure that Paul took a moment to focus on his Mom, “This event gets bigger and better every year thanks to people like you. So to thank you all for coming and sticking around, its swag time.

Over the next 15 minutes all manner of bicycle related goodies were handed out by Paul and his daughters, lots of it wasn’t that exciting, stickers, posters, magazines, but then they got to the better stuff, T-shirts, cycling caps, all kinds of various clothing items with company logos, they had boxes of stuff, and everybody got something, though it seemed like Marley and his family were getting some real cool stuff. Mandy smiled real big and handed Marley a folded pink item. He unfolded it and saw a pink girls jersey, on the front it was emblazoned with the words, “Ride Like a Girl,” and had a racing design with checkered pink flags. I’ll never be able to wear this, Marley thought.

When the swag stopped flowing the people all started to disperse back in small groups talking and reliving the day’s glories. Paul caught up with the May’s as they shuffled away. “All right guys, give me 5 minutes to straighten a couple things out, we’ve still got a lot to do tonight but it can wait until after we eat. That’s my truck, I think there is room for everyone,” Paul pointed at the big crew cab pickup truck that until recently had been loaded with “swag.”

The girl’s all rode in the back, which seemed to annoy Amy, but Mandy in her never ending cheerfulness was happy to sit in the middle, Marley was drafted to also be in the middle so was smushed up beside Mandy and his sister, much to his excitement. Paul took them to a local restaurant called, “Torrelli’s” It was nice but not fancy, and he promised the food was excellent. “So no one is joining us,” Lisa asked as they sat down at an oversized booth.

“Umm, no, it’s just as, were you expecting someone?” Paul answered.

“Well I thought there may be others,” Lisa said.

“You mean like my wife?” Paul asked with a hint of pain in his voice.

“Umm, well yeah I, was going to ask” Lisa said.

“Our Mom had breast cancer and died in 2012,” Amy said mater of factly.
“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry,” Lisa said.

“Oh no, you didn’t know, I should have told you,” Paul said.

“Well I wish I could have met her,” Lisa said.

“Yeah me too, she was really something,” Paul said. The waiter arrived and the thought of food helped relieve the tension. This place specialized in Italian but offered just about everything, Marley was excited to see his favorite dish on the menu, lasagna. The conversation turned to the race and Mom relived her win for the table. Then the May’s talked a bit about their home up in rural Bent Creek, and the roads they rode on. Lisa talked a bit about her teaching job at the community college and Paul talked about his bike shop, eventually Paul indicated he wanted to say something, “Well ladies, there was an ulterior motive to my invitation, if course it’s a pleasure to have supper with you, but I wanted to invite you to join our team.”

Ann, Marley and Lisa all looked at each other, “Wow, that is so cool,” Ann said.

“Wow, thank you but I’m not sure if we’re going to be making any more races,” Lisa said.

“But you guys crushed it today in your first race, the season is just getting started,” Paul said.

“Well we live so far from any races, and girls are swamped with school, and everything,” Lisa said.

“Hmm, well that’s too bad, but I hope you think about it, we could really use you guys on the team,” Paul replied. The food arrived shortly and everyone dug in, a day of bike racing had a way of making you hungry. The food was fantastic, but Marley tried his best to eat like a girl, that is eat without getting sauce all over his face, not to mention his sister’s shirt. Once the food was gone and after a bit of stunted conversation Mandy seemingly sensing that the adults needed to talk alone said, “Hey lets go check out the boutique across the street, they’ve got some really nice stuff.”

“Oh that’s an awesome idea, Marley loves to shop, don’t you Sis,” Ann said.

“Yeah, you know me,” Marley said with a corny laugh. Mandy, Ann and Marley headed out the door, Amy took a look at the two adults and cheerlessly followed the girls.

Once the kids were gone Paul drew closer across the table, “What happened Lisa?”

Lisa replied back with a dazed silence then said, “What do you mean what happened?”

“What happened to us, you and me, back in college, what happened to you?”

“I had to take some time off.” Lisa replied.

“Because you got pregnant?” It was more of an accusation then a question.

“Yeah, I did. But now that you mention it how do you have a kid older than mine, Ann’s 15, and Amy’s 17?”
“It’s complicated,” Paul said.

“Yeah things often are,” Lisa replied. The two adults looked at each other in silence for a moment.

“I’m sorry,” they both said in unison.

“I fell in love with you, back in college, in 1998.” Lisa said.

“So did I, that’s why I can’t understand,” Paul replied.

Lisa hesitated a second before answering, “I was engaged to my high school sweetheart, I found out I was pregnant in November of 98, and we got married in February. I’m sorry.”