Chương 11
“I think I might need one.”
“For the money from Mom and Dad?”
“For everything.”
I waited.
She looked at me.
“If Mark leaves.”
I did not answer quickly enough.
Her mouth tightened.
“Don’t say he won’t.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Good.”
She folded the dish towel twice.
Then again.
“I think he might.”
“He might.”
Her eyes filled.
“I would.”
That was the first moment all day she stopped defending herself.
I leaned against the opposite counter.
“Then start with the truth.”
“I tried that.”
“No.”
She looked at me sharply.
“You got caught.”
She flinched.
I regretted the bluntness but not the accuracy.
“There’s a difference.”
She looked away.
“Do you enjoy being right?”
“Sometimes.”
“At least you admit it.”
“I’m trying.”
She nodded.
“So am I.”
Outside, one of the twins shouted that somebody had taken his headphones.
Jenna closed her eyes.
“He loses those every three days.”
“Maybe they’re in the guest room.”
“They’re always in the guest room.”
She moved toward the hall, then stopped.
“Did you really work extra shifts because you didn’t want to go home?”
I looked at her.
“Sometimes.”
“After Melissa?”
“Mostly.”
She nodded slowly.
“I used to be jealous of you.”
“You mentioned that.”
“I’m not now.”
“Thanks.”
“That came out wrong.”
“I know.”
She leaned against the doorway.
“I thought you had this perfect post-divorce life.”
I laughed.
“Nothing says perfect like eating cereal over the sink at midnight because all the bowls are dirty.”
“You do that?”
“More than I should.”
She smiled despite herself.
Then she grew serious.
“I’m sorry about Eli.”
I waited.
“And Zoe.”
I kept waiting.
“And the house.”
“There’s more.”
She looked irritated.
“I know.”
“Say it when you mean it.”
“I do mean it.”
“Then say it to them.”
Her eyes moved toward the driveway.
“No audience.”
“What?”
“Don’t make it a performance.”
She looked back at me.
“Just them.”
Her shoulders lowered.
“Okay.”
The twins came running through the hall.
“We found the headphones.”
Jenna looked at me.
“Where were they?”
I asked.
One twin pointed toward the refrigerator.
“On top.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
He shrugged.
“I don’t know.”
Jenna laughed.
A real laugh this time.
She bent down and pulled both boys toward her.
They tolerated the hug for about three seconds before squirming away.
“Go put them in the car.”
They ran outside.
She watched them go.
“My kids are kind of jerks.”
“They’re eleven.”
“That is not a defense.”
“No.”
She nodded toward Eli’s broken boat.
“I’m paying for that.”
“No.”
“Daryl.”
“He wants to fix it.”
“Then I’ll pay for whatever it takes to fix it.”
I considered that.
“Ask him.”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
By four-thirty, the driveway was nearly clear.
My parents loaded the last grocery bags into their SUV.
Mark secured the twins’ suitcases in the back of his car.
Jenna stood near the passenger door but did not get in.
She looked at Eli.
“Can I talk to you?”
He glanced at me.
I nodded.
Jenna crouched so they were closer to eye level.
Eli held the box against his stomach.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He looked at her.
“For the boat?”
“Yes.”
She swallowed.
“And for the room.”
He said nothing.
“And for saying something really stupid about family.”
His grip tightened on the cardboard.
“You said we weren’t real.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Jenna looked toward me for half a second.
Then she looked back at him.
“Because I was angry at your dad about things that had nothing to do with you.”
Eli frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“No.”
Her voice broke slightly.
“It doesn’t.”
He looked down at the box.
“My boat took four Saturdays.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
She went still.
“I painted it twice.”
He opened the box and showed her the split hull.
“The first blue was too dark.”
Jenna nodded.
“I didn’t know that.”
“I wrote my initials under the sail.”
She touched the edge of the box but not the boat.
“Can I help fix it?”
Eli looked at me again.
I kept my face neutral.
After a long moment, he shrugged.
“Maybe.”
Jenna nodded.
“Maybe is fair.”
Zoe stepped forward.
“You made my shoe sticky.”
Jenna closed her eyes.
“I’m also sorry about your shoe.”
Zoe considered this seriously.
“Okay.”
Then she hugged Jenna without warning.
Jenna froze.
Her arms came around Zoe slowly.
Eli did not hug her.
That was fair too.
My parents said goodbye next.
My mother hugged the children longer than usual.
My father shook my hand.
It was such a formal gesture that I almost refused it.
Instead, I took it.
His grip was firm.
“We’ll talk.”
“Not tonight.”
He nodded.
“Not tonight.”
When they drove away, Jenna and Mark remained.
They stood beside their car without speaking.
The twins were already inside arguing over music.
Mark opened the passenger door.
Jenna got in.
Before he closed it, she looked back at the cottage.
Then at me.
“Don’t sell it because of me.”
I said nothing.
She nodded as though silence was an answer.
Mark closed the door.
Their car pulled out.
For the first time all day, the driveway was empty.
Eli stood beside me.
Zoe sat on the porch step trying to peel dried soda from her flip-flop.
“Are we selling it?” Eli asked.
I looked at the house.
Then at the ocean.
Then at the cardboard box in his arms.
“I don’t know.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
“You mad?”
“A little.”
“At me?”
He shrugged.
“I thought we were going to be here all summer.”
That hurt because it was true.
I had let him believe that.
“I know.”
“You said we could.”
“I did.”
“Does money matter more?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Then why sell it?”
I opened my mouth.
Nothing simple came out.
So I sat beside Zoe on the step.
Eli sat on my other side.
May you like
For a while, none of us spoke.
The sun had started lowering over the water.
