I turned back around, but I didn't pay much attention to the conversation afterthat.
His words stung a little.To his everlasting disappointment. But the sting gave them the ring of truth. And he thought I was a good artist? How would he evenknow?
“Well, I’m convinced,” Paul said. “Everett, do whatever you like and knock our socksoff!”
I forced a smile and nodded. “I’ll do mybest.”
“Alright!” Paul clapped his hands. “Thirty-minute recess! Jamie and Shane have the food out and I’mfamished!”
“Hen!” Jamie Burke came over as soon as the crowd had made a dash for the food tables. O’Learians took their buffets seriously. “How areyou?”
“Well as can be,” Hen said, nodding. “How aboutyou?”
Jamie shrugged and his red hair fell over his forehead. “Good. Good.” He glanced atme.
“Jamie, have you met my grandson, Everett?” Hen said wryly. “Everett, this is JamieBurke.”
“Not officially. Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking hishand.
“Same.” Jamie grinned. “Youhungry?”
I glanced over at the throng of people crowding the food. “Not that hungry. But I’d love asoda.”
Jamie's eyes brightened in a way that was either O'Learian over-friendliness or possibly some kind of romantic interest, an idea that only made me feel unbearablyweary.“Come on, I’ll take you outback.”
I glanced at Grandpa Hen, who shrugged like it was all the same with him whether I stayed or went.Typical.I jumped down off mystool.
“So how are you liking O’Leary?” Jamie asked as he led me through thecrowd.
“Oh. Uh.” I blinked. “It’sfine.”
“Wow. Unqualified endorsement, huh? I can’t wait to see the backdrop youpaint.”
I laughed. “Yeah. Me neither. Considering I have no supplies and haven't painted anything outside of the classroom in a long while. Puppies playing in leaves would probably be better than asking me to come up with something representative of thetown.”
He hesitated, almost shyly. “You know, if you need any helpwith…”
“Jamie?” Carol Sloane popped out of the crowd, all sunshine-yellow.
“Oh, hey, Ms. Sloane. Do you knowEverett?”
“Hi,” I said, giving her my best smile. “Nice to meetyou.”
“And you.” She looked me up and down impassively. “I hear you know myson.”
“Uh.” Si had not been wrong about the rumor mill in this town. More than one person had casually-but-not-casually brought up Si or hiking in conversation, and when Grandpa wasn’t there to kill the topic dead, I’d done my best to smile through it. “I do. A little bit.”Enough to know he has complicated feelings aboutyou.
She nodded. “Has he invited you to the memorialservice?”
I looked at Jamie for a clue, but he was looking at me expectantly, just like she was. “No, he hasn’t mentioned it atall.”
She frowned. “Oh. It's a few weeks away, but I thought he would have invited all hisfriends.”
My stomach churned. “We're more like acquaintances than friends,” I told her. “We’re not close.” Not really even friends atall.
She looked strangelydisappointed.
“Well, I’d like it if you’d come,” she said. “It’s a little get-together to remember his brother, Mathias.” She put a hand on Jamie’s arm. “And Molly, of course. Three weeks from Sunday. I'll get you the details once we iron themout.”
