Slowly, Charlie stood up. “Should we bring a frisbee? A football?” He shrugged. I packed a bag with both, and towels. We left through the front door, avoiding the scene in the kitchen. “I bet we find blue sea glass today,” I remarked as we got into the car. “What do you think?”
“Probably not,” Charlie finally responded.
At least he was talking. Should I probe? Leave him alone? “What do you think about your dad being here?”
He looked out the window. “He just wants to watch baseball.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“He used to watch football, and hockey. Or go meet his friends.”
“Yeah.” Mike had always had something to do, and none of his plans ever included Charlie. “Well, I’m really glad I get go to the beach and do other stuff with you. I like it a lot.” I reached over across the bench seat, and took his little hand. He let me hold it for a while. “Because you’re my best sweet pea. And I love you so, so much.”
He looked at me. “I love you too,” he said. We drove in silence for a while. “Are you leaving ever, Emmy?”
“Nope,” I told him. “You’re stuck with me for life. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Even when I grow up?” He had a little smile.
“I’m planning on living with you in your dorm room when you go to college. Do you think your roommate would mind?”
“Aunt Emmy,” he said in a long-suffering voice, but he reached out across the seat, and I took his hand again.
∞
The beach was the perfect place to go. We stayed for a few hours, walking and wading up to our knees (it was bone-chilling cold). I got a text from Luke saying that he was with his dad, who wasn’t feeling well. I asked him to pick us up to go to Annie’s house for the dinner, so I knew we’d have a secure ride. After a few hours, we drove the Bronco over to Martha and Carl’s house. Charlie went with Frankie to see his room, and Martha invited me into the living room. It was very clean, and very pink and floral. Martha’s favorite color was mauve, and it showed in her house.
“Honey, I just feel terrible taking the Bronco from you,” she said. She looked distraught.
“Martha, it’s ok.” I took a deep breath. “Mike came home, so now we have a car to drive.” I hadn’t wanted to tell her about Mike, but there was no use hiding it.
“Mike. Michael Finn came home?” her voice rose, and Carl came in to the living room. “Did you hear that?” she demanded to him. “Michael Finn has come home like the prodigal son. And I’ll just bet that Cassandra Finn has killed the fatted calf for him.”
I thought about Mike slapping Cassie on the butt. “She took him right back. They’re picking up where they left off.”
Martha started muttering angrily under her breath, and Carl patted her shoulder. He never said much.
“Anyway, the good news is that I can drive the Jeep.”
“He’ll let you drive it?” she asked incredulously.
I shrugged a non-committal answer. Mike wouldn’t have any choice once I took the keys tomorrow morning. I hadn’t wanted to fight today, with Charlie so down, but tomorrowthe Jeep was mine. It wasn’t a great plan, but he owed us. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Let Cassie try to make me leave. I’d take Charlie with me, and they wouldn’t even notice that he was gone.
Charlie came back down, talking excitedly about Frankie’s rocks. “They’re all organized and labeled. Frankie is a real scientist,” he told me. Martha and Carl smiled.
We said goodbye, and Carl drove us home. “Be careful with Mike,” he admonished me in his laconic way, as we shut the doors and thanked him.
Cassie was dead asleep in their bed, which was a rumpled mess. I cleaned up the disgusting kitchen, sighing over the empty refrigerator, then opened the windows to the afternoon air to clear some of the smoky smell out of the house. By the time I was done, I could hear Cassie calling me, so I made her and Charlie some sandwiches and brought her a tray.
She had huge dark circles under her eyes. “Thank you,” she said when I set down the tray. That was different. I started to straighten up the bedroom a little, then dropped the pile of clothes I was holding back onto the floor. I wasn’t Mike’s maid.
Cassie had been watching me. “I’m glad he’s back,” she said.
I nodded at her. “I know. I’m glad you’re happy.”
I went to my room to look for something to wear to the Shark team dinner, and as it turned out, miraculously, no new clothes had grown in my closet that afternoon. I had absolutely nothing to wear to Annie’s house. I helped Charlie pick out a nice shirt, and gave him the purple plaid tie I had searched for in two Goodwills and a resale shop. He loved it. “It really is your color,” I told him. He nodded, entranced by his ownimage in the mirror. “Looking good, pal.”
I took a shower and then went through my closet again. Nothing. I heard a little noise, and saw Cassie at the door, watching me.
