“You stay over there.” Dad aimed a finger gun at Miguel.
“Yes, sir.” Miguel held his hands up. “My mother wants to invite your family to our house for a barbecue on Saturday night.”
“Nope.” Dad glared at him. “Won’t go.”
“I’d be glad to go,” Jewel said. “And I’m sure Mom and Cooper would too.” She looked at her dad. “I guess you can just stay home alone on Saturday night.”
Dad looked stymied.
“What can we bring?” Jewel asked Miguel.
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask my mother for the details.”
“Okay.”
“Too hot,” Dad mumbled, tugging her arm. “House.”
“Yes, you go on and get inside.” She extracted her arm from his. “I’ll be along in a few minutes.”
Dad looked like his feet were planted there. He wore the expression of a lost five-year-old.
“The house is over there.” She pointed him in the right direction. “Just head for the barn and keep going, Dad.” She gave him a gentle shove. “Get something cool to drink.”
He nodded and began plodding toward the barn. When he was out of earshot, she turned back to Miguel. “Sorry about that. You know how he can be.”
“It’s okay. But do you really think you should leave him home alone on Saturday?”
“No.” She smirked. “But I have a feeling he might change his mind if he sees us all going over to your place. Anyway, it’ll be a good test.”
“Yeah. It’d sure be nice to repair our broken bridges. If that’s possible.”
“I’m willing to give it a good try.”
“How’s your mom doing?”
“Much better. The challenge now is to keep her from doing too much.”
“She’s a real go-getter.”
“Believe me, I know.” She sighed. “Cooper and I try to step in when we can.”
He nodded slowly. “And how is Cooper adjusting?”
“Pretty well. She seems to get along really well with my mom. Better than I do.”
“That’s probably typical. My Anna and Mama are like that.”
“Yeah, I try not to feel left out.” Jewel looked over to where her dad was almost to the barn now. “Dad’s moving pretty fast, at least for him.”
Miguel nodded. “Yeah, he can really move sometimes—like if he’s heading over to chastise me about something.” He chuckled. “But other times it looks like the poor guy can barely walk.”
“FTD is weird like that. I’ve been reading everything I can find about it. And all I keep coming up with is it’s a very strange disease.” She held up her hands in a defeated way. “Pretty frustrating for everyone around him.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed. So how are you doing, Jewel?” He looked intently into her eyes, signaling this wasn’t just a polite inquiry but an invitation to an honest answer.
“I don’t know. I mean, it feels kind of like a balancing act, or a tightrope walk. Every member of our family can be tricky. Dad because of his illness. But Mom can get pretty defensive if I try to help too much. She’s always reminding me she’s not helpless.”
He looked amused. “I get that from Mama too. Like walking a fine line.”
