Why was he waiting for Rosie to ask him for help? She never asked.
He got out of bed and started to pack, then took the train to Boston the next day.
“I’ve been making awkward small talk with Rose’s dad for half an hour. I had to pretend to care aboutbasketball,” Adrian said with a grimace.
“Maybe we should do this tomorrow instead,” Tom said, sweating at the idea of facing down Rosie’s entire family to inform them that they could not be trusted with their two mostvaluable players. He hadn’t thought anyone but Max and Rosie’s immediate family would be home. Rosie certainly hadn’t mentioned anyone else helping her move Max out of inpatient rehab.
“Caroline needs her car back on Tuesday,” Adrian said, making a shooing gesture with his hands. “If we’re doing this, we’re doing this today.”
Suppressing stage fright he hadn’t felt in years, Tom headed across the street and let himself inside the house. It was much cleaner than he remembered; the stacks of magazines and old mail that Tom had seen during his early visits had vanished, and the place smelled like Windex and Pine-Sol over the lingering odor of cigarettes. Rosie had probably cleaned it. There was a dull roar of male conversation from the back of the house.
Tom still had a poster, somewhere, with the names and faces of Rosie’s relatives pasted onto the full family tree. He’d crammed it before each holiday, trying to recall which name went with which set of Kelly eyebrows. It was all beyond him now, but he recognized Rosie’s dad in the dining room as he entered, standing over a large spread of sandwiches and cold appetizers laid out on the battered oak table. Tom didn’t see Rosie herself, but if he was due to be dragged into the backyard for an ass-kicking, it was better to get it over with where she might not observe it.
“Derek,” Tom said, drawing himself up to his full height—five inches taller than Derek Kelly—and extending his hand. Last time it had beenMr. Kelly, but Tom was going to pretend to all the trappings of adulthood today. “Good to see everyone rally together.”
Derek stopped with a stuffed mushroom cap halfway to his mouth, replaced it on the platter, looked at his fingers, wiped them on his trousers, and took Tom’s hand.
“You bet,” he said vaguely. “Celtics should pull this thing off, I think.”
Tom looked at him with flat consternation. Basketball? What? That was not the greeting he’d been expecting. Wasn’t everyone there to see Max?
“Is this party just…is everyone just here for the playoffs?” Tom asked.
Derek shrugged, still confused. “Rosie kept complaining that nobody had come over yet, so I said we’d get the boys here on game day. And, you know, that girl loves a party.”
Tom couldn’t stop a faint derisive noise in the back of his throat. He was sure that what Rosie had actually wanted was a little help making the house clean and safe for Max. The only sport Tom had ever known Rosie to watch on TV was figure skating.
Derek gave Tom another looking over, eyes lingering on his expensive but poorly fitting shirt, because Tom was not quite back into Boyd’s shape yet.
“Are you another one of Rosie’s friends, then?” Derek asked Tom, and Tom abruptly realized Derek didn’t even know who Tom was. “I thought she said we were just inviting family. I could’ve asked the guys from the office. We’re gonna have a lot of leftovers.” Derek gestured at the plates and plates of food.
Tom drew upon all his performance abilities to keep his expression neutral.
“It’s Tom?” Still nothing. “Tom Wilczewski?”The only son-in-law you’ve ever had? We’ve met dozens of times? You gave Rosie away at our wedding?
“Oh!” Derek said belatedly, surprise creasing his pink features. “I didn’t recognize you with the—” He sketched a hand over his whiskered upper lip.
Tom reflexively rubbed his own itchy mustache.
“It’s for a role,” he said unhappily.
“A role? Oh! So you’re still planning to give the theater thing a go?” Derek said, mildly curious.
“For fifteen years now, yeah,” Tom said.
“Huh. Well, nice of you to stop by. Did you…did you come to see Max, then?”
“Rosie and Max,” Tom said.
Derek laughed politely. “Rosie’s fine, of course. And Max’s doing all right under the circumstances, I guess. It’s not ideal.” He made a face.
“Yeah, of course,” Tom echoed.
It seemed that Derek was not holding any grudges. He just didn’t care at all. And as infuriating as that was, it only made it simpler for Tom to get the girls and go. Derek wouldn’t try to stop him.
“I didn’t realize you still saw either of them,” Derek said.
“I’ve been helping out at the inn over the last few months,” Tom said.
