Epilogue
“BEN!” LIAM’Smother enveloped him in a hug, and Liam’s father was right behind her, then all around her, enveloping them all in a sort of uber hug in which boundless enthusiasm made up for limited reach.
“Hi,” Ben said as soon as he could wriggle a little bit free. “Thank you so much for inviting me down here!”
“Oh, thankyoufor coming,” Lillian, Liam’s mom, said. “When Liamsuggested it, Richard and I were over the moon! We’ve missed you so much!”
“I missed you too.” Not as much as he’d missed their son, but, still—the Marshalls had been a second family to him, and Christmas cards and occasional emails hadn’t made up for the loss of visits and phone calls. “I’m not sure how to handle the next part—I feel like I should be offering condolences or something, but Iget the idea you’d rather have congratulations?”
They looked temporarily confused, then Lillian said, “Oh, the divorce!”
Ben exchanged a look with Liam.Oh, the divorce! That old thing—I’d forgotten all about that!
“Congratulations are appreciated,” Richard said firmly. “And I’m really glad to have the two of you here to share the celebration with us. It seems appropriate, somehow. Lillianand I may not be married anymore, but we’re still part of each other’s lives. And the two of you were apart for quite a while, but now you’re back together because you never really forgotten each other. Formal relationship labels aren’t the important thing, are they?”
“Hear hear,” Calvin said as he, Seth, Dinah, and Tamara climbed out of their own rental car. “We get too caught up in the detailsand forget to appreciate the important things.” He stretched his arm out, offering the cooler he was carrying to Richard. “Important things like Dan Stuart’s kielbasa!”
“Oh!” Lillian cried in excitement. “And we’re so happy you could all come see us as well! Seth! I can’t believe you’re a daddy! And your beautiful wife, and your precious little girl! And Calvin.” She sounded less excited forthat last bit. Still interested, but more—cautious, maybe? Preparing to be amused but also worried about being shocked? It was a reasonable reaction to Uncle Calvin, Ben was pretty sure. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“And for wrangling the kielbasa,” Richard said with more enthusiasm. He took the cooler and led the crowd toward the house.
Ben and Liam hung back a little. “Is it weird?” Benasked. “I mean—it seems weird to me. They still seem totally content, totally in tune with each other. Why the hell are they splitting up?”
Liam shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess—I guess maybe they want something more. Fuck it, I think they want ‘passion.’ I can run away from that damn word all I want, but maybe Tristan wasn’t completely wrong. Maybe being ‘content’ isn’t enough. Just becausethey’re older doesn’t mean they’re dead, right? They still have a lot of life to live, and they want to be intense about it.”
“Intense with other people.”
Liam nodded slowly. “I guess?”
They were at the house then, kicking sand off their shoes before climbing the white wooden stairs to the wraparound porch. A moment to appreciate the ocean view before Lillian was in action, shepherding herguests to their respective rooms, giving them a rundown of the events for the weekend, and generally displaying a level of energy that should have been too much for someone half her age.
“Have we considered the possibility that your parents are breaking up because your mom has developed a serious cocaine problem and your dad just can’t handle it anymore?” Ben asked when he and Liam were safelyin their room.
“Nah. You watch. She’ll burn out by nine o’clock and he’ll just take over, being the gracious host until the last guest has finally stumbled off to bed. He’s at least as coked up as she is.”
And the evening went as Liam had predicted. After dinner on the patio they all went down to a campfire on the beach, but Lillian was yawning before the sun was fully down, and she snuck awayshortly after dark. Dinah took an exhausted but reluctant Tamara up to bed, and the men were left watching the fire and the water.
“You got sharks down here?” Uncle Calvin asked.
“Sure,” Richard replied. “It’s the ocean. There are sharks. But we don’t have many serious attacks—just nips, generally.”
“That right?”
“Well, maybe more than a nip. But not fatal.”
“And whatever doesn’t kill youmakes you stronger,” Calvin mused.
“I don’t know how much stronger you’d be if you were missing a foot or something,” Ben interjected. He didnotwant his uncle getting too adventurous on this trip. “If you want to swim, swim, but don’t golookingfor sharks, okay? Don’t, like, rub yourself in bacon before you go in the water.”
“So careful all the time,” Calvin scolded. “You’ve got to live alittle, Ben.”
Ben felt the gentle squeeze of Liam’s hand around his own. “I’m living just the right amount, thanks.”
“Smug bastard,” Seth said.
“Maybe weshoulddo more,” Liam said suddenly.
“What?” Ben turned to face him. “You’d better not be talking about sharks and bacon.”
