His cell phone buzzed from his pocket. Right on time. Predictable.
Jake sighed and pulled his phone out, then swiped up to answer.
“Hey, Kris.”
“Hey, lunkhead.”
“Lunkhead?” Jake grinned and shook his head. “What did I do now?”
“Oh, nothing. Phil was just reading me your article inNat Geo.”
With a huff of laughter, Jake scooted to the edge of his lounge chair. He grimaced as the muscles in his right leg complained, but he pushed himself to stand up anyway, his eyes drifting back out to the coastline. “Ahh, well. You know what I’m going to say, right?”
“Of course I do. And you know what I’m going to say right back.”
Jake picked up his mug and took another sip of his tea. “I told you I’d happily write about your resolutionif—”
“—when!”
“—ifit passes. And it has to passandget the necessary funding, which, as we both know, isn’t a guarantee at all. AndthenI’ll write about it. Hell, I’ll even sing about it from the rooftops—how my big sister is doing all the good work passing legislation to help keep our oceans clean and free of microplastics.”
He heard his sister laugh quietly. “Please don’t go climbing up on any rooftops,” she admonished, her voice still teasing.
Jake just rolled his eyes. “But it’s my favorite pastime. Climbing up on my roof. Out here in my isolation. All alone. No one for at least a mile to hear me when I fall.”
“Ah, stuff it, Jake. Don’t even put that image in my head. God, you’re the worst. I love you, though.”
“I love you too, Kris.”
Jake limped slightly over to the edge of the patio and leaned on the railing, staring out into the blackness. “It was a good article, wasn’t it?”
“Very,” she said. “Clear and detailed, and if anything, it shouldhelpmy cause. The vote’s next week, by the way. We finally got it on the docket, right before the holidays. I’m hopeful. It’ll do so much good if it passes.”
“It really will,” Jake agreed.
There was some rustling on the other end of the line, and he heard the muffled voice of his ten-year-old nephew, Phil, shouting something. Krista just sighed.
“You’re doing okay today?” she asked, her voice much softer now, as it always was when she asked him that question.
“Yeah, Kris, I’m good. And don’t worry, I’m not planning on climbing any roofs.”
His sister was silent for a long moment, and Jake pulled the phone away, thinking maybe he’d lost his connection. But then he heard a quiet sniffle, and he put the phone back up to his ear.
“Kris?”
“I’m sorry, Jake. You know I just worry.”
“I know.”
“And I don’t like you living out there all by yourself.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, I know.”
“Maybe... you can visit for Thanksgiving this year? Dad’s coming. Mom’s not, but, you know, that’s probably better.”
Jake closed his eyes at the unpleasant churning in his stomach. “Um, yeah. I-I’d love to see Dad.”
There was a short pause, and then his sister coughed quietly. “So you’ll come?” Krista asked, her voice sounding much, much too hopeful and yet sad at the same time.
