We work side by side, serving popcorn, drinks, and candy.
“Your mum is in her element,” I say to him once we’re on top of things.
He looks across at her. She’s stationed herself beside Jonas, who’s flipping burgers while she takes payments and offers condiments.
“She’s happiest when she’s in the kitchen.”
“Maybe she’ll open a diner in Wisconsin.”
“I can picture it,” Anders says with a sideways smile at me.
He takes my breath away every time.
“Where’s your dad?” I ask, steeling myself.
“Here he is now,” he replies with a frown, nodding across the yard.
His dad is heading straight for Jonas. He still has a slight limp, but his injury doesn’t slow him down. Anders is tense beside me.
“You should go on, son,” we hear Patrik urge him gruffly. “You should be welcoming people as they come. I can take over here.”
Jonas stares at him, speechless.
“He’s right,” Peggy interjects, giving Jonas a nudge. “You’re the host. We can manage here.”
Patrik holds out his hand for the big silver spatula Jonas is clutching.
Jonas looks dazedly at Patrik’s hand, then at the spatula, before slowly surrendering it.
Patrik claps him on his back as he walks off.
“No way,” Anders murmurs with astonishment.
“The fact that your dad offered to help or the fact that Jonas stepped away from the barbecue?”
“Both,” he replies with a grin.
We have a big flurry of orders before the movie begins and then Bailey comes over to ask Anders if he can relocate some of the hay bales so that families can sit together. She sticks around to help me and when Dad and Sheryl reach the front of the line, the four of us look at each other and giggle.
“Can you take a photo?” I ask Dad, handing over my phone.
Bailey and I throw our arms around each other and beamat the camera. Dad clicks off a shot and I let Bailey go, but she turns and kisses me on the cheek.
“Love you, sis.”
“I love you too,” I reply warmly.
“You girls,” Sheryl says, tears filling her eyes as she smiles at us. “Look at our girls,” she says to Dad.
“They are something,” he replies with awe, shaking his head.
“There are other customers waiting, you know,” Bailey snaps, surreptitiously swiping at her own eyes. “Get all emotional on us later.”
Sheryl smiles at her knowingly before leading Dad away. I lean over and press a kiss on my sister’s cheek.
As the sky’scolors fade into darkness, the festoon lights are turned off, and the movie begins, I sit down and soak up the atmosphere. There must be upward of two hundred people sitting out here, under the stars, and most have brought their own chairs and blankets. The air smells of hay, popcorn, and fresh evening dew, and despite my underlying melancholy, it’s impossible not to feel sparks of happiness at how well the evening has gone.
Peggy and Patrik are sitting with Dad and Sheryl at the back. Bailey and Casey are cozying up nearby. Jonas and Tyler are still standing by the mobile bar, paying way more attention to each other than to the film, from the looks of it. And I’m sticking close to Bambi so I’m ready to open up again at intermission.
