“I just…what is going on?” she asked pleadingly. “I thought you and Dad were rock solid. Aren’t you? Should I be worried?”
Another long silence. Harrison winced. He shouldn’t be listening to this. He bent down and put on one shoe, then the other.
“Mom?” Amy sounded so young just then.
“We’re not seeing eye to eye, that’s all.”
“Seeing eye to eye about what?”
“Life.”
“But—”
“Your father has a way of not seeing what is right in front of him, and I guess I got a little tired of it.”
“But what is right in front of him?”
“Life, as I said,” Barb answered, sounding impatient. “His idea of retirement is to sit in his recliner and switch channels all day long. I can’t bear it.Myidea is to get out there and enjoy what time we have left. You never know how long you’ve got. Remember Susan Trimble? She thought she had all the time in the world, then got cancer.”
“Did you talk to him about it?”
“What do you think? Of course I did,” Barb said with a bit of a huff.
“What did he say?”
“What he always says. That he will try and do better. But then he doesn’t do anything. He says that he worked for a lot of years and would like to relax a little and doesn’t want togo go goall the time. I never asked him togo go go.I just asked him to get out of that damn chair. How is it that two people can weather all the trials and tribulations of a lifetime of marriage and raising children and reach this point only to find they are so incompatible?”
“You’re not incompatible,” Amy said. “You and Dad love the same things.”
“You’ve been putting too much pressure on yourself, Barb.”
Harrison’s brows rose. Carol had entered the chat.
“What pressure?” Amy asked.
“To be a good wife,” Carol said.
“Carol,” Barb said, her voice full of warning. “Amy, honey. Let’s just enjoy our little break from family. I have to say, this has been one of your better ideas.”
If that hadn’t been so wildly offensive given the circumstances, Harrison might have laughed. Her mother seemed to truly not understand how she’d affected this opportunity for Amy. He decided it was time to rescue her. He picked up Duchess and walked the few feet to the mudroom.
Carol, Amy, and Barb were crowded in the small space. “Hello there,” he said to the group. “Are you ready, Amy?”
“Ready?” Barb looked from Harrison to Amy. “Ready for what?”
“We’re going to try the lake taxi,” Amy said.
“Oh?” Barb’s brows rose and she looked again at Amy.
Amy ignored her mother’s blatant curiosity. “Will you look after Duchess, Mom?”
“You’re going now? We’re having taco casserole! It’s your favorite!”
“The truth is, I’m feeling a little claustrophobic here, and Harrison knew of the taxi, so…” She shrugged. “We’re going to check it out.”
“We better go,” he said.
“Bye, Mom.” Amy turned and walked out of the mudroom, through the kitchen, past the nutcrackers, and under the mistletoe. She skirted around the de-bowed tree—Harrison noticed that Melissa, June, and Hillary were wearing some of the bows now—and through the back door.
