“Of course.”
“How’d she seem?” he asked.
“Fine,” I said. “She sounded sharp as a tack while telling me about your idyllic fictional childhood in North Carolina.”
One side of his mouth tipped up in a smile. My dad always appreciated an extra dose of humor when it came to Annie’s dementia. It was how he coped.
“What about you?” I realized he and I hadn’t been alone in a while. There were so many people in the Carmichael house, doing so many different things.
“I spoke to her a couple days ago,” he said. “Not for very long, though.” He took a big bite of his eccentric ice cream sandwich, chewed, and swallowed…all with a pained expression on his face. Peppermint and peanut butter together were indeed disgusting. “She was tired and under the impression I was her gardener. We spoke briefly about her tulip border.” He cleared his throat. “And her doctor and I touched base this morning.”
“About what?” My eyebrows knitted together. “Her medicine?”
Erica appeared before he could explain. “I am taking Maisie and Bryce back to the house,” she matter-of-factly announced. “It’s getting late.”
“But the fireworks haven’t been set off yet,” I said. “They shouldn’t miss the show…”
Both my siblings were so excited.
“No, they won’t.” My stepmother shook her head. “Jay sets them off with the Fox brothers on Oyster Pond. We’ll see them from the back deck.”
I tried again. “But—”
“They stayed up extremely late last night,” Erica told me. “I want them back on a normal sleeping schedule.”
My dad didn’t argue, which meant the twins really must’ve been on the precipice of overtired. Maisie would be grouchy, and woozy Bryce would fall asleep on his feet. “I’ll take them home,” he offered. “You stay and enjoy the rest of the night.”
By way of a response, Erica smiled and slung her arms around my dad’s neck. “Do you mind wrangling Teddy and Finn too?” she asked after they kissed. “My mother told me Connor is supposed to take them back soon, but I think it’d be nice to give him the night off.”
Connor would never take Teddy and Finn home before the fireworks, I thought.
“I couldn’t agree more,” my dad said. “He’s a hard worker and deserves to have some fun.” He turned to me. “I’ll see you back at the ranch, Liv?”
“Definitely.” I tried not to show my disappointment; fireworks had been my dad’s and mything, ever since I was a little girl. Before he married Erica, we’d always take the train into New York and watch the Fourth of July fireworks together on the USSIntrepid. There was no better place to see all the razzle and dazzle than its flight deck. Granted, for the last several years we had gone to Haddonfield’s fireworks show, but it was still special. I summoned a smile and welcomed his hug. “I’ll see you later, Dad.”
Erica walked off with him to help wrangle the kids, and I too set off after grabbing a napkin for my now-dripping dessert. “Hey, Olivia!” someone called, and I turned to see Nick on the dance floor off the deck. “You want to dance?”
The band was currently on break, so someone’s summer playlist blared. I recognized James Taylor. “Where’s Sage?” I called back.
“With her favorite dance partner!” He gestured across the floor, where Luke twirled the future Mrs. Nicholas Carmichael. Despite their uncontrollable smiles and laughter, it looked like they had a solid sense of rhythm.
“I’m aterribledancer,” Nick added. “But my lifts are epic!”
“Do you know the one fromDirty Dancing?” I joked.
He gave me a look that said,Is that even a question?
Laughing, I started toward him.
* * *
After Nick spun me, dipped me, and even flipped me, I grabbed a water bottle from one of the many drink coolers and gratefully sipped while a white-haired woman with colorful jewelry got on the mic to announce a ten-minute warning for fireworks. The sun had indeed said its goodbye. “Assume your positions!” she teased.
People migrated all different directions, most of them popping a squat on the lawn and others disappearing down to the beach. I pictured the twins and Finn and Teddy back acrossthe pond, all settled on the Carmichaels’ back deck together. Knowing my dad, he’d probably turned on the gas firepit and brought out s’mores supplies. He might’ve agreed with Erica about a better bedtime, but that didn’t mean the kids couldn’t go out with a bang.
It’s vacation!I imagined him saying.The Fourth of July!
I felt a lump rise in my throat, suddenly wishing I were there too. Why hadn’t I gone with my dad and the twins? Watching the fireworks with them would’ve been just as, if not more, special than watching the show here. It would be closer to tradition.
