“No. He pocketed the money set aside for taxes. Second lawsuit.” He pushed open his door. “After that, he got run out of town.”
Just then, a battered Toyota hatchback pulled in to our right. A woman with short, curly white hair in aNORTH LAKET-shirt was behind the wheel.
“You picking up?” she asked Ben. She pushed open her door and got out with a grunt. Clearly, this was Kate. I immediately clocked the knee brace. “Who for?”
“Liz,” he replied as she slammed the door.
“Come on, then.” With that, she started toward the nearby building with the neon sign, limping noticeably. Around her waist sagged a battered fanny pack. Her socks were pulled up tight above her sneakers, which looked orthopedic.
The pizza place was small and dark, with an overall sticky feel. A guy with a ponytail was poking at pies in a large oven as Led Zeppelin crackled through a speaker somewhere. Kate went behind the counter, where four boxes were stacked, a receipt slapped on top.
“This is you,” she told Ben. I was closer, so I stepped forward, hoisting the top two into my arms. She narrowed her eyes at me. “What’s your name? You look familiar.”
Even if Liz hadn’t mentioned she’d once been a principal,there was a directness to her tone that immediately made me nervous in that specifically academic way. “Finley,” I replied.
Kate studied me, not saying anything. Ben picked up the remaining pizzas before saying, “Cat Woods is her mom.”
“Aha.” Her voice was flat. “I knew it. You look just like her.”
Before I’d come here, no one had ever told me this.
“Heard they’re selling that house finally,” she continued as the pizza oven banged shut. She made an impatient gesture at Ben, who then handed over Liz’s card. “Estate sale’s this weekend?”
Ben looked at me. When I didn’t reply, he said, “Everything got moved out today.”
“Oh boy, would the Judge befuriousto see that.”Beepwent the card reader. She looked at me, then said, “Your grandpa sure had a temper. Among other failings. But you know about that from your mom, I’m sure.”
The way she said this, I was pretty sure I was meant to be insulted. I wasn’t. I did wish I knew what she was talking about, though. Ben took the card. “See ya, Kate,” he told her. She harrumphed in reply.
Then we were walking out into what felt like the very bright light. In comparison anyway. “For what it’s worth, she talks about everyone,” Ben said to me. “My dad’s just ‘That Common Criminal.’ Never calls him by his name, if she even knew it in the first place.”
“I did feel like a delinquent just by association,” I admitted. “Meanwhile, I’ve never evenhaddetention.”
“It’s overrated,” he said. “Mostly just clock-watching.”
We passed the office again, then the boats. This time I took note of the kiosks on the dock offering bait and tugboat rides, imagining his dad there with a younger Kasey and Marshall, who I’d never meet. Somehow, it was all easier than thinking of my mom as the homecoming queen or a punk girl. And those I’d seen with my own eyes.
I felt a wave of missing Colin hit me, unexpectedly. There were so many pictures of us, from that first dinner with his family all the way up to graduation, just days earlier. What would I think of when I looked at them, years from now? Naming all fifty states, or seeing that girl who resembled me beside him? It was impossible to know as the shutter clicked. All you had was that moment. And right then, I wanted them all back.
“Want to talk about the weather?” he asked, bringing me back to the present. “The dew point’s supposed to be insane this week.”
“I probably should,” I replied. “I was thinking about Colin.”
A series of motorcycles passed noisily, going the other direction. In the relative quiet after, he said, “Makes sense. It’s pretty fresh.”
“And I think I’m facing that truth finally,” I said. “Mastodons aside, it’s really over.”
“Endings are hard. Especially when you’re not used to them,” he told me. “Moving on is like a muscle. You have to build it up.”
“And you have.”
“I didn’t really have a choice,” he said. “And it’s not all good. I was just talking about thedew point, in case you missed that.”
“I think I just kind of lost myself in him.” I looked out the window at the water going by. “Especially the stuff I didn’t have, like a big, happy family and cool friends. And now it’s gone.”
He considered this. “Not necessarily. I mean, you have family here. And what’s cooler than a totally awkward friend you share both memories and toothpaste with?”
“Nothing?”
