Kasey wiped her hand along the table. “Until they weren’t.”
“So they had a falling-out,” Lana said.
“Which happens in families,” Liz added. “I mean, everyone has issues at one point or another.”
“True.” Kasey looked at me again. “That said, we never thought she’d just cut off contact with all of us.”
“Never,”Liz agreed. “But she did. Headed off to school and by the second year, that was it. Moved in with a guy we knew nothing about. Got married at city hall without even telling us…”
“Before having a baby Dad never got to meet,” Liz said, nodding at me. “And we only saw you twice, at the rest home and then Mom’s funeral. Of course, I always sent her letters and cards, and later emails. But we never really heard much from her.”
“Until a week ago,” Kasey said. “When she suddenly called us.”
“To say she was coming to sell the house!” Liz exclaimed, shaking her head. “For over ayearI’d been trying to get her to look at this paperwork. Now she can’t do it fast enough.”
“At least we know why,” Kasey said. “Cancer makes things pretty immediate. From my experience.”
All at once, this was too much for me. I wanted my dad, the one adult I could still, always, be a child with if I needed to.
“You okay, Finley?” Liz asked as I pushed my chair back.
“Yeah. I just need to do something real quick.”
It wasn’t until I stepped into the mostly empty living room that I remembered the phone had been green stickered. After everything that day—the breakfast rush, the crowded sale, my mom’s collapse—it was this that made me feel like bursting into tears.
I swallowed, hard, then went into my room to gather myself. Moonlight was coming through the Bone Breaking window, partially lighting up my bed. On it sat the house phone, cord wrapped neatly around it. Also, two Post-it notes. One said,SOLD.The other:BEN.
In the living room, I stuck the line into the wall. When I lifted the receiver, there was a beat where I thought maybe it had gotten broken or something. Then came the dial tone, loud like a crack in my ear. I dialed my dad’s number and waited to connect.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Hey. Thanks for the phone.”
I’d just come around the loading dock to find Ben sitting again on the edge. The previous evening, worn out from both the sale and my mom’s hospitalization, I’d slept hard from the moment my head hit the pillow. Tonight, though, my eyes had clicked open right at 2:07.
“You’re welcome,” he replied. I walked up the ramp and took a seat beside him. “Thought you might want it. It’s one thing to choose to be disconnected. Having it forced on you is something else.”
“Choices are everything,” I agreed.
A car passed by on the road behind us. Rare enough that we both got quiet, listening.
“Speaking of choices,” he said after a moment, “I wondered if you might make one not to come again tonight.”
“I had to wait for Lana to fall asleep before I could sneak out the window,” I explained. “I swear it’s like she takes ages to nod off just to spite me.”
“Right.” He pushed his hair out of his face. “Why do you use the window anyway?”
I shrugged. “I don’t really want to explain where I’m going to my mom, I guess.”
“Ah,” he said. He scratched his nose. “I thought it might be one of your signature moves or something.”
I laughed. “You think I have moves?”
“Sure,” he replied. “I mean, the first night I got to know you, you did slam two beers, pass out, and throw your phone in the lake.”
“All of which is completely out of character.” I thought on this for a moment. “In fact, maybe you’re the issue.”
“Me?” He touched a hand to his chest. Like I’d be referring to someone else.
