“I miss that,” Theo says softly. “Riding. It was fun. Do you think…”
Waiting until it becomes clear he’s not gonna answer, I say, “Do I think what?”
“Do you think I could ride her again… If I came to visit or something?”
My stomach flip-flops. “You want to come visit?”
“Yeah, of course. I told Luca I would come again.”
Luca. Of course. Why in the world would I assume he meant me? “Yeah, of course. When you’re here visiting Luca, you’re welcome to come over.”
Theo sighs again. “I’m in bed. My brain is really tired today. I had to call in to work. Can you keep talking to me? I might fall asleep, though.”
“Of course I’ll keep talking to you.”
And I do. I tell him about the cows and how the fence broke last week, and I had to wrangle them. He lets out a tired laugh and mumbles, “Like a real cowboy.”
I talk and talk. About nothing and everything. Until my voice is hoarse. Until his yawns have faded into soft snores. When I’m sure he’s not going to wake up, I whisper a soft “Goodnight” and hang the phone up.
1 week later (mid-May)
“It was the longest day of my life.”
“Oh?” I ask, picking up my plate from the counter. “Thanks, Mom,” I say. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay in here with you?”
She gives me a look that shows she definitely doesn’t. I finally caved and told her about what happened fully the day that Theo left, and she’s been a big fan of us continuing our nightly phone calls. I think she worries about him.
“Yeah, I kept getting these dickhead customers.” He sounds more chipper today than he did yesterday. “One guy told me the wrong pump and then accused me of being incompetent when he came in to bitch at me. I wish I could say it felt good to correct him.”
While he talks, I make my way up the stairs, disappearing into my bedroom and closing the door behind me before sitting at the desk against the wall.
“It didn’t?” I ask, stabbing a piece of potato with my fork and blowing on it.
“No. I kind of just felt nothing.”
Well, that’s not good.
“Percentage?” I ask, setting my fork back on my plate.
He sighs. “I don’t know. Not enough. Like twenty, I think.”
He’s been twenty all week.
“Anyway,” he continues, “it sucked. Tell me about your day?”
I talk to him around bites of food. “Same ol’. I did go into town and eat at the diner today.”
“How is Luca?” Theo asks, his tone almost concerned but still too flat to really pull it off.
“He wasn’t working today. Arlo was.”
“Oh.” Theo pauses. “How is Arlo then?”
“Seemed good, I think. I don’t know him all that well.”
Theo chuckles. “How doyounot know someone?”
A smile pulls at my lips. “Arlo is a transplant. He didn’t grow up here. Showed up in town a couple of months before Luca came back.”
