“Fine.”
It was always fine.
“More homework?”Jem asked, and he tried to make it sound like a joke.
Tean made a noise that wasn’t an answer.Then he said, “My mom called.She and my dad are getting a divorce.”
Jem had one sneaker halfway off.He looked up.“Holy shit.What happened?”
Tean gave an unhappy laugh.“I don’t know.I hung up on her.”
“Oh.Shit.”
And Jem almost asked why.But you could only get your hand slapped so many times.
The gap only lasted a moment, anyway, because Tean said, “How’s the screech?”
The screechwas what they were calling the sound that the Subaru made.It came and went—came more often than went, lately—and to Jem, it was the sound of evenmoremoney they were going to need.Soon.He’d tried taking the Kawasaki to work—to put fewer miles on the Subaru—but Tean had put his foot down.The motorcycle was fine in the summer.When the roads were dry.And when Jem wasn’t going to get frostbite.And on and on like that.
“Nothing today,” Jem said.“So, like, your parents…”
“I don’t know,” Tean said.
And it was another door slamming shut.
Jem went into their room to change.
He wanted to shower, to get the invisible film of cubicle breath and other people’s microwaved food and recycled air off him, but Tean wouldn’t eat until Jem was there, so he changed into sweats and a Utes T-shirt and went back to the kitchen.Scipio was waiting by the door, tail wagging, so Jem had to grab socks and his coat.
“You sit down and eat,” Tean said.“I’ll play with him.”
“No, he wants me to go with him.”
“You’re tired.You worked all day.”
“You worked all day too.”
Jem let the Lab sprint out into the backyard.Scipio wanted to play fetch first, which meant a lot of zipping back and forth, showing off for Jem, reminding him how fast Scipio could run.But after a few plays, Scipio had to do a full investigation of the fence, making sure he caught any new smells, snuffling around one fence post in particular.
Light fanned across the porch.“I saw a possum there earlier,” Tean said.Then dark, and the click of the door shutting, and the sound of Tean’s steps.A moment later, he sat on the step next to Jem.Jem’s breath had lost its color, but Tean’s steamed white.The doc leaned against Jem, and after a moment, Jem put an arm around him.
“Bad day?”Tean asked.
Jem grunted.Then he said, “Brigitte called.”
Tean didn’t say anything.And then he said, “How’d that go?”
In spite of himself, Jem laughed.“Great.”
Tean ran his hand along Jem’s leg.
“She wants us to be a family,” Jem said.
Scipio was getting more interested in the ground around the fence post.He gave an experimental dig with one paw.
“Oh Jem,” Tean said.“Okay.How’d you feel about that?”
“Her idea of us being a family,” Jem said, “is going to ‘an intimate family dinner.’”
