While we chatted, Luke turned on the grill, refusing our offers to help until everything was almost done. Luna’s friend Clara and her mother left before we ate, but we still had to push two patio tables together for the rest of us.
Luna, Mimi, and I made our plates of burgers and chips and salad first.
“Why do we celebrate July Fourth?” Luna asked after we sat with our food.
Mimi nodded in my direction, lobbing the question to me.
“Originally another country, Great Britain, controlled the United States, but we decided we wanted to be our own country and be independent, so our representatives sent this letter to the king of Great Britain telling him that the United States would no longer follow their laws or pay their taxes. The letter is called The Declaration of Independence, and it was published on July 4, 1776.”Thank you,Hamilton(the musical) for inspiring me to refresh my memory on U.S. history.
How exactly did people parent before the internet?
“Cool,” Luna said before taking a huge bite of her burger, clearly satisfied with my answer.
I can’t wait for the day she’s old enough to watchHamilton, I thought, watching her chew and kick her feet happily under thetable. But a zap of reality forced my gaze down to my plate and wiped my smile off my face.
I won’t be here when that time comes.
When Luke, his parents, Jeremiah, and Francesca finally joined us, I suppressed my anticipatory disappointment and asked Luke and Jeremiah to tell us more about their business.
They launched into it like a well-practiced duo. It was Jeremiah’s family that had a home on Martha’s Vineyard, and they started coming here together in the summers during college. They loved it and came up with the idea of opening a business here. Luke had known he wanted to do some sort of building since he made his first birdhouse in woodshop class in high school. He did carpentry throughout school, and by junior year of college, they both got summer jobs over here with a different construction company. That company still existed, and that was where they’d worked for a few years before they broke off on their own. Luke looked at his dad when he finished speaking.
“Was your boss upset?” Mimi asked.
“He wasn’t thrilled,” Luke responded. “But he understood. And there was so much work, he was turning down jobs left and right. So we’re a bit competitive with each other, but we don’t let it get ugly because we also end up referring each other for jobs the other can’t take.”
“And it seems like business is booming for you guys,” I complimented.
“Oh, yeah. This guy has been working hard. And he got that huge contract from the town,” Jeremiah announced, a proud smile on his face.
“We,” Luke corrected his friend. He didn’t respond to the other compliments.So humble.
“If work is getting too busy for you, son, and it gets to be too much, there’s great schools in Radnor,” his dad said, taking a bite of his food and looking straight at his son, like what he said was totally casual.
I nearly dropped my fork. Luke chewed and swallowed,lowering his hands to squeeze his own thighs. He looked pissed. He glanced at Luna, who was engrossed in a side conversation with Francesca about tennis. Before I could think better of it, I reached for his hand under the table and gave it a squeeze.
“I know, Dad. I went to them. The schools here are great, too.” His tone was cold as ice, his brown eyes suddenly black. Damn, Alex struck a nerve.
I squeezed his hand again, and he squeezed back, almost a little too hard.He’s wrong,I tried to say with the pressure of my fingers.Luna belongs here.
“Of course they are,” his dad said. Sensing he’d opened an old wound, he backed off. “Didn’t mean anything by it.” He looked at his granddaughter with adoration. “She loves it here, obviously.”
It was the first time I detected a hint of hurt in Alex’s tone, and his eyes. My indignation immediately lessened.
Luke let out a breath and released his iron grip on my fingers. His father’s obvious pain seemed to take the wind out of his sails of anger, too.
Luna probably looked just like Monica to them. Even though I was certain Monica and Gardner made the right choice choosing Luke, if I looked at it from his parents’ point of view, I could see how much that must have hurt, especially if they wanted her.
An awkward silence descended on the group. Jeremiah popped out of his chair. “Anyone want an ice cream sandwich?”
Luna’s hand shot in the air, along with Mimi’s.Phew.
When he returned, he also had a paper grocery bag tucked under his arm. He handed out navy blue ball caps that saidKaras Constructionwith a little American flag underneath. “You’re all expected to wear these to the parade,” Jeremiah commanded.
I laughed and put it on my head.
Not that I was going to the parade,I thought with a pang.
Luke’s mother insisted on clearing our plates when we were done. Francesca and Mimi said something about needing to sit in the air conditioning for a while, and Luke, Jeremiah, Alex, and Luna started up a game of cornhole in the yard.
