“Well, it just reminds me of that song.”
Mike smiled at me. “You can’t say you don’t like a name just because of a song.”
“Of course I can dislike a name for that reason.”
“No, you can’t. Jolene is a really pretty name.”
“So is Eileen, but you can’t name someone that, or, every time anyone met them, they would go, ‘Come on, Eileen,’ in their heads. Or, worse, out loud.”
Mike’s smile grew, and suddenly the cold air felt a little warmer.
“So, you’re saying we can’t name our daughter Billie Jean, either?” he asked, a teasing quality in his voice.
“No,” I said. “Definitely not. You have to think carefully about a name, you know? A name is for life. Just look at what happened to me.”
And now he was beaming at me.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re really taking this seriously, the naming of our daughter,” he said, and, at that, I smiled back. Our eyes locked; the stars seemed dull and muted in comparison to his eyes—they were the brightest things in the night.
“Well, sheshouldtake that seriously,” Petra said, and I snapped out of it. I’d almost forgotten she was even there!
I leaned over to the old woman. “Who knows—” I winked at her—“maybe her middle name should be Petra.”
At that, her face lit up. “You would do that?” she asked, sweetly.
“Of course,” I said.
“Come, Ma.” Mike let go of me and slipped his arm around her small, fragile-looking shoulders. “Let’s get you home; it’s cold outside.”
She nodded and Mike started guiding her back to the car. She stopped and turned around again. “You’re a good boy. Always looking out for me. You were always such a good boy,” she said, and then turned to me. “You got a good one.” She patted Mike on the arm and he looked over at me awkwardly.
I smiled at him. “I guess I did.”
“You must always take care of each other,” she said, that sad tone in her voice again. “It goes so quickly.”
Mike and I looked up at each other, and something unseen and barely there passed between us, like a thin wisp of something. A whisper, an echo of a thought. A fragment of a half-formed feeling.
“We will,” he said, as he helped her into the car.
