“What about when he took us camping and he got sick from that weird gas station beef jerky?”
The memory surprised Tean; he had forgotten it, and a laugh escaped him.“He just lay on his cot moaning.”
“My gut, my gut,” Seth parroted.
More of that laughter welled up, and when it faded, Tean was still smiling.“I think he’s incidental to that memory.What I enjoyed about that trip was swimming in that creek—which, in hindsight, we definitely shouldn’t have done without an adult to supervise.”
“You are such an oldest child.”
“Are we going to plan a funeral today?”Tean asked.“Or are we going to sit around and play church and pretend that Dad didn’t not talk to Grandpa for close to twenty years?”
With a wince, Seth said, “Ouch.”
“It’s the truth.Or does he think somehow Mom will do this for him, like she did everything else his whole life?”
Seth winced again, but all he said was “I think I saw Dad pulling out some General Conference talks he wants to read.And who knows where he got them, but he also has Grandma’s journals.”
“I’ve got things to do.If you text me the name of the funeral home, I’ll start making arrangements.”
“You have to go?”
Tean nodded.“He won’t miss me.I’m half-convinced he started that whole production because he was looking for a way to get me to leave.”
“I know he’s…I don’t know.Weird.Difficult to get along with.But this is hard for him.”
What Tean wanted to say was that it was difficult to tell, because it seemed like his dad was having a great time.But he only nodded.Seth gave him a quick hug, and Tean headed down the stairs.As he went, he unlocked his phone and placed a call to Jem.
7
After Tean left for his dad’s—and after he told Jem, for the third time, he didn’t want Jem to come, because it was going to be, in Tean’s words,a train wreck, and not the interesting kind—Jem paced around the house, stiff and sore from last night.He tried sitting down.He tried turning on the TV.Background noise from a morning talk show followed him.Valentine’s Day was almost here.Here are five unique gifts to give the person you love.One was a Tupperware cookbook.Scipio, ready for his morning nap, watched him from the couch.
I’m going to work on my vows, Jem told himself.
He grabbed his vow book—he’d found them on Etsy and bought one for him and one for Tean—and stood at the kitchen counter.
Then he was at the window again, and then circling the room, coming back.
For real this time.For real, he was going to work on his vows.They were going to get married soon.They didn’t have a date yet, but soon.Just at the courthouse.No friends or anything.So, the vows were just for them, to share with each other.
He chewed on the cap of a pen for about five seconds.Blank pages stared back at him.
And then he caught himself changing channels on the TV, rattling the handle on the front door, making his way down the hallway.
On Jem’s next pass through the kitchen, he slid the vow book into a drawer.Then he snagged his keys, shoved his arms into his coat, and opened the front door.
Scipio’s head came up.
“Don’t tell your father,” Jem said.
Scipio wagged his tail.
“I’m serious.Pretend I went to—to McDonald’s.”
Scipio pricked his ears at the word.He wriggled forward on the sofa.
Laughing, Jem said, “Later.”
He drove east, into the foothills.At first, he needed the Maps app to tell him where to go, but when he got closer, things started to look familiar.The houses up here were older, mostly brick, mostly mid-century, although some had been torn down and replaced by mini-mansions.He stopped looking at the app and, at the next stop sign, took a left.He hit a dead end, turned around, and went up again until the next stop sign.He was sure he remembered the lavender on the corner.Left again.
