Page 169 of Roadrunner

He was completely still.

My phone was on the tray beside the bed.

A notification appeared.

My mother.

A photograph first. Greece, from the look of it. A harbor. Blue water. White buildings. My mother’s handwriting in the caption below it.

Thinking of you and your beautiful family today.

Then a message. Short. My father’s cadence in it even through text.

Congratulations to all of you. We are so very proud.

Followed by a second message from my mother.

We are in Santorini. Home in three weeks. We will come straight to you.

I looked at the photograph.

My parents in Greece.

I looked at it for a moment.

Then I laughed.

Riley looked at me.

“My parents,” I said. “They’re in Santorini.”

He looked at the ceiling briefly.

“Of course they are,” he said.

I set the phone down. The three-week promise sat on the screen like all the others. I didn’t wait on it.

“I’ve been thinking,” Arthur said.

“About what?”

“She’s going to need to learn things. A lot of things.” He looked at me. “I can teach her some of them.”

“Like what?”

He considered it. “How to hold a wrench,” he said. “The names of motorcycle parts.” He paused. “How to pick things up with her toes.”

He held my gaze. Steady and clear. His, unmistakably.

“It’s a good skill,” he added.

I pressed my lips together.

“It is.”

Della arrived at eight.

She came through the door with the energy of a woman who had been awake since four and had been patient long enough. She kissed my cheek. She looked at Arthur. She crossed to Riley and held out her arms.