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Amy grinned. “You’ll have to let me know how it goes,” she said.
Cole’s car wasn’t in the driveway when I got home. I went inside and changed, then went and worked in the garden some more. Progress was slow, and the area I had weeded before I’d hung out with Ben that night appeared to have been overtaken by new weeds. There was something calming about being outside, working in the garden, and I resolved that I would keep with it. Even if it ended up being August by the time it was finally ready, I’d still plant something.
I went inside to change after I got a blister on my palm. I wore a similar outfit to the one I’d worn with Ben—denim cut-offs this time, though, and a black T-shirt.
I heard a knock at the door and then Cole’s voice calling into the house. “Anybody home?”
I came out of the bedroom, pulling my hair back into a ponytail. “Hey,” I said. “Come on in.”
He stepped inside, letting the screen door close behind him. “Hey,” he said with a smile.
&
nbsp; “Where’s Declan?”
“He’s spending the weekend at my parents’ house.”
“Oh,” I said.
“You sound surprised.”
“No, I just thought that he was going to be here, too.”
“I figured maybe it’d be better if we didn’t have a chaperone this time around. You hungry?”
“Yeah, I could go for something. Maybe not fried food, though.”
“I know a good place.”
The place ended up being a little place called the Blackbird Tavern. It was rustic and comfortable. I got a chef’s salad, and we shared an order of mozzarella sticks. Our conversation ranged from bikes, to how I was liking Chapin so far, to Declan. First, what a good kid he was and how much I was enjoying getting to see him at school. When there was a pause, though, I felt comfortable enough to ask Cole about Declan’s mother.
“So,” I said, “you don’t have to get into the details if you don’t want to, but is Declan’s mother in the picture at all?”
It was hard to read the expression on his face. He set his fork down and took a sip of his water.
“She’s not,” he said finally. “It’s not really something that I talk about.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You don’t have to get into it. I shouldn’t be prying like that.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mean it like that. It’s just... things didn’t work out the way anyone thought they were going to.” He seemed like he was about to say something else, but then stopped.
“That’s true,” I said. “So much so that it almost makes me not want to make plans, like ever, because it seems like it’s just going to get completely messed up if you do. My dad took off when I was little.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I was young enough that I don’t even remember him, and my mother doesn’t have any pictures. She was pretty young when she had me, still a teenager, so it was definitely hard on her when he left. Not that it wouldn’t be hard on anyone, at any age,” I added quickly, not wanting him to think that just because he wasn’t a teenager when Declan’s mother had left him that things wouldn’t be difficult. “I know that things must’ve been hard for you, too. Declan’s doing great, though. He really is such an awesome kid.”
Cole smiled. “He is, isn’t he? It’s such a cliché to say that kids are resilient, but they really are.”
We were both stuffed when we finally finished eating, and I stretched as we walked out into the parking lot.
“That was really good,” I said.
“This is one of my favorite places.” He looked up at the sky. “The moon’s really full,” he said. “Want to go for a walk?”
“Uh, sure,” I said. I couldn’t remember ever being out at night and walking in the woods before, which was completely different than walking around a city at night.
“I love going out at night like this,” he said. “Walking, riding my bike, whatever. I don’t get to do that too much since Declan’s been around, but on the rare occasion that I get the chance, I try not to miss it. There’s just sort of something magical about it. I know a good trail we can go to. It overlooks the lake.”
