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“I’ll walk with you. I need to find my wife.” I walk a few steps and find that my skin still hurts. “I think I’m too old to drink like that anymore.” I stare at him. “When did we get old?”
“Last night, apparently,” Aaron replies. “I feel like I need to throw up.” He stops walking, bends over, and spits a few times into the grass. He wipes his mouth with the back of his h
and. “False alarm,” he says.
As we walk around the corner, we find Jake sitting on top of the almost-completed shed, hammering shingles. He’s moving slowly and with difficulty, but he’s moving. Bess sits next to him, a tool belt tied around her hips. Katie runs a saw that we left set up last night, and the noise from the blade makes me feel like my head is going to split open. I grab for the sides of my head and squeeze, but it doesn’t help.
Mr. Jacobson walks up and holds out two beers. “Hair of the dog that bit you,” he says.
“You have to be kidding me,” Aaron says. He waves the can away with a grimace.
“Why are you all up so early?” I ask.
Jake looks up from his perch on the roof. “Because my lovely wife woke me and Pop up this morning by banging a large metal spoon against a large metal pot.”
“Impressive,” Aaron says with a nod.
She winks at him. “They were still up singing about an hour after you left them on the doorstep. They woke up all the kids, and then they both passed out in the living room on the rug.” She shrugs. “It seemed fitting.”
“Does anybody know where my children are?” Aaron asks.
“They’re at my house. Sam and Alex are helping Gabby take care of them.”
“Sam’s helping?” I ask. I snort out a laugh, but that makes my head hurt too.
“Sam had a talk with Kerry-Anne this morning about your health,” Katie says to Aaron.
Aaron freezes. “What did she say to her?”
“She explained what’s going on in a way that Kerry-Anne could understand. I listened to the whole conversation. I was very proud of her.”
“Huh,” Aaron says as he scratches his head. “Was Kerry-Anne okay?”
“She seemed to be.” Katie quickly cuts another board, the whine of the blade making my head feel like it’s going to explode. “Alex actually helped and talked to her a little about his dad.” She blinks hard. “It was touching, really.”
I’ll have to talk to her, to be sure she doesn’t have more questions that I can answer.
Suddenly, Bess starts to sing the little ditty that we were all singing on the golf cart last night. Katie joins in. Jake stares at both of them, until he finally smiles and starts to sing along with them.
Mr. Jacobson offers me the beer again as he joins in on the chorus, singing loudly. I take it from him and mutter, “Why the fuck not.” I crack it open and chug it down.
“Language,” Mr. Jacobson warns. “There’s ladies present.”
But then Katie and Bess get to the bawdy part of the song and they sing it loudly and proudly. We all laugh, and I throw my arm around Aaron’s shoulders and join in. He stares at me like he’s appalled, until a grin finally breaks upon his face and he starts to sing too.
When the song is over, everyone gets quiet, and the only sounds are the normal morning campground sounds as people wake up and get ready for another summer day at the lake.
“Umm, Jake?” Katie says.
Jake looks down from his perch on the roof, his eyebrows raised, but they slam down when he sees the expression on her face. “Now?” he asks.
“Either I just peed myself, or it’s now,” Katie says. She holds her hand against her huge belly.
Jake scurries across the roof and down the ladder. “Pop, you got the kids?” he asks.
“I got the kids, Jake,” Mr. Jacobson says. He walks over and gives Katie a big kiss on her forehead and she grins at him. “This one’s my namesake,” he reminds her.
“We are not calling her Poppy,” Jake says, shaking his head at his dad.
