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“I can see why. It makes me feel a little slighted.”
“You can drive that car whenever you want, Ryan. Actually, you can have it if you want. When do you ever leave the house?”
“Never,” he said, taking his plate to the sink. “Unless it’s to see you. So, what’s this treasure you have for me?”
“I thought you’d drive down. It’s too heavy to carry across the sand.”
“I’ll leave out the front. What is it?”
“Lisa’s photo box. It’s her baby pictures and some memorabilia, baby dresses, that sort of thing. After she left, I found a candy box of things belonging to Brent that I’m going to give to her, too. I was going to go through it, but it’s too much. I need to move on from my morning of mourning.”
Ryan slipped his arm around Pam’s shoulders, and she turned fluidly into his embrace. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything you went through.”
“Thank you, dear. I’ll live. I need to move on. You’ll get all this crap when I die anyway. Why am I holding on to it?”
They let go of each other reluctantly.
“I guess we should get the box before Lisa wonders what’s taking so long,” Pam said, waving him over to the staircase.
He followed her into the lower level. “It’s so nice down here. Why don’t we use it more often?”
“For what? Movie night?”
“Exactly something like that.”
“I have a popcorn machine somewhere, and a Slurpee thing. I’ll talk to Dan about it. Maybe we’ll do something different for Thanksgiving this year. I don’t think I’m up to doing the big dinner.”
“You don’t have to do it alone,” Ryan said. “Or we can all have dinner at our own homes and come here for a movie.”
“Okay, well, maybe on the weekend. Everyone will be here again whether we want them to come back or not.”
“You mean the grandmothers?”
“Yes. And my mother and her toothless chicken-farmer boyfriend are more than I can take.”
“Tell them to stay in Rehoboth, Pam.”
“Ryan, I’m going to. Thank you. I can’t do it this year. My mother might be upset, but she’ll get over it.”
They looked at each other for a moment before Ryan said, “Let me get this thing home to Lisa before she accuses me of eating pastries here.”
“You’re leaving without powdered sugar on your clothes. That’s all the proof she needs.”
When they were upstairs, Pam ran into her room and grabbed the candy box off the closet shelf, sticking it in the big container. “Are you sure you can manage this thing?”
“I’m fine. It’ll be my exercise for the day.”
The doorbell rang just as Pam reached for the doorknob so Ryan could leave out the front. It was Dan again.
“Since you’re not answering your phone, Lisa just called me to bring you home,” he said, laughing.
“Jesus, what an insult. I’ll carry this, if you don’t mind.”
“It looks heavy,” Dan said. “Let me lift it.” He took it from Ryan and grunted, letting it drop to the floor. “No fucking way. I’ll drive you.”
The three of them laughed on their way out to Dan’s Porsche.
“And how is it going to fit in that piece of shit?” Ryan asked.
