She nods.
“Interesting. What did they act like?”
“Just normal.” She shrugs. “You told me to tell you anything that came up that reminded me of the accident, so I wanted to try.”
“Thanks. And have fun out.”
“Will do.”
As I turn, I realize I didn’t ask their names. And strangely, I don’t stop her. I don’t need to know right now. Not right before it’s time for bed. I just want to snuggle up with Bear and have a dreamless night.
TWENTY-ONE
Niccolo
January 1, 2012
1:28 a.m.
My motherfucking father: popular as all fuck politician, shithead of a person. Everyone in Breck knows it. I can’t imagine how Kim bears it. I’d have left him years ago. When I get back—I’ll have to go home to Kim before returning next door to Jamie—I’m going to make another bid for that. I could move her out to California. No one would know her there. I think she could really benefit from that. It’s got a lot of sun, like here, and no Dad.
Fucking perfect.
When I find that fuck, I’m going to haul him home. And then, behind closed doors, I’m going to punch him in his fucking teeth. Kim’s friend Leah saw Dad at a coffee place in Fairplay with a woman who was not Kim. When she called John crying, he told me, but I asked him to handle it because I was enjoying Jamie so much. Also, I trust John not to throat-punch Dad. His temper’s not as hot as mine is.
So he went. And then he texted me when Jamie and I were settled in the theater and said he’d tracked Dad’s iPhone via Dad’s Apple login info, and Dad and the woman were at what he thought was a ranch near Blue River. He said he needed to get back and check on one of his buddies, and he wasn’t sure what he should do, anyway. Ring the doorbell?
So I told him we’d switch places.
Kim’s my stepmom, but she’s better to Casper and I than our own mom ever was. Rumor has it Dad cheated on her, but that’s not true. Mom cheated on Dad, and after that, I guess he has a trust problem or something, because he’s fucked around on Kim, the sweetest woman ever—she gave John her Nice Genes—from almost day one. It’s shameful. Dad should feel ashamed, but I’m not sure he does.
I’m about to ask him. If I can find this fucking place. If I can get out of Breckenridge. It’s snowing hard as hell.
* * *
Gwenna
December 31, 2015
“Barrett?”
He’s sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.
“Hey…” I rub his broad, bare back. He turns toward me. I wrap my arms around him. I woke up from my own dream, and I’m so glad I did.
“Hey baby. It’s okay. We’re here together.”
He’s shivering. “I dreamed about Breck.”
I rub his arms and back with my warm hands.
“He used to do this knock. This secret knock from his older brother’s frat. I heard it. It seemed so real, Piglet.” I take his hands. They’re shaking.
I ease him down in the bed with me. I kiss both hands. “You’re a good man, Barrett. Breck loved you. I know he did, because you are impossible not to love.”
His eyes squeeze shut. His mouth flattens. He looks pained. I wait for him to ask me some anguished question, I can almost feel it coming. But he pulls me very close, holding me tightly, so I can feel his chest shaking a little. And I can feel it still.
“Thank you,” he whispers.