Best Friends Forever

“Wait, is that a swimming pool?” Ethan gasps, breaking away from his mother’s side and pressing his nose to the picture window. I can see the blue lights in the pool, illuminating the glassy surface.

“Yeah. I hardly ever use it. I’m glad you’re excited about that.”

He turns around, raising his eyebrows at his mother in question. “Can I… are we…”

She shrugs helplessly, smiling. “Yeah, man. That’s basically the deal.”

“Wowwwwwwww,” he says slowly, and I can’t help but be really proud.

Penny looks around for a moment, her eyes wide with theatrical delight.

“You built this yourself, didn’t you?” she says.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I answer for some reason, though I absolutely did.

Nodding slowly, she puts her hands on her hips and walks around, raising her chin to the vaulted ceiling, inspecting the flagstone two-sided fireplace. She turns back to me with a knowing wink.

“Designed it too? The whole thing?”

I just shrug modestly. “Just wait until you see your bathroom, Pen.”

“Pen,” she repeats with a smile. “I always liked it when you called me that.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” I smile back.

We stand there for a few moments, just looking at each other. It’s weird, but not weird at the same time.

“Do I get my own room?” Ethan asks suddenly.

However, I was waiting for this moment. If I know anything about twelve-year-old boys—and I think I do—I’m about to hit this one out of the park.

“Okay, I just need to warn you,” I begin, holding my hands up, “this is all on spec. You know what that means?”

He shakes his head solemnly, no.

“It means it’s all up to your mother. She can veto this at any time. Agreed?”

Penny raises her eyebrows in warning. “Clay, what are you talking about?”

“Okay. Just follow me.”

I take them through the living room and down a few stairs to the lower level. As soon as I flip on the light switches, I can hear Ethan suck his breath through his teeth behind me.

“Clay?” Penny asks. “You were serious about the ping-pong table?”

“This is amazing!” Ethan announces, dashing off. He circles the room eagerly, dragging his fingers along the PlayStation, the sixty-inch TV, the foosball table, the pool table. He circles back to the PlayStation and picks up the headset, staring at me with a shocked expression.

“Yes, that’s a VR headset,” I confirm. “But only driving games, got it? I’m not gonna send you to war or anything. It’s a pretty intense experience.”

With a hoot, Ethan slips the headset over his ears and I sneak a look at Penny. She’s got her arms crossed and is scowling.

“Seriously,” I mumble defensively. “Just driving games. Nothing too intense.”

“You can’t be serious,” she says slowly. “Where is he going to… This is all so much, Clay. It’s just a lot.”

Suddenly I feel sort of bad. I’m not sure why, but I feel like I crossed a line. Gently I reach out and take her upper arm to nudge her toward the bedroom door. Tentatively she allows me to guide her inside.

“See? It’s just a regular kid’s room,” I reassure her. “Just a bed and a dresser and a desk. All that other stuff in the other room was here already. I just thought that a kid his age would like some privacy. Maybe a little room to play around. I’m sorry if I—”