I chuckled. “True. But that’s what we do in the morning. So, let’s get to it.”
The car pulled up to the cabin.
Derek looked out the window and used the armrest to push himself up. “Wow…it’s awesome!”
I got out of the car and grabbed the bags.
Derek immediately ran around, touching the trunks of the trees and looking down into the grass as if he saw an anthill.
The driver helped me carry everything inside. That was when I noticed a black truck sitting there that wasn’t mine.
I used the keys to get inside and saw a note on the counter. It was from Cleo.
Deacon,
I rented you a truck for the weekend, in case you want to go anywhere. I’ve gotten you everything you need, but if I’ve forgotten anything, you know where to find me.
-Cleo-
I grabbed the keys and slipped them into my pocket before I went back outside. I tipped the driver then went after Derek. “Don’t go too far.”
He was at the back side of the house, close to the water.
I caught up with him, seeing him walk out on the pier to the small fishing boat docked there. “Are those are fishing rods?”
Cleo had probably set that up. “Yep.”
“Then let’s go!” He jumped up and down on the dock.
I chuckled and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Don’t you think we should change first?”
He looked down at his jeans and t-shirt. “Oh yeah…”
We spent the day on the lake, our rods sitting in the water as we waited for a bite.
Every time Derek caught a fish, he threw it back because he didn’t want to kill it.
I liked that.
I really didn’t want to clean the fish and cook it anyway.
Derek looked over the edge into the water. “How deep do you think it is?”
“We’re in the middle of the lake, so I’d say at least fifty feet.”
“How many fish do you think there are?”
“Thousands.”
He sat up again, in his big green hat to keep the sun out of his face. “Are there bears here?”
“Probably.”
“Did you know bears can climb quicker than they run?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Did you know that pine trees are one of the oldest trees on the planet, so they have male and female reproductive parts and rely solely on the wind for pollination, developed at a time when there were no birds and insects to pollinate for them?”
Derek was just like me when I was his age, finding facts about the world more interesting than conversation. When he discussed something he was interested in, he spoke easily, excitedly. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yep.” He looked into the water again. “Dad?”
“Hmm?” He asked a lot of questions, talked more than any girl I’d been with, but the conversation was so easy. I enjoyed our talks, enjoyed talking to a five-year-old because I related to him more than most people on the planet.
“What are you doing at your job?”
“Taking care of sick people.”
“But what are you working on now?”
He was smart, but I didn’t think he’d understand the technicalities of my work. “I’m trying to figure out a way to help people using what we already have, our immune system. Sometimes drugs work, under the right circumstances, but I’m trying to find ways of using the tools we already have.”
Derek stared at me like he understood what I said. “I like that you help people.”
I smiled. “Thanks, Derek.”
“Mom doesn’t do anything…she just lies by the pool all day.”
Valerie was a thorn in my side that would never go away, and I wished there was a reality where I’d never have to deal with her again. But I’d have to talk to her…until one of us died. “She takes care of you, Derek. So that’s not true.”
He shrugged. “Yeah, but she doesn’t have a job.”
“Taking care of another person is a job. Not all people work outside the house. Some people work from home.”
He shrugged.
“What would you do if she weren’t there?” I challenged.
“Come live with you,” he said immediately. “I’d rather live with you…”
I bowed my head, the words painful to hear.
“I know Mom loves me, but she doesn’t understand me. When I talk to her about space, she doesn’t care. When I tell her about the book I read, she doesn’t care. When I talk to her about anything…she doesn’t get it. But you do.”
Because we were the same person, just decades apart. “We’ll spend more time together, Derek. I promise.”
“But you live so far away.”
“Maybe Mom will move here.” I had no hope before, but now that Cleo had made this happen, I felt differently. Valerie had always loved Manhattan. She could live here, shopping all day, meeting rich billionaires who could replace me.
He shrugged. “I wish…”
“You’d like to live here?”
“Yeah, I love the cabin.”
“I meant at my home in the city.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“There’s a planetarium there.”
“Yeah?” he asked excitedly. “Is it the Hayden Planetarium where Dr. Tyson works?”