âItâs because I feel alone, Danny,â I said finally, turning toward him again. âI miss having a family, and I really wish you and I could be closer, but you wonât even answer the phone when I call. I promise I wonât call about helping with the house, okay? I get that you donât want to do that. But can we at least hang out a little while Iâm here?â
âWhat would we do?â
âAnything,â I said, exasperated. âWe could go to the movies or out to dinner or ⦠you could take me to your favorite bar.â I remembered heâd been banned from his favorite bar and wished I hadnât added that. âMaybe we could go out with Harry and his wife some night. You could introduce me to your friends.â
âMost of my friends are online.â
âWell, then, you can tell me about them.â
He smiled at me, the sort of indulgent smile an older brother might give his little sister. âYou want me to be someone Iâm not, Riles,â he said.
âMaybe I do,â I admitted. âIâll work on that, but could we at least see each other? We can hang out on your terms. Whatever you want to do. Just include me while Iâm here, okay? Not every minute. Just sometimes. What do you like to do?â
âRead. Walk in the forest. Fish. And I like to get shit-faced drunk.â
âI can do that.â I smiled, game for anything. âOr I could be your designated driver.â
âMaybe,â he said. âBut we stick to the here and now, all right? No old photographsââhe motioned toward the frame in my handââor old tapes or stories about Dadâs sex life. Deal?â
âDeal,â I said. And we shook on it.
Â
9.
I drove away from Dannyâs trailer and turned right on the gravel road toward the RV park. Okay, I thought, the way to deal with Danny is to focus on the here and now. I felt some joy, as though Iâd found a path into his troubled mind. I wouldnât bring up our family with him again. Though I bet he talked about the past with his online ex-military buddies. Wasnât that what those guys did? Relive everything that happened to them over there? Whatever. Iâd leave the past in the past. Iâd try to find a movie playing nearby that he might be interested in. Iâd take him to dinner. We could talk about books. Some nice, safe topic. Maybe I could get him to move up to Durham, closer to me. There were more services for veterans up there.
But I was getting ahead of myself.
My fatherâs small RV stood where it always had, in the first of the parkâs twelve sites. The old trailer had once been white with a green stripe down the side, but although the green was still in pretty good shape, the white had aged to a dingy yellow. I pulled up next to it on the concrete pad and was about to get out of my car when my phone rang again. Pulling the phone from my tote bag, I saw Jean Lyons on the caller ID. With a sigh, I lifted the phone to my ear. Might as well get it over with.
âHi, Jeannie,â I said, opening my car door wide to let the air in.
âListen, honey, Iâm swamped the rest of today and tomorrow morning,â she said, âbut I could come over tomorrow afternoon. Christineâs dying to meet you, but sheâs tied up till next week, so I can get started on making an inventory of everything in the house. Then we can get cooking onââ
âOh, Iâm sorry,â I interrupted. âI have plans for tomorrow.â I was lying, but I needed one more day to myself without Jeannie in it. âThe next day, maybe?â
âI have two showings that day.â She sounded frustrated. âAnd you need to get going on this or weâll be putting the house on the market too close to the schools opening. Weâre way too late as it is.â
âTuesday?â I suggested.
âYou know,â she said,