Free Body and Bone by LS Hawker Page B

more fun to flame.” She stretched. “Hey, I’m going into town here in a little while—­meeting some friends for dinner and a movie. I should be home about ten. Cool if I bring my stuff with me and do a little move-­in?”
    â€œOh, sure,” Nessa said. “Have fun.”
    Isabeau closed up her laptop, slung her purse over her shoulder, and went out the back door.
    Nessa spent the rest of the afternoon calming nervous and angry sponsors and her Altair bosses, then made a stir-­fry for herself and Daltrey for dinner.
    After they ate, the two of them went out back to walk their property with Declan MacManus. The dog cavorted happily, running to and fro, barking over his shoulder at them as if they were an irritatingly slow tour group and he was their guide. They walked into the wooded area beyond their outbuildings, and Nessa pointed things out to Daltrey as they passed them. “Look,” she said. “A sunflower. Sunflower. Tree. That’s a tree. It’s an oak. Weeds. Those are weeds.”
    The sun dipped below the horizon, and Daltrey looked happy to be outside in the warm dusk later than she normally let him stay out.
    Finally, what she’d been waiting for happened, and a tiny light ascended from the tall grass.
    â€œLook, Daltrey! A firefly! Can you say firefly?”
    His eyes grew bigger and his mouth dropped open, as more and more of the lightning bugs appeared and rose in the air around him.
    Daltrey and Declan MacManus chased after the fireflies and leaped at them. Daltrey finally twirled, his arms overhead, never letting go of the toy car, his eyes closed in rapture as the tiny lights floated all around him.
    She wished Isabeau were here to see this. She wished John were. And she was crying again.
    After Nessa put Daltrey to bed, she sat at her desk and paid bills until Isabeau returned at nine-­thirty, suitcases and a few boxes in tow for her move-­in.
    â€œYou should have let me help you do this,” Nessa said.
    â€œI only have a few things,” Isabeau said. “No biggie.” She dragged everything up to the guest room and Nessa could hear her putting things away in dresser drawers.
    Nessa felt relief at having another adult in the house, and she knew she’d made the right decision. She went upstairs and knocked lightly on the guest room door. Isabeau opened it and threw her arm out wide as if she were welcoming a treasured guest.
    â€œDo you have everything you need?” Nessa said.
    â€œI think so. You going to bed?”
    â€œYeah. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    Nessa closed Isabeau’s door and went to check on Daltrey. He was sound asleep, still clutching the car. She eased it from his hand and looked at it. It was a Hot Wheels replica of a Tesla Model S, which had been John’s current dream car.
    â€œGood on the environment,” he’d told her, “but still hot.”
    She placed the Tesla on the top shelf of Daltrey’s bookcase next to the Fender guitar pick and the other artifacts John had hidden for him.
    She gazed at Daltrey’s lovely face, thinking, My dad went out of his mind and all I got was this lousy toy car.

 
    Chapter Nine
    Sunday, June 5
    N ESSA SAT AT her desk after dinner while Daltrey and Isabeau played Legos and wrote her Monday blog post.
    The Disintegration Loops is a four-­volume album by William Basinski, and I don’t know when I’ve been so disturbed by a piece of music as I was when my friend Marlon, who knows all the freaky stuff out there, even though he’s middle-­aged (or maybe it’s because he’s middle-­aged) played it for me. . .
    She gave herself a chuckle, calling Marlon middle-­aged even though he was only in his thirties. She knew he’d have plenty to say about that at their next sponsor meeting.
    She finished up the post, proofed it, changed a few phrases, and cut a few words, then attached The Disintegration