he spoke up.
Merrilee smiled and rubbed his arm reassuringly. “There’s no time like the present. If she’s a schoolteacher, she’s about to be out for summer break.”
“I’d forgotten about that.” Really, all he’d been able to think about was the chance that she’d say no—that is, if he actually got up the courage to ask her in the first place. He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“The days are nice and long now. We can put her up at either my place or Alyce’s. One of us should have a room available.”
Both Merrilee and Lars made it sound so simple. “So, what should I say? I’m not very good at this kind of thing.”
“Have you ever mentioned it when you emailed her?”
He shifted from one foot to the other. “No. Not really.”
“What does ‘not really’ mean?”
“Well, she’s said a couple of times that it sounds real nice here.” He had a quarter and two dimes in his pocket. He could feel the shapes with his fingers.
“It sounds to me like she’s been waiting on you to invite her.”
“You think? I figured she was just being polite.”
“I don’t know her so it’s hard to say. But if she’s brought it up a couple of times, she’d probably be up for a visit.”
He rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling an itch starting there at the thought of what to say and how to say it. Maybe he’d just wait a while longer. “Um...okay.”
“Dirk, I hope I’m not out of line with this, but would you like for me to help you write to Natalie?”
She hoped she wasn’t out of line! Was she nuts? He was always so damn nervous and said so little in his emails. The less he wrote, the less room there was for goof-ups. Natalie was so damn smart and Dirk had always struggled. He was a whiz at math, but reading and writing stumped him. He’d always been in the “special” class, and “special” hadn’t meant the smartest. “If you’d just write it for me, that’s even better.”
Merrilee laughed but not unkindly. “No. The message needs to be in your own words.” That, right there, was the problem. He sucked at words.
“But I could help you with it.”
There was hope. Well, at least hope that he wouldn’t screw up the letter-writing part of it.
“Okay.”
“Let’s hop on it.”
“You mean now?” He suddenly felt kind of sick.
Merrilee slipped her arm through his and winked at him. “There’s no time like the present.”
If she said so.
7
LARS GLANCED AT the woman walking along next to him, seeing her in a different light—and it wasn’t just because they were outside in the sun.
It was strange, definitely unexpected. That one simple exchange with Delphi about his mom had changed things. Delphi got it in a way no one outside of his family did. It was private and personal and pretty much no one else’s damn business. He wasn’t quite sure why he had gone into it with her.
Her look was slightly probing. “You okay?”
They’d already passed the airstrip/bed-and-breakfast and kept walking. Despite the people out and about, it was as if he and Delphi were separated apart from everyone else.
“Of course. I’m fine.” It was unnerving how well she seemed to read him.
She looked unconvinced but lightened things, nonetheless, with a sly smile. “You’ve just gotten quiet. That seems an unnatural state of being for you.”
Mark it down. Miss Aloof was teasing him. However, he still couldn’t quite shake the heaviness that descended on him every time his mother had one of her “episodes.”
What the hell? She’d understood his mother faking illness—he might as well lay it all out on the table.
“I just hate when she pulls that crap,” he said, shaking his head. “It just... I don’t know....” He petered off, not even sure of what he was trying to say. Liam and Jack had always shrugged their mother’s ways off more easily than Lars had. He tried, but it stuck to him like stink on shit.
Although Delphi hesitated a moment before she spoke, her step didn’t falter and she kept pace with him. “Maybe it’s because she’s being manipulative. Being on the receiving end of manipulation generally makes people angry. Then you feel guilty for being angry because obviously there’s something inside of her that can’t just enjoy and allow others to enjoy?”
Lars considered it. That was it exactly. “Yep. That about nails it. So, all of us just steer clear. Why do you think Liam came to Alaska?”
They reached