“I can’t disagree with that,” she said tentatively.
“I’m sick of being sad about my mom and dad,” he said. “Sick of worrying about what’s going to happen to us. The girls are, too. They’re just too little to say so.”
Lily’s throat heated with tears. His anguish touched her, and so did this new maturity she saw in him.
He unzipped the backpack and took out a photograph of Sean wearing a green sports coat with a crest insignia on the pocket. “Do you know what this is?”
“An egregious fashion mistake.”
“He’s as wardrobe-challenged as I am,” said Lily.
“You don’t know what this is,” Cameron said.
“My guess would be a donation to the Goodwill bin.”
“It’s the green jacket given to a golfer when he wins the Masters.”
She felt a tickle of recognition. “That’s a golf tournament, isn’t it?”
“It’s the golf tournament,” he told her. “The Masters. The most important one in the sport. Only the best in the world can win it—Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods. And one year a long time ago, Sean Maguire.”
He took out an old, yellowed issue of Sports Illustrated. The cover showed a shot of Sean Maguire modeling the jacket and laughing into the camera. The lead article was pitched as “Jolly Green Giant: Golf’s New Great.”
Lily felt a strange sense of discovery. This was a Sean Maguire she’d never known. Maybe she’d sensed the presence of a champion in him, but he certainly hadn’t given her any hint. “How is it that I’ve never heard this? Your mom would have told me.”
“I don’t know. It was a long time ago. Most people don’t remember the winners from one year to the next.”
Lily had been just starting college. Crystal was a new mother. It was possible they hadn’t talked about it.
“Dad said he went into a slump right after that and ended up going overseas,” said Cameron. “That’s not the point. The point is this is a second chance.” He hesitated, then added, “For all of us.”
She stared at the photograph for a long time, then looked at Cameron’s hopeful face. “That’s a really ugly jacket,” she said.
chapter 36
“You’re kidding me, right?” Cameron asked Becky when he visited her after work one night. “You’re moving?”
“My dad’s company is sending him to work on a project in Sonora, California, and it starts Monday,” she said, thumping her bare heels idly against the floor of the front porch. The swing creaked and its chains clanked into the quiet night. “I have to finish the school year there.”
“That’s stupid. Why can’t you at least finish the last few weeks here?”
She shook her head. “Not an option. In the first place, I wouldn’t have anywhere to live—”
“With us,” Cameron said. “My uncle would understand.”
She laughed. “Oh, I’m so sure. I’d be like, Dad, I’m going to live with a boy for a month, is that okay with you?”
“So stay with some other friend, a girl—”
“There’s one problem with that,” she said, her heels thumping again as she sent him a quick, bashful glance. “You’re the only friend I have. And besides, my dad…he can’t really handle being apart from me, you know, ever since my mom died.”
“Does that mean you’re never going to leave home?”
“Not this year. Listen, it’s all right, Cam. I’ve already got a job lined up at a church day camp. The pay’s decent and I’ll be working with kids, which I love. The job is twelve weeks, so I’ll be back at the end of summer.”
Twelve weeks. That was forever. What the hell was he going to do without her for twelve weeks? He still didn’t know if he’d managed to convince Lily to embrace their summer project. He hoped he’d made her understand how important it was to get on the road, to see the kind of life his father had led but had never really shared with his family. Cameron knew he had to get away for the summer, especially now that Becky wouldn’t be around. It was making him crazy, being here in this town, missing his parents, trying to pretend he didn’t know what he knew.
Lily hadn’t agreed that the plan had any merit at all—but she hadn’t disagreed, either. That was the thing with Lily. You never really knew what she was thinking.
“Becky,” called her father’s voice from inside the house. “It’s late. You need to finish packing.”
“In a minute, Dad,” she said, then walked with Cameron to the curb, where his bike leaned against a lamppost. “I’m keeping the same