“Oh, no?” She gestured at the page crumpled in Lily’s hand. “Look at your list. I’m not making this suggestion lightly. You’re one of my best teachers and I’m an idiot for saying this, but if you want a sabbatical or professional leave, I’d approve it without question. The new crop of third-graders will muddle through without you. The Holloways might not.”
“I can’t believe what you’re saying.”
“So what’s she saying?” Coach Greg Duncan stepped into the room, carrying his clipboard and grinning broadly.
“None of your business,” Edna said, but her voice was teasing. “How are you, Greg? Have a nice summer?”
“Summer was fine,” he said. “Hey, Lily.”
“Hey yourself.”
“Ask me what I’m doing this weekend,” he said, his grin widening. “Just ask.”
“All right, what are you doing?”
“Playing in the Paradise Ridge tournament. There was a spot for a local amateur and I made the cut.”
Lily beamed at him. Over the summer, she’d come to appreciate the hard work, talent and concentration that went into winning a golf match. “Greg, that’s fantastic.”
“Congratulations,” Edna said. “Lily will be there watching, won’t you, Lily?”
“I’ll be in the gallery with the Holloway girls. Their brother is going to be caddying for his uncle.”
“Excellent,” he said. “Wish me luck, ladies.”
chapter 48
Cameron paced up and down the platform at the train station. He’d felt totally weird all day, ever since getting up super-early and telling his uncle, “I’m going to the city to pick up my girlfriend at the Amtrak station.” Not so long ago, he couldn’t imagine getting in his mother’s car and driving to Portland by himself. He couldn’t imagine declaring to anyone that Becky Pilchuk was his girlfriend. Yet he’d done both and the world hadn’t come to an end, so that was something.
Sean had seemed distracted when he agreed to let Cameron have the car. Cameron was pretty sure his uncle and Lily Robinson were getting it on. He’d had his suspicions ever since the Colonial tournament. That night, Red had treated him and his sisters to a feast of prime rib, baked potatoes and hot fudge sundaes in the hotel’s fancy restaurant. They had been surrounded by the best golfers in the country and Cameron had acted like a total gawk, but he couldn’t help himself. When Phil Mickelson complimented him on the job he’d done caddying for Sean, Cameron had felt ten feet tall. He asked each player for the same greeting with his autograph—To Becky.
When they got back to the RV that night, Lily and Sean were seated at the table, not talking but just looking at each other, a half-empty box of Devil Dogs between them. Lily’s hair was loose and her glasses lay on the table in front of her. There was a different energy around them, and Cameron knew. He wasn’t sure how, but it was perfectly clear to him that they were together now. A couple.
It made Cameron feel funny, but in a good way, a way he had not felt since he was little and his parents were still kind to each other. Seeing his uncle and Lily like that made the earth feel solid under his feet. After they returned home, he expected them to open up about it, but so far they hadn’t. Cameron couldn’t understand that. After what had happened to his parents, he didn’t see any reason to hold off on something you wanted.
Still, he felt awkward and unaccountably nervous as he waited for Becky to get off the train. At the same time, he felt curiously adult, knowing Becky’s father had approved of his plan to pick her up at the station. And there was, as always, that undercurrent of sadness that rode with him every moment like a low-grade fever. His own mom and dad were missing this. They’d never meet Becky, never see him dressed up for a formal dance or win the state golf championship. They’d never see him make something of his life, never be there to help him decide on a college, or to celebrate with him or criticize him. He missed them so much that sometimes he felt like putting his fist through a wall.
There were all these warning notices about security and passengers-only all over the station, but he ignored them and everybody seemed to ignore him as he went down a set of stairs and up another, emerging on the platform. The macadam surface of the platform was marked off in diamond-shaped segments with ridges to prevent people from slipping. He stood