We smile at each other as he sits in the chair across the table from Mom and I sit beside her.
“Looks like you’re making good progress on the roof, Ty,” Mom says.
“I should finish the middle of next week at the latest.”
“That long?” She frowns. “Seems like you’re moving faster than that.”
“He’s just one person, Mom,” I say in his defense.
“I want to do a good job for you, Mrs. Winston,” says Ty, adding, “You’re short on a few supplies. If it’s okay, I’ll quit early this afternoon and go to the hardware store.”
Mom takes a soft drink off the tray. “Whatever you need to do. The weather is supposed to stay dry for a while, so I guess there’s no real hurry. Adam had an account there. Just have them call if they need an okay.”
He nods at Mom, saying, “This looks great,” when I hand him his plate.
Mom opens the potato chip bag and shakes out a few. “I thought we might go into town, too, Lily. I’m in the mood for a movie. We could rent one and watch it tonight.”
“Okay.” I nibble on a crust of bread, encouraged that she wants to do something besides hide in the workshop or sleep.
She lifts her sandwich, then lays it down again and pushes her plate aside. She’s hardly eaten in the past couple of days. “What do you say we rent that romantic comedy you used to love so much? Gosh, I can’t remember the title. It was your favorite when you were thirteen or so. You watched it so much I’m surprised you don’t have every line memorized.”
Drawing a blank, I say, “I guess I’ve forgotten it.”
“Forgotten it?” She sends me a disbelieving frown, and I notice for the first time how bloodshot and puffy her eyes are. “How? You almost wore out the VCR you watched that tape so often.”
Tape? VCR? What is she talking about?
Anxious to change the subject, I turn my attention to Ty. “How is it that you can quote Plato? Are you a philosophy major?”
“No, biology.”
“Lily was obsessed with that young actor in the movie,” Mom says to him, as if she didn’t hear us. Her brows shoot up, and she snaps her fingers. “John Cusack. Say Anything! That’s it. He won an award for his role a few years ago. Most promising new actor or something like that.”
Iris flutters, tremulous and fleeting, as if she senses the tension building.
“Mom, John Cusack isn’t young. He’s been around forever,” I murmur, embarrassed by her insistence that I remember some film that I’m sure I’ve never seen. “I don’t remember that movie at all.”
“Good grief, Lily, how can you say—” Mom breaks off, her face going slack, paling. “Never mind. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Biting into her sandwich, she stares off into the trees beyond the deck.
I can’t bring myself to look at Ty. If Mom had to wig out, why couldn’t she have waited until he was gone? He starts making small talk about the weather, about how beautiful Colorado is and how much he’s enjoying his time here. Filling the silence. Smoothing the ragged edges of strain between Mom and me. Just like Dad used to do.
After a few minutes, Mom pushes away from the table and stands. “Another soft drink?” she asks us.
Ty and I both decline, and she walks around the corner onto the porch. I hear the front door open and slam as she goes inside.
“Make an excuse so you don’t have to go to town with her,” Ty says, speaking quickly.
“What?” I sit straighter.
“Drive your four-wheeler to the lake. Meet me there.”
His sudden invitation zings a thrill straight through me, all the way to my toes. “She’ll see your car parked there when she goes to get the movie.”
“So she does care if you spend time with me.” His mouth curves up.
“You’ve noticed?” I say sarcastically. I start to tell him to meet me at Ponderosa Pond instead of the lake. It’s secluded, tucked away in a grove of trees that surround it completely. But it’s also been Wyatt’s and my secret place ever since we were kids, and I don’t feel right about meeting Ty there. What if Wyatt showed up? “Do you know where the springhouse is?” I ask Ty, determined to find the perfect place.
“Yeah, I’ve seen it off the road by the lake.”
“Park behind it,” I say, hardly able to believe this is happening. “You’ll see a footpath. Follow it past