as fast as Felton Reinstein,” Aleah said, running out the door.
“You two make yourselves comfortable,” Ronald called to Jerri and me from the kitchen. “I’ve got some cooking to do.”
I stood there with my mouth hanging open.
“Ah. Cat got your tongue, Felton?” Jerri smiled. She was sort of teary.
“I think I’m experiencing happy?” I said.
“That girl. She can really play piano.” Jerri sat down on the couch in the sort of awkward, slow way she did everything. “Just amazing.”
“Oh, man,” I said.
“Hey, Felton?” Jerri said.
“Yeah?”
“Sit by me?”
I moved and sat down on the couch next to her.
“You know what?” Jerri said. “I watched you running around the house last night.”
“You did?”
“Umm.” Jerri nodded slow. She looked like a little girl. “I watched the whole time. I couldn’t take my eyes off you, Felton.”
“Oh.”
“You run like Aleah plays piano. It’s beautiful.”
“Really?” I never thought about how I looked.
“No offense to Andrew,” Jerri said, “but you run like Aleah plays piano. Not like Andrew. Do you know what I mean?”
“I think so.”
“I hope this thing, this trouble I’m having, won’t stop you from running.”
“No. Your trouble isn’t it why I don’t want to. I just don’t see the value in…”
“You’re not going to play sports?” Jerri blinked.
“No. I can’t. Look what those asshole jocks did to me with the trash last night, Jerri. I don’t want to be like them—like Dad.”
Jerri’s eyes focused. She squinted and looked really serious. Then for the first time in months, an “old Jerri” thing came out of her mouth. She spoke really quiet.
“Listen, Felton, your father was compelled to make different choices. Lots of them were bad. But this is the truth: playing sports was one of the good ones. He was at peace. He was sincerely happy when he was on a tennis court. Nowhere else maybe. But playing? Movement made him happy.”
“Moving?”
“He was beautiful when he ran.”
“But look what those jocks did to our yard,” I said.
“Those people—those jocks—they really don’t matter.”
“I don’t know.”
“Of course, I’m crazy,” Jerri said, staring out the window, the sun beginning to light the trees around the house. “I don’t even know if I make sense.”
“Yeah,” I laughed.
Jerri didn’t laugh.
“Thanks, Jerri,” I said.
“I love you,” she said.
***
Bacon sizzled in the kitchen. Ronald hummed along to classical music. Jerri stared out the picture window. And I got up to use the bathroom and noticed the masks had been removed from the living room and replaced by Gus’s parents’ mountain photos. There were boxes in the hall—and half-packed suitcases too.
***
After Grandma, Aleah, and Andrew got back, we ate. I stared at Aleah the whole time. She looked at me and nodded like Jerri, like a little girl. Breakfast was delicious and—I’m not kidding—cheery. Then we all moved to the living room and talked like nothing at all was wrong in the world. But I couldn’t get the idea out of my brain that I might never see Aleah again.
Before we left, Aleah grabbed my arm and pulled me down the hall. She put her hands on my shoulders and stared at me. Then she said, “I didn’t know what to do, Felton. You know, when you didn’t return my calls? I didn’t know what to do. Daddy told me to give you space.”
“I thought…”
“Andrew said you were acting all weird, so I decided to give you space.”
“You didn’t want to…I was acting weird?” Duh.
“I had the greatest summer,” Aleah said. “I…I loved every second.”
“But I thought…”
“Last spring, I wrote out a list about the only kind of person I’d want for a boyfriend. I met him, exactly.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, Felton. Duh.”
“Exactly?”
“Funny, gentle, passionate.”
“Passionate?”
“About football.”
“Oh.”
“You ask me questions and tell me stories and…”
“But I don’t understand opera. And I’m sort of a chucklehead. And my family is a disaster. And I say honky because I don’t know what it means. And I freak out like a little kid.”
“You think I want to date an old man? I want to be with another kid.”
“Oh.”
“I’d like you to listen to opera though.”
“I’ll try, Aleah. I’m not sure if Andrew has any CDs.”
“Please, Felton. We’re leaving as soon as Daddy’s grades are in. Please.”
“When?”
“This afternoon, late morning if Daddy can get done.”
“Oh, crap.”
She spoke quickly.
“Please. Please. Can we stay together? I feel like I’m going to die without you,” she said. “Please?”
“Oh.” I paused and thought. “I’m so sorry,” I said.
Aleah stared at me. She swallowed hard.
“It’s okay. I know you’re having a hard time right now. I know. I know.”
“What? No. That’s not what I’m saying.”
“It