it’s a shame I didn’t know those positions when my Eli was alive.”
It took a moment for Eli to comprehend, then to be shocked and mortified. It took less for Abra’s quick and wicked laugh.
“In loving memory of your Eli, exhale, navel to spine, and lean forward. Gently. Gently.”
“I hope young Eli appreciates how limber you are.”
“I can attest.”
And the young Eli decided to beat a discreet retreat.
He’d make coffee, take a mug of it with him and walk the dogs. By the time he’d finished that his grandmother should be dressed like his grandmother. And maybe her allusion to sex with his grandfather would have faded from his mind.
He caught the scent of coffee as he walked toward the kitchen, and found his sister, in pink pajamas, inhaling a cup.
Sadie stirred herself to stand from her sprawl on the kitchen floor so she and Barbie could sniff at each other.
“Where’s the baby?”
“Right here.” Tricia patted her anthill-size bump. “Big sister’s upstairs having a Sunday snuggle with Daddy. I’m getting a window of quiet and the single stingy cup of coffee I’m allowed a day. You can have one, too, then help me hide eggs.”
“I can do that, after I take the dogs for a walk.”
“Deal.” Tricia stooped to give Barbie a rub. “She’s such a sweetheart, and nice company for Sadie. If she had a brother or sister, I’d snatch one up. She was wonderful with Sellie. So patient and gentle.”
“Yeah.” Some guard dog, Eli thought as he poured his coffee.
“I didn’t have much time to talk to you, not alone. I wanted to say you look good. You look like Eli.”
“You asked. You’re a little on the skinny side yet, but you look like Eli. For that I love Abra. A lot.”
At his sidelong look, she angled her head. “Are you going to tell me she has nothing to do with it?”
“No. I’m going to say I don’t know how I’ve lived with this family all my life without realizing the obsession with sex. I just overheard Gran make a sexual allusion to Abra about Granddad.”
“Really?”
“Really. And now I have to burn it out of my memory. Come on, Barbie. Let’s take Sadie for a walk.”
But Sadie sprawled out again, yawned hugely.
“I’d say Sadie’s taking a pass,” Tricia observed.
“Fine. Just you and me, Barbie. We’ll be back to play Easter Bunny in a few.”
“Good enough. I wasn’t just talking about sex,” she called out.
He glanced back from the laundry room as he grabbed the leash. “I know.”
He tried something different since he didn’t have to keep to Sadie’s dignified pace. And he had the beach to himself on an early Easter Sunday. Once he’d downed the coffee, he screwed the mug into the sand near the steps, then set off in a kind of half jog. When he asked his body how it felt about the idea, it wasn’t altogether sure.
But the dog loved it. Loved it enough to increase the pace until Eli found himself in full jog. No question he’d pay for this one later, he decided. Good thing he had a massage therapist on hand.
He had a flash of her as she’d been in the dream, pale and bloody on the cold, stony dirt of the basement. The image sent his heart knocking harder than the run.
Eventually he managed to slow the dog to a walk again, pull in some of the moist air to soothe his dry throat.
So he was more anxious about the break-ins than he’d been willing to admit. More concerned about his family, about Abra, than he’d wanted to admit in the cold light of day.
“We’re going to have to do more about it than bark,” he said to the dog, and turned her around to head home. “But we’ve got to get through today and tomorrow morning first.”
He looked toward Bluff House, shocked to see how far they’d run. “Well, Jesus.” Less than two months before he’d been prone, panting and covered in sweat at a half mile. Today, he’d breezed through twice that.
Maybe he really was himself again.
“Okay, Barbie, let’s try for the circuit.”
He ran back, the joyful dog beside him. When he looked up at Bluff House he saw Abra on the terrace, a hoodie over her yoga gear. She lifted her arm in a wave.
That was the picture he’d keep in his head, he promised himself. Abra with Bluff House at her back, and the breeze dancing