Page 33 of The Summer of ’98

Leroy paused with the fridge door open and gave him a bored stare. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he shook his head and carried on putting stuff away. Noah scoffed and picked up a Game Boy from the deck beside him. The little beeps and pings filled the quiet air while Leroy moved around the kitchen, opening and closing cupboards.

Eleanor popped her head through the sliding door wearing a sun hat and gardening gloves. She looked between the three of us before her attention fell on me.

“Can I have a quick chat, sweetheart?”

Instant panic. “Ye—sure.”

Noah cackled. “Someone’s in trouble.”

Leroy leaned his palms on the countertop and looked at his mom. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, for goodness’ sake, I want to chat with Ellie for a moment.”

Outside, I followed her down the deck, across the grass, and toward a foam mat that was stretched out in front of fresh soil and a couple of colorful flowers that were in plastic pots to be planted. She kneeled on the mat and started digging some little holes.

“Honey, I know that this may be unfair of me to ask because you’re here in Castle Rock for Leroy, but I can tell that Noah is itching to spend some time with his big brother. I was wondering if there was something we could do about that?”

“Oh,” I turned and looked at Noah sitting on the deck, sulking with his Game Boy. It was sort of awkward because what else was I supposed to do? But he was doing us a favor tonight, so making myself scarce for a few hours was the least I could do. “Yes, I can—”

“Cass popped around here about fifteen minutes ago looking for you. I said that I’d let you know.”

“She was looking for me?”

Eleanor set down her garden spade and looked up at me. “I know, it’s shocking that she wasn’t hounding Noah for attention. But she didn’t seem eager to hang around.”

“I’ll go and see her.”

“Thank you, honey.”

Inside, Leroy was upstairs in his bedroom putting laundry in his drawers. “Everything okay, babe?”

“Yeah. Your mom wanted to tell me that Cass was here looking for me.”

His brows pulled. “She had to tell you that in private?”

“She didn’t want to mention it in front Noah for some reason,” I lied. “I don’t know. But I’m going to go see her. I won’t be long.”

“I’ll come.”

“No, no, that’s fine.” I laughed at his confusion. “I want some girl time.”

“Don’t you need a ride?”

“If she can walk here, I’m sure I can walk to her house. I’ll be back soon.” I gave him a kiss. “You could do something with Noah.”

He recoiled and then slowly, his expression became knowing and he slid his hands into his pockets.

“Bye, babe,” I grinned and slipped out of the room.

Cass lived about three blocks from Leroy on a quiet cul-de-sac. The houses weren’t quite as elaborate as the ones on Leroy’s street, but they were beautiful nonetheless. Cass had a railed front porch with a swing seat and window planter boxes. My hand rapped the front door, and I was waiting for a few moments before it swung open.

She beamed when she saw me, gripped my wrist, and dragged me inside. “Good bitch for showing up. I have to show you something and I want you to revel in this masterpiece that I’ve created. Are you a John Stamos fan?”

“Who isn’t?” I said as Cass dragged me straight down the corridor by the hand. “Why?”

“You’ll see.”

We reached a door and Cass swung it open, revealing her bedroom. My jaw fell open. On the same wall as her bed, there was a mural of cut-out magazine pictures and John Stamos posters covering the entire space. Not an inch of wall was untouched.

---