Page 76 of Years in the Making

“Wow.” I can’t help but laugh. “I don’t know what’s worse.”

“If you’re lying about wanting to be together, there’s a reason. If you really think you don’t want to be together, then,Mr. Wiener Handler, that’s all you’re ever going to be, a wiener handler. You can take that however you’d like to.”

She walks away from me to join the remaining grandchildren gathered on the rug, fawning over Kevin.

Instead of trying to figure out how I’ve just been insulted, I begin to take some pictures of the setup, careful not to get any faces in the images. Kevin’s nose poking under a thigh and then over a shoulder, through a fan of hair. Nellie crouched down, laughing with a kid and his flirtatious father. A moose wandering across the road towards us. Holy shit.

“Um, Midge,” I whisper as loudly as possible. “A moose is heading our way.”

Midge stands quickly and looks towards the road. I watch in awe as she squares her shoulders and marches towards the giant creature. “Now, Morticia, we’ve talked about this. You stay on that side of the road until the people are gone, missy.” Midge is still heading towards the moose, and she’s got her finger out wagging away. She appears to be lecturing the lumbering animal. “I know you’re starved for attention, but you’ll simply have to wait.” She stops at the edge of the road and plants her hands on her hips. The moose, to her credit, has stopped halfway and seems to be weighing her options. She’s massive, and honestly it seems likely that if she wanted, any option at all is open for the taking. But after a few seconds of deliberation, she seems to decide with a great sigh to turn around and head back into the woods she came from.

Midge watches her disappear into the bush until no sign of her remains before turning and heading back towards us. “That’s our cue to head home, troop,” she hollers. “Let’s help Nellie and Teddy get things cleaned up, and we can lead them back to the homestead.”

“Staying in the bunkie, eh?” I hear Midge’s son say.

“Well, Teddy is. I’ll be back here.” She points at the trailer,and I watch in horror as a slow smile creeps along the guy’s lips. People look at me and think I’m the kind of guy who has gotten into my share of brawls, but the truth is I’ve never actually thrown a punch that wasn’t at Will. I’m the kind of guy who would walk towards a prospective fight and have to repeat, “Your thumb stays on the outside of your fist” the entire time.

“If you want any company, just say the word.” I overhear him say, and I cannot contain the disgust I feel that he just said that to her in front of his kid.

“Oh, don’t worry, I will.” Nellie smiles at him as she walks away, her hips swaying more than usual. The guy with no boundaries watches her walk away, his eyes glued to her ass, his tongue clenched between his teeth.

When I turn my attention to Nellie, it’s obvious by her expression that the tone and way she’s walking away is not conveying how she feels. Her jaw is clenched tight and her brow is furrowed as if she’s holding herself back from letting the guy know how she really feels.

Twelve years ago, Nellie lied to me about having a boyfriend to avoid being hit on. Today, she could have easily used me as an excuse and didn’t, despite being visibly uncomfortable. If she thinks for one second that I’m sleeping farther from her than I have to be, she’s in for a rude awakening.

THIRTY

NELLIE

Tanner—thirty-six, father of two, estranged from his wife, blond hair, hazel-eyed—McIntyre immediately plants himself beside me at the picnic table in Midge’s yard. His plate is piled high with two burgers and a sausage on a bun, potato and macaroni salad, and three kinds of pickled vegetables. He’s already chewing when his ass hits the bench.

“You’re gonna love staying here,” he sputters around a mouthful of something brown.

“Is it the company that will win me over?” I ask, biting into a carrot stick.

He takes a swig from his beer, swallows, and gives me a big smile. “Oh, it’s definitely the company.” He continues to watch me while we eat, as if I’ve given off some vibe that having my every move watched is a turn-on. For the record, it is not. At least not when it’s Tanner’s eyes on me.

As subtly as I can manage, I look around the yard trying to pinpoint where Teddy is. It takes me no time to spot him, even through the deer fencing. He’s slowly walking through the garden with Florence, Midge’s oldest granddaughter. I see hergesturing to different plants and Teddy’s appropriately enthusiastic response. I don’t need to know his background to know he’s in his element out there. He looks like he was meant to be out there with the growing things.

“My wild girl,” Midge says fondly, sitting down across from us. “She took to the garden like a duck to water. It’s nice of him to indulge her.”

“Oh, I guarantee it’s not a hardship for him. Teddy is a nature guy.”

I watch Midge study the pair for a while longer before she nods. “I see it.”

“He doesn’t look like a hippie,” Tanner scoffs.

“He’s not,” I say, a tad defensively. “He just has a deep respect for the environment. Teddy has a degree in Environmental Science and spent years traveling the world working as an arborist.”

“You together?” Tanner asks, his eyes narrowing.

I answer “No” at the same time Midge says “Yes.”

I see a warning in Midge’s eyes and settle on, “It’s complicated.”

He holds his beer out to me, and I tap it with my can of root beer. “Been there. So, uh, before, you weren’t flirting back?”

I mean, I kind of was but not really in a I-hope-this-goes-somewhere kind of way, which I realize now seems cruel. “No?” it comes out like a question, and I hope he drops it.

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