Page 65 of Head Over Heels

Unfortunately, Katie is playing in her room next door. Occasionally we hear her voice rise as one of the parent dolls in the dollhouse gets strict with one of the child dolls. One of the parents is a daddy.

The other is a nanny.

It makes me want to cry, and also to snatch Katie up in a fierce hug.

I realize I’m still standing there holding the sweater, and I laugh.

“What?”

“Who needs a wool sweater in July? That’s not exactly packing light, is it?”

“Take my word for it, you will not regret packing a wool sweater.”

“It’s hot right now.”

It is, unseasonably for the Seattle area.

“Liv. Just do what I say, okay? And we’ll both live to tell the tale.”

Right now, I’d do pretty much anything he said, which scares the crap out of me.

He finishes criticizing my packing choices, and then we move on to the actual packing. He lines my pack with a garbage bag first.

“What’s that for?”

“In case it rains.”

“We won’t go if it rains, will we?”

He doesn’t dignify that with an answer. He begins rolling my clothes and stuffing them into the backpack. He throws in an assortment of objects, identifying them as group gear. Some are familiar, like a first aid kid, a plastic plate, and a fork. Others are mysterious—a red canister, a small black bag, a ziplock with—

“Is thattoilet paper?”

He nods.

“We have to bring our own toilet paper?”

He closes his eyes.

“Chase! What is the orange trowel for?”

“For digging holes.”

“Why do we have to digholes?”

He opens his mouth to say something—I have no idea what—when his phone rings.

“Chase,” he says, and listens. Then, “Oh, Emily. Oh, God, I forgot. Yes…No…I…I was going to take her camping, but…”

Does this mean I am going to be reprieved? Because that would be spectacular.

There’s a long pause, and I watch Chase’s face, the spasm of the muscle at his jaw, the set of his mouth.

“I think she would like that. I think she would like it very much. I think—I think I should check with her first, but—”

He listens, and his eyes find mine, full of grief.

“I’ll—I’ll call you back, but if there’s any way, yes, of course, of course we’ll get her to you.”

---