Page 82 of Nothing Like the Movies

That made me laugh—even as I cried, and I pulled away from my dad to get my emotions in check. I introduced everyone, and Lilith and Clark both seemed (rightly so) to fall in love with my parents instantly.

“If you’re too tired and just want to go to your hotel, we understand,” Helena said as we pulled away from the airport. “But we’dlove to have you guys over to the house for dinner. It’s warm for October, so we picked up some T-bones to throw on the grill.”

“Thisis warm?” Clark laughed, shaking his head. He was a California boy through and through, and his reaction to forty-eight degrees with a stiff north wind was akin to someone being set loose, naked, in Antarctica.

“Fall is my favorite time to grill,” my dad said, smiling at us in the rearview mirror. “I’d loan you a sweater, Clark, but I think it’ll be a crop top.”

“That sounds lovely,” Lilith said, looking charmed by my nerdy dad. “The steak dinner, that is—not the crop top.”

The four of them chatted nonstop on the way home, but I couldn’t keep myself from just staring out the window. I felt hungry to see it all, to lay my eyes upon every single place I hadn’t seen in nearly two years. I was smiling like it was my first time in a car as the freeway took us past Charles Schwab Field, the downtown skyline, Dinker’s Hamburgers, the Denny’s on Eighty-Fourth where Joss and I used to get pancakes on Friday nights, and the Sapp Brothers coffeepot sign that I thought was a rocket until I was ten years old.

And the leaves—I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed the colors.

The cottonwoods were bright yellow, the sugar maples that perfect shade of pinkish-orange, and the oaks were currently doing all the hues in that continuously-changing-until-the-last-leaf-falls way they had about them.

Damn, it’s good to be back.

I avoided looking at the house next door when we got home,even though I knew I was going to have to go inside it tomorrow, because I just wanted to relax and enjoy being home with my dad and Helena before everything else happened.

“Hand me your bag, sweetie,” my dad said, and as I walked up the steps with him on my left, and Helena on my right, I wanted to soak up every second of this homecoming.

I regretted not doing it sooner.

Clark kept my dad company out on the deck while he grilled, and I stayed inside with Lilith and Helena and showered poor Mr. Fitzpervert with attention that he absolutely did not want.

Helena bought Fitz a blue-and-yellow bow tie for our visit, which reminded me of just how perfect of a stepmom she actually was, and as I sat between my dad and Lilith at dinner, I realized that my face was getting tired from all the happy smiling.

“This pasta salad is amazing,” Clark said, wolfing down bite after bite like he was racing someone. He was chewing when he said, “I think I’m in love with you now, Helena.”

“Actually, it’s Bert Langenfarker you’re in love with,” she corrected, picking up her wineglass. “He’s the guy at the deli who makes the sides.”

“Is he single?” he asked, not even pausing in his food inhalation.

“He is not,” Helena replied with a grin. “But I heard his wife’s Facebook profile says ‘it’s complicated,’ so there’s a chance.”

“Plot twist,” Lilith said before finishing her glass of rosé.

“Hell yes,” Clark said, nodding while still chewing a giant mouthful of food. “I’ll take complicated if it means ingesting this twirly goodness every night.”

Helena and Clark were two peas in a pod, like a his-and-her comedy team that kept the rest of us laughing the entire time. Lilith just kind of took it all in, seeming completely comfortable hanging out at my house in her stockinged feet, and it felt like a perfect night.

So I was a little disappointed when it was time for Clark and Lilith to go back to the hotel. Apparently he wanted to swim, and she still needed to put in some time on the treadmill, so they said their goodbyes, we made a plan to meet at nine the next morning, and then they drove off in the minivan my dad was letting them borrow while in town.

“I love them,” Helena said, closing the door behind Lilith and Clark. “It makes me so happy you have good people around you out there.”

“Right?” I said, leaning down to scoop up Fitz. He made amreownoise, like he was unhappy, but I knew he’d been waiting for me. “They’re the best.”

We went into the kitchen and cleaned up with the TV on, so we were moving at half speed, really into the old episode ofMonkthat we’d seen multiple times. It felt like the old days, when Helena used to get takeout and the three of us would sit hunched over our food, at the center island, watching mindless reruns, and the entire evening had somehow made me homesick while I was home (nonsensical much?).

Whichof coursemade me want to go see my mom.

“I think I’m going to go for a quick run,” I said, wiping down the counter as my dad started the dishwasher. “I know it’s dark, but I’ve got my pepper spray and I know the route by heart.”

“Keep the music quiet, then,” he said with an eyebrow raise, “so you’re aware of your surroundings.”

“I know,” I said. “I will.”

And for once, I actually ran with no music.

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