Page 108 of Spindrift

“Goodmemory.”

“Whatdo they do?”

“Mymom was a vet, too. She just retired two years ago, and now she works on thefarm. My dad still works for the fishery department and spends his free timefishing. Guy’s obsessed.”

“Heknows what he likes.”

“Absolutely,”said Morgan, aware she had taken after her father in that regard. She knew whatshe liked, and it was sitting right next to her, heartbreak dressed in green.

“SometimesI wish one of my parents had been a vet. Or my stepdad. They don’t really getit, you know?”

“Evenmy mom doesn’t get how things have changed, honestly.”

“ButI bet her eyes don’t glaze over when you talk about work.”

“Fairpoint.”

Emiliastared out the window with obvious curiosity as they approached Morgan’schildhood home. She tried to see it from Emilia’s perspective: the older house,in need of a new coat of paint, not quite yet shabby but derelict by Bostonsuburb standards. The wide lawn, mostly blueberry scrub at this point, and thered barn with its aging cupola and lopsided weather vane. Kraken raised hishead in the back seat and thumped his tail in anticipation.

“Yougrew up here?” Emilia asked as she took it in.

“Yep.”She pulled in beside her mother’s Jeep. “Ready?”

Emiliasmiled. Morgan forcibly reminded herself Emilia was here to talk about herfather, not to meet her girlfriend’s parents. They were not a couple. She hadno right to the vivid fantasies now rolling through her head like some jackass’sidea of a movie montage, about showing Emilia her childhood haunts or sittingon the porch with her father and her arm around Emilia’s shoulders with ascratchy wool blanket over their laps to keep off the evening chill.

Ilove you.

Hadthe thought merely been the by-product of sex and loneliness? She wanted tobelieve that was the case. She didn’t want to give a name to the tightness inher chest and the sickening ache that filled her whenever Emilia left her side.

Shannongreeted them at the door with an enthusiastic ear scratch for Kraken, a kiss forMorgan, and a handshake and warm smile for Emilia.

“Youlook so much like your father,” she said to Emilia as she ushered them inside.“Did Morgan warn you about the dogs?”

“No,but I love dogs.”

Astreak of black, gray, brown, and white shot past them as her mother’s twoborder collies circled the newcomers. Kraken raised his lips disapprovingly,then ignored them.

“Yourfather is out back trellising his tomatoes. Can I get you girls a drink?”

Morganfollowed her mother into the kitchen, noting the smells coming from the oven.Her mouth, ever a traitor, watered in anticipation. “Lamb pie?”

“Yes.Unless you’re a vegetarian, Emilia? I should have asked.”

“I’mnot.”

“Good.Not that I mind, of course, but Morgan loves her meat.”

“Ma.”

“Well,it’s true.”

Katehad been a vegetarian. Was probablystilla vegetarian, she correctedherself. When had she started thinking about Kate in the past tense? Shesuspected this was behind her mother’s comment and groaned inwardly.

Emiliaadmired the kitchen as Shannon poured glasses of wine, praising the hangingcopper pots, trailing houseplants, and granite countertops. Morgan observed hermother warming to the praise with satisfaction, though she knew that Shannonwould reserve judgment for now.

“Hereyou are,” her father said as he came through the kitchen door bearing a handfulof freshly cut herbs. Their fragrance filled her nostrils, and she breathed inthe sharp, piney scent of rosemary. “And you must be Emilia.”

Emiliasmiled and stuck out her hand. Aaron Donovan shook it as he apologized for thesoil still clinging to his fingers.

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