Page 82 of The Souls of Lost Lake
“He needs to grieve,” Tristan observed.
“He will, Dad.” Wren glowered at him. Sometimes he was obtuse for an educated professor. “Patty just died. Give him time.”
Gary met Wren’s gaze with a look of lost helplessness. She eased off the barstool and made her way in the direction Eddie had fled. As she reached for the back door, the thought hit her. They were both motherless now. All they had left were their fathers, extended family... Wren’s breath caught as she closed the door behind her. That was assuming she evenhada family. Pippin’s voicemail reverberated in her mind. No birth records. None. How was that even possible in this digital age of impeccable records?
Eddie was trudging down the gravel road, flanked on both sides by woods. Woods that, if traversed deeply enough, would wind their way to Lost Lake. The site of another tragedy, past and possibly present. Wren hurried after her childhood friend. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about Jasmine.
“Eddie!” Wren shouted.
He slowed his pace but didn’t look back at her. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his army-green shorts. His blue-and-green plaid shirt hung loosely, only emphasizing his bowed shoulders. Wren broke into a jog, regretting that she’d slipped on a pair of moccasins instead of tennis shoes. But in a few moments she caught up with him. Her shoulder brushed his as Wren slowed her pace.
“There’s nothing to say, Wren.” Eddie was trying to get out ahead of her in conversation.
“I know.” She matched his steps. Matched his hands by shoving her own into her jean shorts pockets. A black fly buzzed her head. Wren swatted it away.
They hiked for a few minutes before Eddie paused. The woods had cleared way for a small pond, the road becoming a bridge as it spanned it. The water was covered in a thick moss of green algaewith some lily pads interspersed, their white flowers staring up at the sun.
Eddie looked down into the water.
A sparrow flew overhead, reminding Wren of Patty’s last words to her.“His eye is on the sparrow...”Tears sprang to her eyes.
“Today is the first day of a long time to come,” she stated. Eddie needed to know she shared in his grief. In the absence of Patty. That she wouldn’t be just carrying on with life in a week as if Patty had never happened.
“Yeah.” He nodded.
Wren could tell Eddie was swallowing back emotion. A muscle in his jaw twitched.
“Sorry about back at the kitchen.” Eddie sniffed. “I was just—”
“It’s okay.” Wren reached for his hand. Eddie glanced down at them when she curled her fingers around his. Funny. For all the years they’d known each other, she couldn’t remember ever holding Eddie’s hand. It was callused. Strong. But she felt the tremor in it.
A frog leaped from the pond’s shoreline and splashed into the water. It stretched its front and hind legs out as it swam a path beneath the surface, then disappeared beneath the algae.
“I just—” Eddie blew out a big breath and shook his head. “Yeah. I dunno.”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Wren offered.
Eddie stared at the spot where the frog had disappeared. “Mom loved walking to this pond. She used to say if it were legal, she’d pick every lily pad flower and make a bouquet out of them.”
“Stupid state regulations,” Wren commiserated.
They shared a small laugh.
Eddie kicked at the gravel. “Yeah. When I was eight, I picked one for her. I had no idea they were a protected plant.”
“Oops.” Wren smiled.
Eddie offered her a crooked one in return. He adjusted his fingers around hers but didn’t pull away. “Yeah. Mom didn’t miss abeat, though. She spent the next few minutes telling me about environmental protection, and then she put the lily in a glass yogurt jar. She said it was too late to put it back, so she considered it God’s gift to her that day. Me and God. We always watched out for Mom.”
“I know you did.” A lump grew in Wren’s throat.
Eddie took a few breaths, then looked at Wren as he chewed on the inside of his bottom lip. “I can’t do life without her.”
His eyes filled with a type of lostness that was hollow and lonesome. His mouth twisted as Eddie pushed back emotion. “I know all the God things to say to myself, but it doesn’t change that she’s gone.”
“No, it doesn’t.” No son should ever lose his mama. It was inevitable, but it was unforgiveable at the same time.
Eddie choked, coughed, cleared his throat. He tugged his hand from Wren’s and coughed again. “One more day ... I’d kill for just one. One. More. Day.” Eddie’s hand flew to his mouth, and he sucked in a chesty sob. A boy that wanted to cry for his mom but was wrapped in a man’s body where weeping was foreign.
