Page 13 of Nothing But It All
Michael shoves his knee into the back of my seat. “Can we get some food on the way?”
“You seriously just ate,” Maddie says. “I saw you down three Lunchables.”
“I’m a growing boy.”
I grin. “What are you hungry for?”
“You know whatI’mhungry for?” Maddie asks. “A chili dog from Schmidt’s with cheese and onions.Yum.”
“Schmidt’s in Story Brook?” I ask.
Her smile is bright. “Yup. Doesn’t that sound good?” She smacks her lips together to drive home the point.
“I’ll take that, Dad,” Michael chimes in from behind. “Two of them—no, three.”
I shake my head, wondering what’s gotten into the kids. They know we aren’t going to the cabin this year.
But of course, they want to.
Hell, I do too.
It still hasn’t soaked in that we won’t be there. I’ve gone to Story Brook every summer, give or take a couple, my whole life. Lauren and I went the year before I proposed and have gone each June since Dad gave us the cabin next to his as a wedding gift.
But Lauren was quick to dismiss our tradition this year—too quick, really. I thought she’d change her mind. She even had some of her supplies packed and in the garage when she called the trip off.
“I was thinking more like a place to eat that’s not three hours away,” I say.
“Maybe Pops wants to go get one,” Maddie says, using the sweet voice she’s learned from her mother.One I haven’t heard from Lauren in a long time.“I bet he would love to go.”
“I bet he would too. But things are just ... different this year,” I say, irritated. “He probably has other plans by now and wouldn’t go even if I asked him to.”
Maddie giggles. “He would ifIasked him to.”
“He’s not gonna change his mind for you. What do you think—that you have him wrapped around your little finger or something?” I joke.
Maddie and Michael burst out laughing.
“You know, Dad, I bet it killed Pops that we’re not going. He’s gone every year for, like, eighty years.” Maddie twists around in her seat as faras the seat belt will let her. Her eyes sparkle. “But I have an idea, and I think you’ll love it.”
I look at her out of the corner of my eye. “I know just by the sound of your voice that I won’t.”
She punches me in the arm. I pretend that it hurts.
“Ignore her,” Michael says. “Just follow me.”
“Followyou?” I ask. “You two are up to somethingtogether?”
“We weren’t, but I think we’re on the same page now,” Michael says.
Maddie nods. “I think so too. It’s brother-sister intuitiveness.”
“Let’s set the stage,” Michael says. “Campfires at dusk. Can you smell the burning oak wood? The sun on your face on the beach. Watching the girls dive into the water in bikinis.” He pauses. “I mean, you can do that now since you and Mom are getting divorced.”
My gaze whips to him in the rearview. My blood runs cold.“What did you say?”
Maddie’s face falls. She slumps against her seat and sighs. “We know.”
My stomach drops. A bitter, vile taste coats my tongue.
