Page 95 of Before We Say Goodbye
He let his thoughts wander. “I’d need one last vintage to say goodbye. One last Lost Souls.” Otis circled the table and sat beside her. He slipped his arm around her and then raised a glass.
“One last vintage,” he said. “Who knows from there?”
She sealed the toast with a kiss. “There’s something nice about the idea, the unknown. Just like all those years ago on the purple bus.”
“I think the answer’s out there. Let’s be open to—”
The phone rang again.
“I should get that,” Bec said.
“No,” Otis pleaded. “I don’t want this lunch to end. Whatever it is, reality is on the other line. Leave it alone.”
“What if it’s about the boys?” As soon as she said that, he knew lunch was over.
Rebecca stood and kissed the top of his head and disappeared inside. Minutes later, she came back out onto the terrace and yelled, “Otis, get in the truck!”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Bec asked Mike with a poor attempt at hiding her frustration. They’d picked him up from the police station where he’d been booked for truancy.
“Why would I tell you?” He spoke with all the teenage attitude in the world.
“Because we’re your parents,” Otis said, one hand on the wheel, the other on Bec’s lap.
“I don’t want to bother you.”
“Oh, my God. Teenagers.” Bec turned to the back seat to face her son. “When did she do it? How did she do it?”
“She had a friend tell me.”
“What?” Otis said, turning down NPR. “Annette broke up with you through a friend?”
“She said we didn’t have anything in common.”
“When was this?”
“Last week.”
The pitch of Rebecca’s voice rose. “And you didn’t tell us. You just start skipping school. You haven’t been once since then?”
Through the rearview mirror, Otis saw his son shake his head.
Otis and Rebecca knew that getting angry wasn’t the answer; they’d agreed on their approach on the way over.
“I still don’t know why the school didn’t call,” Rebecca said.
“I called in and said I was sick.”
“They believed you? For four days in a row?”
Mike shrugged.
Otis jumped in. “Mike, you have to let us guide you. You can’t always bear this stuff on your own.”
“But I knew how much you liked her. I knew you’d be mad at me.”
“For her breaking up with you?” Rebecca asked. Nothing could hurt her heart more than her children struggling. “Honey, this is what happens. It’s no reflection on you. You guys are young. It was bound to happen. She was a nice girl, but more than anything, we liked what she did to you. She helped you see how special you are.”
Mike fell back against the seat. “Oh, that’s right. So special. That’s exactly how being dumped makes you feel.”
