Page 106 of Caught in a Storm
No one notices when Margot walks across the room. They continue not to notice as she passes her own drum kit and picks up Jenny’s Gibson electric guitar and puts the strap over her shoulder. They do, however, notice when Margot unleashes a power chord. She strums the same chord again, hitting the strings so hard that the tips of her fingers burn. Wave winces. Jenny, Anna, and Nikki finally shut up. And then Margot shouts the lyrics to the song she started writing in a hotel room in Baltimore.
Chapter 59
“You’re not, like, dying, are you?”
“No,” says Billy. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay, good,” says Caleb. “I get the Champagne Supernova if you do, though. Cool?”
Billy watches his son consume bread the way a dinosaur might, and he longs once again to stop time. His son, dressed in baggy shorts and a Game of Thrones T-shirt, ravaging his food, forever and ever.
“Billy?” says Robyn. “What’s up?”
“We haven’t had a lesson in a while,” Billy says. “Figured it was time.”
“Really? With Mom here? She’s a lady, though, Dad. No ladies allowed.”
“She’s making a guest appearance.”
“What are you guys talking about?” asks Robyn.
“Dad’s Lessons in Art and Manhood,” says Caleb. “It’s this whole thing. He explains stuff to me, like how I shouldn’t lick doorknobs or judge women based on their crop tops.”
“Oh,” says Robyn. “Well, this should be interesting.”
Billy’s goal here is simple and straightforward. Now, though, he finds that he doesn’t know how to start. He glances over at the TV above the bar, sees that the Orioles are getting shelled by the Yankees. Finally, he takes a breath and just says it. “Caleb, you need to go.”
His son stops midchew, mouth bulging. “But our crabs aren’t even here yet.”
That probably wasn’t the most artful opening line. In Billy’s defense, though, for the second time in recent months he’s about to tell someone he loves that they need to leave. Billy looks at Robyn, though, and he sees that she isn’t confused at all. She sets her bread down; a reflective sheen appears over her eyes.
“You need to go to Stanford,” Billy says. “Actually, no. You…you are going to Stanford.”
Caleb swallows. “But…”
“And, Robyn,” he says, “I know we talked about tuition. All in, Stanford is more than Hopkins. Your financial situation is different now, without Aaron. So, I’m gonna contribute more than we originally discussed.”
Robyn blinks, focuses. “Billy, we’re talking about a lot of money. How are you—”
“I sold the Steinway to LaVar Barber,” he says.
“Dad, no, what?”
“Who’s LaVar Barber?”
“He’s a Raven,” says Caleb. “But, Dad, that’s bullshit. You love that thing. You gotta get it back.”
LaVar and Jackson came to the house this morning to pick up the piano. Billy had never seen someone look as happy as Jackson did. “You can come visit it any time you want, Piano Man,” LaVar told him. LaVar hired the same crew to haul it away that Billy did to take it from the apartment above Charm City Rocks to the apartment above Robyn and Aaron’s garage and then back again to Billy’s new place in Fells Point. The foreman politely asked how many more times he’d have to move the damn thing, and Jackson said, “Never again!”
As perfect an instrument as the Steinway is, it’s more than Billy needs. For the fair price LaVar paid, Billy can buy a perfectly nice new piano and have plenty left over to make a huge dent in Caleb’s tuition and living expenses at Stanford.
The people at the table next to them dig into their crabs now. The lady at the head of the table screams with delight when a claw breaks and squirts her husband in the face with crab juice.
“You’re right, Cay,” Billy says. “I did love it. But I love you more. Also, don’t swear.”
“He committed to Hopkins,” says Robyn. “Wouldn’t Stanford have filled his spot by now?”
“I thought of that,” says Billy. “Aaron said he can help. Alumni relations stuff. Apparently, they leave wiggle room for situations like this. As far as co-dads go, Aaron’s a pretty good one. You’re a lucky guy, Cay.”
