“Yeah,” he called over his shoulder, reaching down to pull out another box. “Just one sec.”
“They need them now,” Mr. Cross said. “We told them ten at the latest. Let’s move!”
Nate reached into the new box, which was full of individually wrapped votive candles in all different colors, and began distributing them at warp speed. I grabbed a handful, doing the same. “Thanks,” he said as we raced through the rows. “We’re kind of under the gun here.”
“No problem,” I told him. “And anyway, I owe you.”
“You don’t,” he said.
“Come on. You saved my ass yesterday. Literally.”
“Well,” he said, dropping in one last candle, “then you’ll get me back.”
“How? ”
“Somehow,” he said, looking at me. “We’ve got time, right? ”
“Nate!” Mr. Cross called out, his tone clearly disputing this. “What the hell are you doing in there?”
“I’m coming,” Nate said, picking up the empty boxes and beginning to stack the bags into them. I reached to help, but he shook his head. “It’s cool, I’ve got it. Thanks, anyway.”
“You sure?”
“Nate!”
He glanced over his shoulder at his dad, still standing in the doorway, then at me. “Yeah. I’m good. Thanks again for your help.”
I nodded, then stepped back from the table as he shoved the last of the bags into a box, stacking it onto the other one. As he headed for the door, I fell in behind him. “Finally,” Mr. Cross said as we came out onto the patio. “I mean, how hard is it—” He stopped, suddenly, seeing me. “Oh,” he said, his face and tone softening. “I didn’t realize you had company.”
“This is Ruby,” Nate said, bringing the box over to him.
“Of course,” Mr. Cross said, smiling at me. I tried to reciprocate, even though I suddenly felt uneasy, remembering that night I’d seen him in this same place with Roscoe. “How’s that brother-in-law of yours doing? There’s some buzz he might be going public soon with his company. Any truth to that?”
“Um,” I said. “I don’t know.”
“We should go,” Nate said to him. “If they want us there by ten.”
“Right.” Still, Mr. Cross stayed where he was, smiling at me, as I started around the pool to the gate. I could see Nate behind him in the house. He was watching me as well, but when I raised my hand to wave, he stepped down a hallway, out of sight. “Take care,” Mr. Cross said, raising his hand to me. He thought I’d been waving at him. “Don’t be a stranger.”
I nodded, still feeling unsettled as I got to the fence and pushed my way through. Crossing the yard, I remembered the house Nate had given me, and reached down to pull it out and look at it again. It was so perfect, pristine, wrapped away in plastic and tied with a pretty bow. But there was something so eerie about it, as well—although what, I couldn’t say—that I found myself putting it away again.
“Okay,” I said, uncapping my pen. “What does family mean to you?”
“Not speaking,” Harriet replied instantly.
“Not speaking?” Reggie said.
“Yeah.”
He was just staring at her.
“What? What were you going to say?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Comfort, maybe? History? The beginning of life?”
“Well, that’s you,” she told him. “For me, family means the silent treatment. At any given moment, someone is always not speaking to someone else.”
“Really,” I said.
“We’re passive-aggressive people,” she explained, taking a sip of her coffee. “Silence is our weapon of choice. Right now, for instance, I’m not speaking to two of my sisters and one brother.”
“How many kids are in your family?” I asked.
“Seven total.”
“That,” Reggie said, “is just plain sad.”
“Tell me about it,” Harriet said. “I never got enough time in the bathroom.”
“I meant the silence thing,” Reggie told her.
“Oh.” Harriet hopped up on the stool by the register, crossing her legs. “Well, maybe so. But it certainly cuts down the phone bill.”
He shot her a disapproving look. “That is not funny. Communication is crucial.”
“Maybe at your house,” she replied. “At mine, silence is golden. And common.”
“To me,” Reggie said, picking up a bottle of Vitamin A and moving it thoughtfully from one hand to the other, “family is, like, the wellspring of human energy. The place where all life begins.”
Harriet studied him over her coffee cup. “What do your parents do, again?”
“My father sells insurance. Mom teaches first grade.”
“So suburban!”
“Isn’t it, though?” He smiled. “I’m the black sheep, believe it or not.”
“Me, too!” Harriet said. “I was supposed to go to med school. My dad’s a surgeon. When I dropped out to do the jewelry-design thing, they freaked. Didn’t speak to me for months.”
“That must have been awful,” he said.
She considered this. “Not really. I think it was kind of good for me, actually. My family is so big, and everyone always has an opinion, whether you want to hear it or not. I’d never done anything all on my own before, without their help or input. It was liberating.”