“Sure,” he said. “Thank you.”
“Great! She can come over before dinner, how’s that?”
“That’s great. Can she bring anything?”
“No, but thank you.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I’ll drop her off around five, then.”
I handed the phone back to Audrey, who said she’d be home soon. She hung up and beamed at me.
“Listen,” I said, “Poe isn’t the... Well, she’s having a hard time these days. I really appreciate you saying yes to this.”
“Are you kidding? I’m never invited anywhere.” She cringed, then clamped her mouth shut, her face going red.
“I was the same way, Audrey. So let’s be outcasts together, us three,” I said, smiling, and relief blossomed over her face. Someday, though she’d never believe me now, Audrey Fletcher was going to be striking. Not pretty—she looked too much like her dad for pretty—but the kind of looks that lasted for decades, not just senior year of high school.
* * *
On Friday night, I was ready. I had a marathon of Project Runway on the DVR, some healthy food, some not terribly unhealthy food, four shades of nail polish and a mud mask allegedly made with products from the Dead Sea (or La Mer Morte, as the package said). I’d taken the ferry to Portland and hit Target to stock up, bought the latest teen apocalypse movie and a few board games (old-school, I knew, but it was going to be hard to get Poe to engage in actual conversation).
I’d also gone to some effort to make her room welcoming. I picked flowers and put them in the bathroom and on her night table along with my own copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (read so many times I couldn’t count).
Audrey would sleep in the loft under the peaked roof. I put flowers up there, too.
At five o’clock, my niece came through the door.
“Hey, honey!” I said, going to hug her. She turned her shoulder away.
“Why am I here? Am I being punished?” she asked.
“Rewarded, actually, by spending time with your fun and adoring aunt,” I said.
“I’d rather be home.”
“With Gran?”
“Anywhere but here.”
I was twenty years older than Poe, I reminded myself, but the urge to ask “Why are you so mean to me?” and burst into tears was strong.
“Why are you so mean to me?” I asked (not bursting into tears, yay for me).
“Why are you pretending to care?” she said. “I know you’re only here for the summer.”
“So should I ignore you for the entire summer, then?”
“Yeah.” She made it into a three-syllable rejection, and I sighed. Boomer, blissfully ignorant to teenagers and their leaden moods, nudged Poe’s skinny thigh with his nose.
“Well,” I said, “just another thought...maybe we could hang out, do things together, get to know each other, act like relatives.” I shrugged, eyes wide.
“From what I’ve heard, our relatives just up and leave and you never see them again,” she said. “Dog, get away from me.”
“I take it you’re referring to my father.” Good! Finally! We could talk about it. “What did Lily tell you?”
“Can I have some wine?” Poe asked, sliding onto the counter stool, her posture shrimp-like.
“No. What do you know?”
Poe sighed. “Like, he was great, and Gran was a total bitch all the time, and he had this book, but she totally resented his talent, and she kicked him out, and life got even shittier after that.”
“It did get shitty, but that’s not quite the whole story.” Not that I knew the whole story. “Life was pretty fantastic before he left.” Stupid of me, still defending my absentee father.
Poe’s eyes flickered, not quite meeting mine. Aha. Interest. “That’s not what my mother says.”
“Really. Well, maybe I could show you some of the things we did, and you can decide for yourself.”
Her eyes went back to the counter. “Maybe,” she muttered.
“Excuse me?”
“Maybe.”
“As in, yes, why not, there’s nothing else to do here?”
I swear, she almost smiled. “Maybe,” she repeated.
“Hi! Am I too early? Or late?” Audrey was here, standing at the half door. Her father stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, Audrey! No, this is perfect.” I kicked my niece’s leg.
“Hi, Audrey. Wanna play Barbies?” she said.
Audrey smiled uncertainly.
“Come on in,” I said. “Hey, Sully.”
He nodded.
“Any food allergies, medication, anything I should know about?” I asked him. I tried not to look at his hearing aid.
“No,” he said. “You’ll be alone here tonight?”
“Do you mean, is she entertaining gentlemen callers?” Poe said.
“Ayuh. That’s what I meant.” One corner of his mouth pulled up.
“It’ll just be us girls,” I said. “Hey, got a second?”
He was looking at Audrey, who was petting Boomer.
“Sullivan?” I said, laying a hand on his arm. His eyes jerked back to mine. Brown eyes, calm and deep. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
We went out on the deck, able to see Poe not talking to Audrey, and Audrey pretending not to care by rubbing Boomer’s belly.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I saw Luke the other day,” I said.
He waited.
“He wouldn’t do anything, right?”
“No. He’s just...” Sullivan shrugged. “He’s just a little bitter. Especially now, with you back, living here—” he jerked his chin at the boat “—making friends with Audrey and such.”
“Is he still using?”
“No. He drinks too much once in a while, but he doesn’t drive anymore. Lost his license.”
I nodded.
“Heard you ran into Amy,” Sullivan said.
“Yep.”
“She doesn’t know Audrey’s here. I have custody.”
“So Audrey said.” There was a story there, I was sure.
“If Amy knew,” Sully said in a softer voice, “she would’ve asked Audrey to stay over at her place, and Audrey would’ve said yes, because she loves her mother and Amy doesn’t spend a lot of...well. Audrey would’ve said yes.”
“Ah.”
“So I didn’t mention it, because I think it’d be nice if my kid had a friend, and Poe seems like a good kid.”
“She does?”
He shrugged. “She doesn’t seem horrible.”
“No. Not horrible.”
He smiled a little, and something pulled in my chest. “Thank you for having Audrey over. Call if you need anything.” He handed me a piece of paper. “My cell.”
We went back inside, and Sullivan said, “I’m leaving, sweetheart. You have fun, okay?”
She hauled herself to her feet—fifty or so pounds overweight, and I remembered that difficulty, that envy at the girls who could stand from a cross-legged position as gracefully as an egret. “Bye, Daddy,” she said, hugging him and kissing his cheek.
Another tug in my chest.
“Bye, honey. Love you.” He jerked his chin at Poe. “Have fun, Poe.”
“Thanks,” she said, not looking at him.