Two Truths and a Lie(73)
Since her trip to Cam’s lake house, Alexa and Cam were hanging out a lot. They did an old-person walking tour through Maudslay State Park, where the rangers told them all about the home that used to sit on the grounds. They kayaked down the Merrimack all the way to Amesbury and back. Seen through Cam’s eyes, even this tired town had begun to send out fresh green shoots of appeal or attraction. Her mother’s request to spend the day with Morgan failed to provoke the irritation it might have earlier in the summer. Was there a chance that spending time with Cam had made her nicer? Was niceness contagious?
Her mother was still standing there. “Maybe do something with Morgan, okay? Don’t just let her sit around on her phone.”
“Got it,” said Alexa. She peeked out from under the comforter. “No sitting around on her phone.” In fact she thought it might be fun to do something special with Morgan, which was not a thought she would have had in June. It was therefore confirmed. Niceness was contagious.
“I can leave you some money to go to lunch if you want. A burger and a shake at Lexie’s, maybe?”
“Not necessary,” mumbled Alexa. Her bank account was, to put it mildly, robust. Besides that, Lexie’s was great, but a burger and a shake seemed sort of ordinary. If she wanted to show Morgan a good time, she was going to take her someplace nicer. She was going to get her an experience, not just a burger.
Her mother was still standing there, as if she had something more to say.
“What?” said Alexa irritably.
“Nothing,” said her mother. She looked at Alexa for another long moment and then she departed, closing the door behind her.
Alexa decided on the Deck, because it was a beautiful day, and they could sit outside and look at the water. She let Morgan ride in the front seat of the Jeep, even though technically she was supposed to keep her in the back because she was still too small to withstand the crush of the airbags should they deploy. But they didn’t have to drive far, and they didn’t have to drive on the highway, so Alexa felt okay about it. “Don’t tell Mom,” she told Morgan.
“Of course not,” said Morgan, sounding like a little adult. She took a deep breath as she buckled the seat belt across her spindly chest and looked around like she was rounding the Cape of Good Hope for the first time.
They crossed Merrimac Street and Alexa immediately saw the line of cars stopped ahead of her. “Go figure,” she muttered. The drawbridge was on its way up, which meant they would sit here for at least five minutes, maybe ten. She could see the Deck from here; she could practically taste the street corn with cojita cheese. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, thrumming with impatience. If they’d left two minutes earlier or eleven minutes later, they could have avoided this.
But Morgan said, “Yess! I love it when the bridge goes up,” and her enthusiasm reminded Alexa of Cam, who in this situation would say something corny and soothing, like, That’s okay, we’ve got nowhere to be. Alexa had to admit, it was a fairly majestic sight, the view from this bridge, with the sun waltzing off the water. To their right, dozens and dozens of boats were docked in the slips at the harbor, with more out on moorings, and the river extended beyond the boats, all the way to the open ocean.
They watched as the mast of a grand sailboat cleared the bridge, and Morgan let out a cheer. The bridge eased down—it looked like it was exhaling—and the line of cars moved ahead.
A girl a year behind Alexa was at the hostess stand at the Deck, and two girls from her class were waiting tables. One of them came up to their table: a hard-core soccer and lacrosse player named Maya. Alexa gave her a hey.
“Let’s put our phones away,” Alexa said to Morgan. “Shall we?” Her mother would be proud of that. Alexa held out her hand and Morgan relinquished the phone—reluctantly, because she was playing some online game against one of her little friends. “Your generation is totally addicted,” said Alexa. “I worry about you guys.” She was kidding, but only a little bit.
Alexa ordered the fish tacos with the street corn. Morgan first claimed to want a grilled cheese from the kids’ menu but Alexa nixed that right away. They were in coastal Massachusetts! In summertime! Grilled cheese was not a native dish. Morgan sighed and ordered the fried fish plate. Better. The fish was cod, and local. Morgan requested no straws for either of them.
When Morgan lifted her arm to shield her face from the sun, Alexa could see that underneath her Ivivva tank top she was wearing a sports bra. A training bra, their mother called those, embarrassingly, and Alexa felt a surge of tenderness for her little sister, because she seemed to be training for a race for which she hadn’t yet registered. How long had it been since she and Morgan had done something alone together? Too long.
“Did you break up with Tyler?” Morgan asked. “Or did he break up with you?”
“Getting right to it, huh?” Alexa sipped her straw-less water.
“Well, did you?”
“Technically, yes,” said Alexa. Their food arrived, and for a few minutes they were busy and silent, eating. Alexa offered the street corn to Morgan, who shook her head violently.
“I don’t like Tyler that much,” said Morgan.
“No? Why not?”
Morgan dipped a fry into ketchup and considered this question. “I just don’t think he seems very nice all the time.”