Ten Below Zero(63)

“Bridget,” she said, her face split open with her bright white smile. She was the kind of person that was so pretty, she was intimidating until she smiled. Her smile was warm, friendly. And there was hope in her eyes. I instantly looked away, uncomfortable by that. I didn’t want to responsible for whatever hope she saw in my presence.

“Parker,” I said, shaking her offered hand and looking at Everett.

“Sit,” she gestured to the opposite side of the booth. I climbed in and Everett slid in next to me. Almost immediately, he grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed. It was reassuring, so I relaxed a little bit.

“So,” Bridget said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Everett says you’ve been on a road trip for the last several days?”

“Yeah,” I answered and looked to Everett. “Almost a week?”

Everett shrugged. “Almost.”

“And he’s taken you to some of his favorite places?”

I drew my eyebrows together. “Well, he said he hadn’t been to the Grand Canyon before.”

“He hasn’t.” She took a sip of her soda. “But he said he took you to the Four Corners?”

I looked at Everett. “You’d already been there before?” Something about that bothered me.

Bridget interrupted, “Only with family. And he took you to see the dinosaur tracks?”

I looked away from Everett to the table. Part of me was angry. Part of me felt betrayed. I had no right to feel either, but I did. “Yes, we saw the dinosaur tracks and the river.”

Everett squeezed my hand under the table but I needed distance. Not much distance could be achieved when we were so close to one another, but I still wriggled my fingers free from his.

“I didn’t know he’d seen those places before,” I said, still staring down at the table. There was silence between Everett and Bridget and I felt even more uncomfortable. So I shrugged and blurted, “Not that it’s a big deal or anything.” I didn’t dare look at Everett. Something had shifted between us with Bridget’s admission about Everett having been to those places before. And I didn’t want to think about it.

When the waiter brought our drinks and took our orders, nothing else had been said. It was the most uncomfortably awkward silence. And then a boy, about eight or nine years old, bounded up to the table. “Mom, do you have more quarters I can have?”

“Hey bud,” I heard Everett’s voice, but my attention was on the boy.

“Uncle Everett!” he exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Everett’s neck. I couldn’t avoid looking at Everett. His eyes were closed and his arms wrapped around the boy, the boy who looked so much like him that it was uncanny. My chest felt tight with emotion as I watched their reunion.

Everett pulled a handful of quarters from his pocket and poured them in the hand of the little boy. That was when the little boy noticed me, staring at me with his guileless blue eyes. “Hi,” he said, cocking his head to the side, the way Everett did when he was studying me. I ached then.

“Hi,” I croaked. I swallowed. “I’m Parker. What’s your name?”

“Clark,” he answered. “How’d you get your scar?”

I heard Bridget suck in a breath. This was why I liked kids, they said things that made other people uncomfortable. Adults made me uncomfortable, but not kids.

So I said what I told all the little kids who ever asked. “Shark attack.”

There was silence from Everett and Bridget, but Clark’s entire face lit up. “Cool!” he exclaimed. He turned to Bridget. “Mom, isn’t that cool?”

Bridget nodded slowly. “Sure is. Why don’t you go play some more in the arcade and check back here in a few minutes?”

Clark didn’t need to be told twice. He was gone from the table, leaving us adults in our awkward silence.

“Thanks,” Bridget finally said. I looked up at her. “You’re going to be his hero now.”

“It’s a nicer story than being attacked with a knife,” I said, sipping my drink. I watched Bridget exchange glances with Everett. This was becoming unbearable.

Bridget sighed. “Everett, can you go check on Clark?”

Everett climbed out the booth. I could feel him looking at me, but I aggressively avoided looking at him. I knew Bridget had asked him to leave for a reason. After he left, I looked at her. As someone who enjoyed studying people, I was able to pick up on a lot of body language cues. And Bridget’s body language was telling me to be prepared. I sat up straight.

“Everett’s told you about his cancer.” It wasn’t a question.

I nodded. “And his decision going forward from his diagnosis.”

Bridget nodded. “What do you think about it?”

This was going to be a heavy conversation. “When he first told me, I didn’t understand.” I took a sip from my straw, formulating my response. “And then he told me,” I started. Ugh. This was going to be even more uncomfortable. “He told me about when he had this cancer as a teenager. And how he felt like his family fell apart because of it.”

Bridget pursed her lips, nodding slowly, absorbing all that I was saying. “Well, our family did fall apart. But Everett likes to blame it on himself. He’s got a touch of dark on his soul, just a touch, but you’d think his soul was black with how he won’t forgive himself for something he had no control over in the first place.”