The Challenge(36)

Juliet appeared in the kitchen a few minutes later in a fluffy pink bathrobe, with freshly washed hair. She had charged her cellphone and it rang as soon as she walked into the room, and she disappeared for a few minutes. They guessed that it was Peter, asking how she was. Beth and Tom exchanged a look.

“Do I smell romance in the air?” Beth whispered.

“You might. I suspect it’s Peter Pollock. He’s a sweet kid.” Juliet breezed back into the room a minute later, with a mysterious smile at her parents.

“Peter says hi.”

“Your point,” Beth said to Tom under her breath, and he laughed.

They had a nice dinner together, savoring the joy of having Juliet back. It had been the worst three days of their lives.

“Can Peter come over tomorrow?” Juliet asked her father, and Beth raised an eyebrow again.

“Sure. For dinner?” he answered, and she shook her head.

“No, just to hang out.” Her parents exchanged a look.

“You’re not tired of seeing him after three days on the mountain together?”

“No,” Juliet said primly. Then out of nowhere, she said, “His mom and dad were together from the time they were fourteen.” And her mother nearly choked.

“What about boarding school?” she teased her. “Doesn’t that sound like a good idea?” All three of them laughed. “You’ll be back in New York soon anyway, so I guess it doesn’t matter.” Juliet didn’t say anything, and she went back to her room a short time later.

“Should I be panicking?” Beth asked Tom, once Juliet had gone upstairs.

“I don’t think so. It looks pretty tame, and they keep a close eye on him.”

“Yeah, a great eye as of a few days ago,” she said, and Tom grinned at her. “I get the feeling I’m not going to love these teenage years. It’s so easy when they’re babies. I’m not sure I’m up to the next chapters.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Tom reassured her. He was happy that the war was over, or it appeared to be for now. What he had said to her earlier was true. She needed a tougher man than he was, or wanted to be. She had always been in competition with him, and he didn’t want to live that way. He wanted a woman he could be equals with, and share things with, not one who wanted to compete with him and be the winner every time. Beth couldn’t help herself, it was who she was.



* * *



—

Bob was sleeping, as he did almost all the time now, when Marlene brought Justin home. Justin’s ankle was hurting him less now that it was in a cast, and the stress of the last three days was over. As the oldest in the group, he had felt responsible for all of them, and was so relieved that they were home and everyone had survived.

He limped in to see if his father was awake, and Bob opened his eyes and smiled at his oldest son. Justin had been so afraid that his father would die before he got home, but he hadn’t. Justin knew that Noel had been worried about it too.

“You okay?” he asked in a whisper.

“I’m fine, Dad. What about you?”

“I’m okay. You weren’t fine for a while. I could feel it. You and Noel. Your mom said you were, but I knew it wasn’t true.” It was eerie listening to him. As sick as he was, his father had sensed that something was wrong while they were lost on the mountain. Justin would have told him about the bear, but he knew that it would worry him now. His father was just a shadow of his former self. He was barely recognizable, with no hair, and he had lost so much weight. “Is Noel okay?”

“He’s fine, Dad. They’re just checking his sugar levels. We’re both fine. Except for this.” He held up his cast so they’d have something to talk about. It was hard finding subjects now that seemed safe and wouldn’t upset him.

“How’d you do that?” Bob frowned when he saw it.

“I fell off a rock.” Bob grinned. It was the kind of thing boys did. Justin didn’t tell him that he had fallen off a rock scaring away a bear.

“No broncos at the rodeo for you,” Bob teased him. And then he looked at his son seriously. “Take care of your mom for me.” It brought tears to Justin’s eyes.

“I will, Dad,” he promised. He didn’t want to talk about that now. But he could see that the end was coming soon. No matter how much they didn’t want to face it, it was happening, and Bob knew it. His eyes drifted slowly closed then, and he went back to sleep. Even a few minutes of conversation wore him out, but he had been happy to see Justin. And Justin was glad he was still alive when he got back. He left the room, with tears streaming down his cheeks.



* * *



—

The press continued to hound them even once the kids were back. They wanted follow-up pictures, and lay in wait outside their homes. They tried to get brief interviews with the boys and Juliet, asking them what it was like, what they had been afraid of, how they felt about each other after being stranded together for three days. They wanted to know how Justin had hurt his ankle, why Noel was still in the hospital, if Benjie had been traumatized after being lost in the mountains for three days, and if their parents had punished them for getting lost. They all sounded like stupid questions to the kids, who didn’t sense the malice behind them. Eventually, the reporters started to lose interest in the story and drift away. They had milked it for all it was worth, and the Fishtail kids were old news now.