The Challenge(8)

She could see that he loved where he was living, the simplicity of it. He was happy there, and she realized that it might be the right choice for him. It was just terrible luck that Fishtail would have been all wrong for her mother. For Juliet, it now meant that growing up was accepting that she would have divorced parents, and a father who lived far away in a remote place with a completely different life. She could see that he was peaceful, less stressed, and he seemed content. He was much more patient now and had more time for her. There were things she liked about Fishtail too, but she couldn’t imagine living there. It was too small and felt foreign to her. Like her mother, she liked her life in New York, and her friends, but she loved her father and was sad that he was now so different from her mother. She loved them both, even if she and her mother argued much of the time. She had always been so happy that her parents were together, and now she was going to start high school in the fall with divorced parents, like so many of her friends.

She wondered if her dad was dating but didn’t want to ask. Her mother wasn’t. She was still outraged by what Tom had done. She said he had betrayed her and completely abandoned their life and who he was. But Juliet was able to see that the changes in him weren’t bad. He seemed younger and happier and free now in Montana. Her mother was more stressed and tense than she’d ever been before, with everything on her shoulders now and no husband to consult with or lean on. And she hated Tom for wanting a new and different life. Her fury at him was eating her alive, and she snapped at Juliet all the time. It was a relief to be away, and her father was nice to her.

Juliet and her father cleaned and cooked the fish they’d caught at the lake. The next day, Tom suggested they be lazy and have dinner at the diner. Juliet hadn’t been there yet, and he said it would be fun. It was a funny little town, with antique shops and the General Store.

“They have a jukebox,” he told her about the diner as they drove the few miles into town from his house. “Although the songs are pretty old.” He jangled a pocketful of quarters he’d brought along so she could play it, and she smiled. “A lot of the local kids go there, mostly high school age.” She hadn’t seen anyone her own age yet, and her father hadn’t made any friends in the few months he’d been there, so they were spending all their time together. It was why she had come, to spend time with him, and she’d enjoyed the time she’d been there, so far. There was none of the underlying tension she had with her mother. Her mother was planning to spend the time Juliet was away catching up on assignments and meeting deadlines on the weekends in a small house she had rented in the Hamptons. The rest of the time she was in the city. Juliet was going to spend a week in the Hamptons with her when she went back, before school started.

She was enrolled to begin high school in the fall at a very fancy, highly desirable and competitive private school. Getting into it had been a real victory, and her mother said it would assure Juliet a place in a good college if she kept her grades up. Beth put a lot of pressure on her and was very proud of her, but Tom was sorry to see Beth pushing Juliet to start the rat race of power, competition, and status so young. He didn’t tell her, but he thought she should enjoy her childhood and adolescence. Juliet had no idea yet what career path she wanted to pursue after college. She was a little nervous about how hard her new school would be, and whether or not she’d like the other kids there. She didn’t know anyone else who’d been accepted at that school. But her mother had wanted her to go there and made the decision. Juliet felt like she had no voice in her own life, and she wondered if her father had felt that way too.

Tom parked his new red truck outside the diner. It looked the same as it had in the 1950s, a relic of the past, which had a certain charm. There were a number of bicycles leaning against the wall outside and lying on the ground. Unlike New York, nothing was locked up here. Her father left his front door unlocked most of the time too, which had surprised her.

Juliet walked into the diner behind her father. She was wearing cutoff jean shorts, a T-shirt, high-top sneakers, and her long blond hair in a braid down her back. She looked more like seventeen than fourteen, even without makeup or fancy clothes. She had a mature look about her and seemed very poised. Tom had observed that the local kids seemed more relaxed, a little more boisterous, and dressed and acted more like kids than their counterparts in New York.

Juliet noticed a table of boys talking and laughing at the back of the diner, and she glanced around at the other diners. They all looked relaxed and were engrossed in conversations. Her father recommended the meatloaf or fried chicken when they sat down. She smiled because she couldn’t remember his eating anything like it in New York. Her mother favored vegetable salads, kale, and healthy food, and no carbs. Juliet ordered a cheeseburger with everything on it, while he opted for the meatloaf, put a pile of quarters on the table, and pointed at the jukebox. “Have a ball. Let’s have some music.” He wasn’t even sure if she’d recognize the songs—some of them were so old—but she took a handful of coins, slid out of the booth, and headed for the jukebox. She carefully read down the list, and only knew a few of the songs, but there were some she liked too, so she put a quarter in the machine and was pressing buttons, when one of the boys from the back table came up to her. He was tall and blond. She could sense that he was looking her over. She glanced up at him with a shy smile. Much to his horror, he blushed as soon as she did. He had his mother’s fair skin, which betrayed him every time.