“Okay, a little wackadoo. But okay.”
“Good, good.”
“Listen, I feel like —”
“I just wanted to say —”
We were both talking at the same time.
“You go,” he said.
“No, you go,” I said.
“Really, you —”
“I just wanted to say sorry for yelling at you when we first met!” I burst out, and we both laughed. The corners of his eyes curled up when he laughed and now I saw he had really long eyelashes, too.
“Sam, you had every right to yell at me. I was butting my nose in where it wasn’t needed,” he said. “I just can’t help it sometimes, you know? I mean, this thing is so huge.” He tugged on his nose and laughed sheepishly.
“Well, you were right. Not just about Drew, but also, that first time you saw me, I was being pretty rough on Kathy — and she didn’t deserve it.”
“Right, Kathy,” he said.
“She’s my …” Say it, Levy. “Yeah, she’s sorta my new stepmom.”
Eric nodded. “They just got married, huh?”
“Yeah, last Saturday. This is like their honeymoon, only my brother Jeremy and I are here with them, which I think is kinda strange, but whatever. I think I was just giving her crap because she’s not my mom and I’m kinda comparing her, or not really comparing, but I don’t really — ugh, there I go again. See? Sometimes, if you haven’t noticed, I don’t know what to do, so I start talking and I just get carried away. You can tell me to shut up, you know that, don’t you?”
Eric threw the stick back out for Fozzie.
“What if I don’t want to?” he said.
“Well, I’ll probably keep yapping away like I always do and sooner or later you’re gonna wish you had,” I said.
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” Eric smiled.
Huh. That was the first time anyone had said that to me.
“And just for the record,” he continued, “I have mom issues, too. That’s probably why I reacted so strongly. But it still wasn’t cool of me.” His voice got very quiet now, and even though I really wanted to ask him what he meant, I knew I shouldn’t.
“Hey, um, so do you think you’re going to go back to the slopes tomorrow?” he said eventually.
“I don’t know, why?”
“Well, I’m no doctor, and again, I’m kinda butting my nose in your business, but I thought maybe you should take it easy.”
“Yeah, I probably will.” My head still felt pretty heavy. I hadn’t noticed it while I was talking to him, but now that he mentioned it …
“Fozzie and I will be around if you need anything. Although I promised him a good hike through the field.”
“Sounds nice.”
“Hey — you’re welcome to join us, if you feel up for it,” he said.
“Sure!” I volunteered before he was even done talking. And then I felt a little embarrassed. “I mean, sure,” I said, a little softer.
“Great!” Eric said.
“Wait, do you need to ask Fozzie if that’s okay? I don’t want to intrude, you know.”
“No, it was actually his idea to ask you,” Eric replied.
“Well thanks, Fozzie,” I said, looking up at the sky.
“Now, are you sure you’re going to be okay back here by yourself?” Dad was saying. He had both hands on my shoulders and he was studying my face carefully.
“Yes, Dad. I’ll be fine.” It was the third time that we were having this conversation this morning. Besides a slight headache and feeling super-thirsty, I really did feel a lot better. I even ate a huge breakfast of whole-wheat pancakes and fresh strawberries. Dad had watched me the whole time, probably waiting for me to explode or something.
“But I don’t mind staying back here with you,” he said now. “Jeremy and Kathy can go on, and you and I could veg out together in front of the fire. What do you say?” He tucked my hair behind my ear. Agh! I untucked it quickly, then took his hand.
“Dad, I’d feel bad if you stayed in. Really, I’ve got books to read and a stack of magazines.”
“She’s a big girl, Dad. Leave her alone,” said Jeremy, heading toward the door.
“Okay, well, I’m bringing my cell phone with me and I’m keeping it on, so if you need anything at all, just give us a holler, okay?” Dad kissed me lightly on the forehead. Then Kathy stepped in.
“Seriously, Sam. Anything,” she said. I saw Dad watching us apprehensively as she stood in front of me. She looked like she wanted to kiss me, too, but she wasn’t sure if that was okay. I wasn’t sure, either. So instead we just looked at each other, both kind of shifting our weight awkwardly.
Once they had left, I settled back in front of the fire. I had already showered and put on my clean jeans and my black turtleneck with my purple scarf. Yeah, it was kind of silly, but I was strangely looking forward to this walk with Eric and Fozzie. Of course, I hadn’t seen either of them all morning, but I tried not to think about it too much. We hadn’t set a time or anything. Or maybe they already took off before I got up.
Whatever, Levy — let it go.
“Man, everybody was doing their grocery shopping today. Must be the storm!” Eric came through the front door. He was carrying at least three paper bags full of groceries in each arm.
“Here, let me help!” I jumped up, but I guess I did it a little too quickly, and I got all of those little swimmy monsters in the sides of my vision. “Whoa,” I heard myself say, as I reached out to balance myself with the back of my chair.
“No way, sickie.” He smiled. “You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Here, let me just put this stuff away and then I thought we could head out past the Gallaghers’ farm. There’s a great trail over there that Fozzie loves. That is, if you’re still up for it.”
“Definitely.” I followed him as he carried the packages through the dining room and into the kitchen.
“Great. Give me just ten minutes. It’s already starting to come down out there. They originally said twelve to fourteen inches but now they’re talking two feet or more. My dad went into Burlington today to take care of some business. I just hope he doesn’t get stuck there.”
As Eric talked, he pulled out bags of oats, bunches of fresh carrots, eggs, milk, sweet potatoes, and cheese. I looked around. The kitchen was huge, with a big industrial-sized cooking range and two deep metal sinks. There were pots and pans of every shape and size hanging from a rack over a big wooden block table in the middle, and there was the tallest spice rack that I had ever seen. I had never even heard of a lot of the spices in there.
An elderly couple came in carrying more groceries. The woman was wearing a blue-and-white-striped apron and had tight curls that were dyed somewhere between red and purple, and crinkly skin around small, deep-set eyes. The man was at least a foot shorter than her, and had olive skin, a head of full, dark hair, and a thick mustache to match.
“Oh, thanks guys,” said Eric. “Martha, Luis. This is Sam. Sam, these are the two greatest cooks I know. They’re the real reason why this place is still here.”
The couple put down their packages, and Martha took one of my hands in hers. Her hands were amazing. They had big bulbous knuckles and a thousand wrinkles in them, roped with thick, green veins. She kneaded my palm like dough.
“What a pretty girl. Look at those eyes.” Then she squeezed my fingers until I thought I might whimper a little. She turned to Luis.
“Luis, say hello.”
He took my other hand. “Hello,” he said with a shy smile. His accent was Italian? Spanish?
I learned that Martha and Luis had been the cooks for the Bishop Inn since it opened ten years ago. They lived one town over in Scudderville, and they had been married for forty-four years. I loved the way they finished each other’s sentences and bickered over the tiniest things as they put the groceries away.