Pepper jumped in. “Back when we were kids, Rowdy hung this old rotted tire from a tree on the riverbank. We’d swing out and drop into the river. It was wild and super fun, until this one time that the branch broke.”
Rowdy groaned. “I landed on my butt in the mud instead of in the water. I swear, even though the mud was squishy it still rattled my teeth.”
“You should have seen him,” Pepper said around a wide grin. “The mud splattered everywhere. In his hair and face. He even found a crawdad in his pocket. Hilarious!”
Smiling at them, Marcus asked, “What’s a crawdad?”
“You don’t know? Oh, wow, Marcus. It’s like a tiny lobster with little pinchers. Really cute.”
“Said no woman ever, anywhere, except Pepper.”
She ignored Rowdy. “We used to catch them just to play with for a few minutes, then we’d let them go. They run off backward.”
Avery had never heard such a thing. She had to admit, she was a little intrigued herself.
“Come summer,” Pepper said, “we’ll have to take a trip to the river. Or we could use Dash’s lake house. Dash is my husband’s brother, now my brother-in-law, and a good guy. He won’t mind.”
Rowdy snickered. “As I recall, Dash kept that place as a hideaway.”
“Maybe, but now he lets us use it whenever we want. Actually, Logan is thinking of getting his own summer house. Wouldn’t that be awesome? We could spend a weekend there, all of us together.”
Since she looked at Avery while saying it, Avery felt included, and it warmed her.
“The guys could go fishing while I take Marcus, Alice and Avery for a walk on the shore. I could show them how to catch crawdads, or rock bass. Or we could all swim or take out a rowboat.”
Smiling at Pepper’s enthusiasm, Alice said, “I take it you miss the water.”
“It’s so fun.” Pepper hugged her arms around herself, glowing with the memory. “The hot sun and the cold water. You’d have a great time, Marcus. Guaranteed.”
Marcus looked at Alice, who nodded. “We would love that. And maybe even before summer, we could do a picnic at the river. There are a lot of nice spots.” She put a hand on Marcus’s shoulder. “And a big playground. We’ll be moving next week and then Marcus will start school again, but as long as it doesn’t get too cold, we’ll still have the weekends for playing around.”
Marcus kept silent, and Avery worried. She could tell Rowdy noticed, because he stood again, saying to Pepper, “Why don’t you let Alice show you some pictures of the new house? Marcus and I are going to play cars—that is, if Marcus has his cars handy.”
Marcus pulled two little metal cars from his pockets.
Avery started to follow Pepper, but Rowdy caught her hand and pulled her down to the floor with him. “I didn’t get a chance to pick up more cars, but I will,” he told Marcus. “I think Avery will need one or two.”
Marcus waffled a moment before sitting down. Cash went to lie beside him. Marcus idly stroked the dog.
“Something on your mind, Marcus?” Rowdy draped his wrists over his knees and just waited. “You can talk to me, you know.”
He screwed up his mouth, gave Rowdy a measuring look and asked, “You still gonna visit after we move?”
“Heck, yeah. Can’t wait to see the new place once you’re all settled in. I think Reese and Alice are planning to get a lot of new furniture to fill it up. I’ll probably help them when they move. Lots of boxes to be carried and stuff to set up.”
“I’ll help, too,” Avery offered. “That is, if no one minds.”
Rowdy kept his gaze on Marcus. “What do you say, Marcus? The more the merrier?”
He shrugged. “Will I help?”
“You bet. You look plenty strong enough to me to carry some boxes. And we’ll need someone to keep an eye on Cash while we’re going in and out.”
Marcus put a car on the floor and rolled it a bit while he thought about things. “Okay.” He’d already set up some track, so he pulled that over and then, surprising Avery, he offered her one of his cars. “You can play with this one.”
Oh, wow. Emotion burned the backs of her eyes, leaving them damp. She put a hand to her heart, deeply touched. “Thank you, Marcus.”
Rowdy nudged her, probably wanting her to get it together. And so she tried.
While Pepper sat in a stuffed chair and started going through photos, Alice brought over a snack of cookies and juice.
“The regular,” Rowdy told her, and thanked Alice.
He handed a cookie to Avery, then one to Marcus. “No matter what, Marcus, we’re buds now, right?”
Marcus bit into his cookie. “All right.”
“Things sometimes change. A different house, a different school.”
He nodded. “Mom is...gone.”
Avery froze, horrified by that small voice.
But Rowdy nodded. “I know, and I’m sorry.”
Marcus rubbed under his nose. “I don’t think I’ll see Darrell anymore.”
“You okay with that?”
“Yeah.” He rolled the car again, turning it along the track. “I’m kind of glad.”
Avery knew Alice and Pepper were both listening in but pretending not to. She swallowed hard, wishing she had a magical way to make the hurt go away.
Rowdy reached over and clasped Marcus’s bony knee. “We’ll always be friends.”