Page 90 of Mountain Man

By the time I’d finished cleaning the kitchen, brother and sister had migrated downstairs and were lying on either end of the sofa watching SpongeBob SquarePants reruns and sipping the ginger ale I’d found in the pantry.

“I don’t think I can ever go to school again,” Gretchen said matter-of-factly. “Everyone is going to be talking about me. Do you think Dad will move to Fallbrook?”

“I’m not moving to Fallbrook,” Rhys huffed. “Did you make pasta? It smells good in here.”

“They’re your friends, Gretch. They won’t talk shit. I mean…they’ll be cool,” I assured her. “And if they’re not cool, they’re not your friends.”

She nodded solemnly. “Still embarrassing.”

“I’ve done way more embarrassing things.”

“Like what?”

“Well…once I got my head stuck in the staircase spindles at Jimmy Calombie’s house, and they called the fire department to come rescue me. They had to actually cut the spindles, so um…no one was happy about that.” I propped my feet on the new coffee table while Rhys and Gretchen snickered away. “On a first-grade class field trip I got kicked by a goat at the kiddie zoo. That earned me the nickname Billy Goat, which made no sense, but what are you gonna do?” More laughter. “Another time I bragged that I could do the splits. For the record, I could not do the splits. I ended up tearing a hole in my shorts…and if that wasn’t bad enough, I was wearing my Star Wars underpants.”

“How old were you?” Rhys asked with a chuckle.

“Ten, maybe? I’ve done embarrassing stuff as an adult, too. Like the time I got swept up in a wave on the beach in Oregon. On a date. My jeans were tight to begin with and man, I couldn’t get those things off to save my life. I had to ask my date for help and we’d just met. Now that was embarrassing.”

They laughed; Rhys’s was more of a cackle while Gretchen’s was subdued. She was still pale and maybe even a little green around the gills. I finally talked her into going to bed for real. I delivered a fresh ginger ale and her pink backpack, and promised to tell her dad to wake her up as soon as he got home.

“Mmm. Good lasagna,” Rhys commented, shoveling a huge bite into his mouth.

I surveyed the healthy slab of pasta on his plate and narrowed my eyes. “You obviously don’t have the flu, so…what’s going on?”

He gave one of those all-body shrugs that no one can pull off quite like a teenager. “Nothing.”

“Something’s up.” I helped myself to a water bottle and slid onto a barstool. “How’d you know your sister was sick?”

“You sent a group text.”

“Oh. Oops. I was in a hurry. My bad. So…you knew she wasn’t feeling well and decided it was a good excuse to…watch SpongeBob? Nah, that can’t be it.” I snapped my fingers. “You knew about the chocolate cake I bought from Henderson’s and wanted a slice.”

Rhys paused mid shovel. “You bought chocolate cake?”

“Maybe.”

He considered me for a moment and shrugged again. This time with less emphasis. “Kelsey showed up with another guy.”

“Oh. That sucks.”

“Whatever.” Rhys concentrated on his food, head down, shoulders drooping. “I know it’s not the same as barfing at a party, but…it was kind of embarrassing. I didn’t want to be there, acting like I don’t care. And I don’t care. It’s not a big deal.”

“Still sucks.”

“Yeah. Everyone was looking at me, waiting to see what I’d do. I hated it.” Rhys made a face. “But I probably should have stayed, huh? Shit. Now it’s gonna be worse on Monday.”

Rhys abandoned his plate and flopped forward, resting his head in his hands.

“Relax. You don’t have to justify yourself. If you’re ever in a situation where you feel uncomfortable, it’s more than okay to leave. Always trust your instincts.”

He straightened slowly. “That’s what my dad says.”

“Your dad’s a smart guy.”

Rhys nodded. “You like him.”

“I do.”