Page 144 of Life and Death
Charlie stared at me for one second, and then he busted up. I rolled my eyes and waited for him to finish. Eventually, he pretended to wipe tears out of his eyes.
“I hope you’re getting that out of your system now.”
“Baseball, huh? You must really like this girl.”
I thought about just shrugging that off, but I figured he’d see through me anyway. “Yeah,” I said. “I really do.”
I heard an unfamiliar engine roar up to the house, and I looked up in surprise.
“That her?”
“Maybe . . .”
After a few seconds, the doorbell rang, and Charlie jumped up. I ran around him and beat him to the door.
“Pushy much?” he muttered under his breath.
I hadn’t realized how hard it was pouring outside. Edythe stood in the halo of the porch light, looking like a model in an ad for raincoats.
I heard Charlie’s breath catch in surprise. I wondered if he’d ever seen her up close before. It was kind of unnerving.
Even when you were used to it. I just stared at her, gobsmacked.
She laughed. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah! Of course.” I jumped back out of her way, knocking into Charlie in the process.
After a few seconds of bumbling around, I had her jacket hung up and had both her and Charlie sitting down in the living room. She was in the armchair, so I went to sit next to Charlie on the sofa.
“So, Edythe, how are your parents?”
“Excellent, thank you, Chief Swan.”
“You can call me Charlie. I’m off the clock.”
“Thanks, Charlie.” She unleashed the dimples, and his face went blank.
It took him a second to recover. “So, um, you’re playing baseball tonight?”
It didn’t seem to occur to either of them that the buckets of water falling out of the sky right now should impact these plans. Only in Washington.
“Yes. Hopefully Beau doesn’t mind hanging out with my family too much.”
Charlie jumped in before I could respond. “I’d say it was the baseball he’d mind more.”
They both laughed. I shot my dad a look. Where was the best behavior I’d been promised?
“Should we be on our way?” I suggested.
“We’re not in any hurry,” Edythe said with a grin.
I hit Charlie with my elbow. Edythe’s smile got wider.
“Oh, uh, yeah,” Charlie said. “You kids go ahead, I’ve got a . . . a bunch of stuff to get to. . . .”
Edythe was on her feet in a fluid move. “It was lovely to see you, Charlie.”
“Yes. You come visit anytime, Edythe.”
