Page 73 of Grace & Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon
“He does,” I say, mussing Ian’s hair. “I’ve mostly gotten used to it, but, yeah, it catches me off guard sometimes, too.”
Lauren composes herself, and we wish each other Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I look back at her when we part ways, but she turns a corner and disappears.
“That was kinda weird,” says Ian.
“Yeah, who was that lady?” asks Bella.
I roll us forward again. “She’s somebody who knew your dad. She just got sad for a second. It happens, right?”
“Yeah,” says Bella.
We’re approaching the electronics section now, which looks like news footage of a riot. Ian shows me the pencils he found. “These are really nice. Maybe Henry’d like them?”
“I’m thinking Henry’s all good on art supplies, buddy,” I say.
“What about a TV then?” he says.
I laugh. “I’ve actually got an idea for Henry. Something a little better than Nerds, but maybe not quite as good as a T….”
I stop now because there are maybe fifteen giant flat-screens before us, and they’re all playing the movieThe Holiday. There’s Jude Law wearing his glasses, handsome in high-def, pretending to be a guy with a dead wife.
A few months after we bought our row house, Brynn and I had a bench installed out front in the plot of cement between the house and the sidewalk. I suppose in most cities “installation” isn’t required for a bench, but in Baltimore things that aren’t permanently affixed tend to vanish in the nighttime, so Cal came over one day and literally bolted the thing to the ground.
The bench was Brynn’s idea. There was a tradition in town called “stoop sitting” that dated back to the ’50s. On nice evenings in spring and summer, families would sit outside and visit with neighbors, eat together, swat bugs. Raised in the suburbs, Brynn thought this bit of urban comradery sounded charming. The tradition had mostly died out by then, so we’d do our own stoop sits, and they were among my favorite things. We’d drink wine, stream music off our phones, wave at neighbors who must’ve thought we were stoned.
I’m on Brynn’s bench now trying to talk to her. I update her on the Ravens and the wintry weather. Apparently there’s a storm coming—flurries off and on this week, heavy stuff later. I tell her about Ian. If we’d decided to have a kid and it had been a boy, I bet he’d have been like him: sweet, arty, a little weird.
I thought being here at our house might help me talk to her, but still nothing. Maybe I should just stop trying.
My phone does that weird FaceTime ring in my pocket now. I smile, because it’s Grace, but when I answer I’m surprised to see Cameron Diaz and Jude Law.
“Um, hello?” I say.
The camera flips and there’s Grace. Her hair is wilder than usual. The sweater beneath her coat matches her eyes. She points her phone back at the TV. “Look who I ran into. I saw Jude Law and thought of you.”
“Wow. I can honestly say that’s the first time anyone’s ever said that to me.”
Grace’s face again, laughing, pretty as always. “It’sThe Holiday. We were supposed to watch this, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” I say. “I owe you that one, huh?”
She shows me a long row of flat-screens, at least a dozen Cameron Diazes and Jude Laws. “Come to the Costco in Owings Mills. I’ll get them to rewind it.”
“They’re playing that at Costco?” I ask. “Isn’t that the scene where Cameron Diaz tells Jude Law they should have sex?”
I hear Bella’s voice now. “What’s sex?”
Grace flips the phone around again and it’s all three of them.
“Oh, crap,” I say. “Sorry. Didn’t know you were there, Bella.”
“Whatever,” she says.
Ian pops his head up now. “Henry, do you have colored pencils?”
“Um,” I say.
“Ian, chill for a sec,” says Grace. “Hold on, guys, okay? I’ll be right back.”
