Page 90 of The New Year's Party
That would be a hard conversation—he had an inkling of what was coming thanks to Phelps’s slipup. Still, in spite of the tough things ahead, it felt so good that everything had been put right with his wife. Not even Jenn’s death could mar that solid sense of relief.
There was a huge truck cramping his style. He merged left to get around it. They were passing through Gary, Indiana. A depressing place, Bennett had always thought, but he’d always held out hope too, that it would bounce back one day, that the whole region would.
“We’ll have to show up for Will,” said Bennett as he clearedthe truck and returned to the center lane. He always drove center. Olivia stayed firmly right, unless she was passing.
“Absolutely,” said Olivia. “I’ve been thinking... we could take his girls for a weekend. Maybe even on a regular basis. Ibet Norah and Mackenzie would get along great.”
“I kind of want to go to Indy right away,” said Bennett. His eyes strayed to the right, where a flame lit up the night: the US Steel Gary Works. Always running. “Maybe in the next few days. You know, show our support early on.”
“How about you go tomorrow?” said Olivia.
Bennett reached his right hand blindly toward the middle of the car. Olivia took it.
He sighed. It felt good to have his fingers meshed with hers. To know they were in this together.
“So everything is okay between us?” he said.
“I can’t believe you thought I cheated and didn’t say a word for five years.”
Bennett laughed shortly. “I thought I was being a good man. You know. The strong silent type? The opposite of my dad, who’s the shitty silent type?”
“Hmmm.” For a minute, Olivia seemed lost in thought. “Maybe strength and silence don’t always go together.”
He squeezed her hand and understood implicitly that she wasn’t just talking about him.
She added in a rare tone of wry humor, “I guess she really does look like John Rutherford Rhodes.”
It took Bennett a second. Then he laughed. Olivia laughed too.
“I’m sure she’ll grow out of it,” he said.
“And I’m afraid she won’t,” Olivia returned.
They sat in amiable silence for a while. Bennett let go of Olivia’s hand to adjust his seat belt. He adjusted his speed too—he’d crept over eighty. They whizzed past the Skyway’s Welcome to Chicago sign.
It would be good to be home. They’d scare his in-laws by coming in at five in the morning, but oh, well. He’d put on coffee. It was too late to go to bed anyway, considering the kids woke up as early as six o’clock. Maybe he’d make pancakes for them all. New Year’s pancakes, with blueberries spelling out2020. Didn’t they have blueberries in the freezer?
“It’s just... sad that all that corn is going to waste,” said Olivia.
Huh?
“I missed something,” said Bennett.
“The cornfield,” she said with sudden passion. “By Phelps’s house. I just hate that it was all for nothing. All that time and all that growth.” She breathed hard out her nostrils.
Wow. He’d had no idea Olivia cared that much about agriculture.
“It’s not going to waste, my eco-conscious wifey,” he said, flashing a reassuring grin in her direction. He scrunched her shoulder with his hand. “It was too wet last summer, so they winter it. It loses moisture, and then they’ll harvest it in May.”
In the silence that followed, Bennett stole a look in her direction. Her eyes were alert, riveted on the road, glittering in the light, like she could see something in the distance. Slowly, her mouth curled into a smile, and Bennett returned his eyes to the road.
“They’ll harvest it in May,” she repeated.
“Yeah. In May.”
She breathed a satisfied breath out her nose. “That’s good.” Then she leaned over in her seat and kissed a surprised Bennett on the cheek. “That’s really good.”
They didn’t speak for a long time, but Olivia reached for his hand again and angled her knees toward him.
