Page 16 of The Gallagher Place
This summer, they hadn’t hesitated to claim the Bend as their own. Marlowe and her brothers had been upstate since school let out, and they had gone swimming every day. Enzo stayed with them at the Gray House all week while their parents carried on with their usual responsibilities in the city, joining them only on weekends. Marlowe, her brothers, and Nora were blissfully free to spend endless hours on their own.
Nate swung out on the rope, twisting his body as he released it over the deepest part of the swimming hole. His flip went crooked midair, and he landed on his side with a smack.
“Ha!” Nora was up, her green one-piece flashing by Marlowe as she splashed into the water and caught the rope, her arm stretching up as she dragged it back to the bank. Marlowe pushed herself to her knees and watched as Nora swung out and let go, arching into a graceless but neat dive. She was smiling when her head popped back up.
Neither Marlowe nor Nora could manage even a sloppy flip like Nate, but they were both proud of their diving abilities.
The summer had fallen into a near-perfect routine, and it seemed to stretch on forever before them, the drudgery of middle school far out of sight. Nora slept over every other night. They spent their days swimming at the Bend and romping through the woods and fields, returning in the early evening to the hearty meals Enzo prepared at the house, his old opera music playing in the background. Enzo took care of everything—the laundry, the groceries, and cooking. They only had to fulfill their quota of chores and swear off sibling fighting for Frank and Glory to let them stay at the Gray House all summer long.
Nora was practically a fourth sibling. Her mother worked long hours as a nurse, and her father was often preoccupied with business at his auto shop in town. Her presence was never questioned atthe table, her place setting always laid out. Marlowe had a weeklong tennis camp scheduled in August, and in a few weeks, some of Nate’s friends from the city would be up, but for the most part, the summer belonged entirely to the four of them.
“I’m coming in too!” Marlowe cried, getting to her feet and adjusting the new black swimsuit Glory had purchased for her. She dove in headfirst and came up next to Nora. Henry launched backward and kicked a spray of water into their faces. They squealed and returned fire, splashing him as hard as they could. Nate joined forces with Henry, bombarding the girls with such an onslaught that they screamed for a truce.
By the time they headed back to the Gray House, they were starving. They ambled home along the path Tom had shown them, cutting along the edge of the Flats and between the smaller cow field and the southernmost hayfield, the afternoon bleeding into a long, warm evening. Fresh beads of sweat were forming on their brows as they reached the road.
“Do you think we could convince Enzo to take us for ice cream in town after dinner?” Marlowe wondered.
“You read my mind,” Nora said.
“Mom!” Henry yelled, suddenly running ahead. The rest of them looked up to see Glory sitting in an Adirondack chair on the front lawn. Marlowe had forgotten her parents were coming up that day for the long Fourth of July weekend.
Marlowe, Nate, and Nora quickened their pace, waving hello.
“Where’ve you been?” Glory squinted up at them as she wrapped Henry in a hug. “Your hair’s wet.”
“We were swimming,” Marlowe said. “At the Bend in the Bean.” Her stomach dropped when she saw how her mother’s smile transformed into a cold frown. Beside her, Nora pressed her knuckles against her top lip.
“You went swimming alone?” Glory rose to her feet and fixed her glare on Nate. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”
“Mom, it’s not even that deep,” Nate said. “Tom showed us the best spot.”
“Is that right? Tom showed you?” Glory nodded once. “Did you tell Enzo where you were going?”
Marlowe bent her head. They hadn’t specifically told Enzo about going swimming. She knew better than to point out that Enzo had surely noticed their wet hair and their swimsuits hanging up to dry in the bathroom every night but hadn’t bothered to ask them about it.
“So you lied,” Glory scolded.
“We didn’t lie!” Henry protested. “It’s justswimming.”
“Go inside, all of you. It’s time to set the table for dinner,” Glory said. “We’ll discuss this more later.”
In the doorway, Nora tutted at Henry.
“You should’ve put a shirt on,” she whispered. “You made itobvious.”
Their father, oblivious to what Glory had just discovered, greeted them all with a hug and told them they would go see the fireworks on the Fourth. Nora bounced up and down in excitement, while Nate and Henry only smiled, still feeling the sting of their mother’s words.
In the kitchen, Marlowe slowly circled the large wooden table, carefully placing down forks and napkins, as Enzo chopped vine-ripened tomatoes for the salad.
“Your mother is just concerned,” Enzo said. “The river is dangerous—incidents happen, even in the shallow water.”
“You could havetoldus she would get upset,” Marlowe mumbled.
Enzo chuckled. “Don’t worry, Marlowe. It will be all right.” It was just about time to eat when Glory stalked back into the house from across the street.
“I don’t know what Tom Gallagher was thinking,” Glory said as they sat down at the table. “I gave him an earful for encouraging you children to swim unsupervised.”
“I hope you left the poor man alive.” Frank laughed. “He doesn’t have kids, you know. He probably didn’t realize.”
