Hey,” Cal said when Luke answered the front door the next morning. “You ready?”
Cal wondered for a second if Luke had forgotten about going to Duluth to test-drive a Jeep Cherokee, but Luke nodded and said, “Almost. Murphy’s in the backyard, though. I just need to put him inside.”
“Okay, great. I’ll wait here,” Cal said.
Luke was back in a minute. “Let’s go,” he said, yanking a baseball cap on backward over slightly unruly hair.
“Thanks for doing this, by the way,” Cal said as they walked over to his Porsche, which was parked on the street in front of the house. “I really appreciate it.”
“Huh?” Luke asked, squinting at Cal in the dazzling morning light.
Cal resisted the urge to smile. If Luke was anything like he’d been at thirteen, he heard only about twenty-five percent of what adults said to him, maybe less. “I said thanks for coming today. Did you . . . get a chance to have some breakfast?”
“Oh, yeah. My mom made some eggs before she left for work. They’re one of the things she can do, like, halfway decently,” Luke added. “That and hot dogs.” Cal nodded but again did not smile, this time out of loyalty to Billy.
He and Luke reached the car and climbed in, Cal waiting until Luke’s seat belt was fastened before he turned on the engine. He pulled away from the curb and headed out of town, amused that Luke seemed to be enjoying himself so much. He was adjusting his seat, running his hand over the leather upholstery, and examining the “infotainment touch screen panel” on the dashboard.
“There’s wireless Internet if you’re interested,” Cal offered, looking over at Luke. “Or we can blast some music.”
“Really?”
“Sure,” Cal said in what he knew was a shameless bid for Luke’s approval. “Anything you want, as loud as you want it.”
Luke used the touch screen to search SiriusXM, chose an R&B station, and cranked up Drake’s “One Dance” loud enough to make the windows vibrate. Cal didn’t mind. He liked this song, too.
“The sound is amazing,” Luke said, swiveling around in his seat. “It’s, like, coming from everywhere.”
“There are nine speakers,” Cal said loudly to make himself heard over the song.
“Are you going to go any faster?” Luke asked hopefully once they were out on the highway. Cal was purposely driving the speed limit.
“Maybe a little bit,” Cal said. After checking his rearview mirror, he floored it, just for a second.
“Whoa,” Luke said. “Keep going.”
“Sorry, that’s it,” Cal said. “I don’t think your mom would be too happy if we drove to Duluth like that.”
“Probably not,” Luke agreed. “Why do you want to sell this car, though?” he asked. “It’s so cool.”
“It’s pretty cool,” Cal agreed, “but it’s not practical anymore. Not up here.” And not only that—he also needed a car that could accommodate more than one passenger. Billy and Luke were both a part of his life now.
“Maybe it’s not practical in the winter,” Luke said. “But . . . the rest of the year? Maybe you can have two cars.”
Cal smiled. “Maybe, sometime. But not now. This car reminds me of my life in Seattle. I’d kind of like to get something new. You know, start with a clean slate. That kind of thing.”
Luke considered this. “Was your life in Seattle that bad?” he asked, turning down the radio.
“No,” Cal said. “Not all of it. Parts of it . . . parts were good. But things are different now, and I think it’s time for a change.”
Luke seemed to accept this. “I was looking at a map last night,” he said after a moment. “I wanted to see where Vancouver Island is. It’s not that far from Seattle.”
“No, it’s not. It’s only about five hours away by car and by ferry. I’ve been there before, a couple of times.” Cal had noticed that every time he saw Luke, Luke would slip in a mention of his father. He wondered if he was, consciously or unconsciously, reminding Cal that he already had a dad. Cal was careful to tread lightly. The other day when he was at their house, Billy and Luke had a little skirmish about Luke going to the Nature Museum’s picnic on the last day of camp. Luke said it wasn’t “mandatory.” Billy said she wanted him to “finish strong.” They were all in the kitchen, and Cal had quietly excused himself and said he’d take Murphy for a walk. By the time they’d returned, Luke was on the phone with Annabelle, and Billy was humming over the dishes in the kitchen.
“What’s Vancouver like?” Luke asked him now.
“It’s beautiful,” Cal said honestly. “I spent most of my time in Victoria, though. That’s the city on the southern tip of the island. But there’s a lot more to see than that, obviously. And the fishing . . . I haven’t done any there, but I know it’s supposed to be amazing.” He looked over at Luke.
Luke nodded and then said almost shyly, “I might visit my dad and his family there over spring break. It’s still, like, in the planning stages,” he added.
“Right.” Cal nodded. And then, casually, knowing it had been almost a week since Luke had met his dad, he asked, “Have you talked to him lately?”
“Two nights ago. We’re going to Skype every week, for now.”
“That’s good,” Cal said. But he wondered if this was hard on Luke: starting a new relationship with the father he’d never known and getting to know the man his mom had just started dating. He wasn’t sure how well he would have handled this when he was thirteen.
It was quiet now in the car.
“Your friend Annabelle,” Cal asked after a few minutes, “is she in your class?”
Luke nodded. “There’s only one class per grade at my school.”
“Got it,” Cal said. He waited. But there was nothing more about Annabelle, which was probably just as it should be. How forthcoming had he been about girls at Luke’s age?
“When do you go back to school?” he asked.
“Um, in a couple weeks,” Luke said, lowering his window a few inches. Cal thought he might have heard a little nervousness in Luke’s voice. Even sixteen years after graduating from high school, Cal could still remember having a pit in his stomach the weeks before school started every fall. It was part excitement, part fear.
“Where are you going to live in Minneapolis?” Luke asked then.
“Oh, I just got an apartment. It’s in St. Paul, though. In Linden Hills. Do you know that area? It’s between Lake Harriet and Lake Calhoun.”
“I think I know where that is.”
“I was thinking,” Cal said, “that the next time you and your mom visit your grandmother, you might . . . like to see it?”
“I guess,” Luke said. Cal wasn’t exactly sure if this was a yes or no. Well, he wouldn’t push it.
“Can we open that?” Luke asked, indicating the sunroof.
Cal adjusted the slide-tilt sunroof, and a square of blue sky opened above them. Luke reclined his seat further and, with a sigh of pleasure, crossed his hands behind his head.
“In another two years, I’ll be getting my learner’s permit,” he said to Cal.
Cal smiled. The Porsche would be long gone by then, but a Jeep, he thought, would still be pretty fun to learn to drive in.