Two By Two

“She’s in her bedroom,” I said. “She ran up there to check on her critters.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding. “Did she eat?”

I thought you told your attorney that we weren’t supposed to communicate directly. But okay, I’ll play along. “Yeah, she’s had dinner. No bath yet. I didn’t know if you were going to take her to a movie or…”

“I haven’t decided yet. I’ll talk to her.” She paused. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, thrown once again by her casual demeanor. “I’m fine. You looking forward to trick-or-treating?”

“It’ll be fun. I picked up an amazing costume for London. It’s Belle from Beauty and the Beast, but extra glittery.”

“She’ll love that,” I agreed. “She named one of her fish Belle.”

“Make sure you come by in time to see it.”

“You want me to come by?”

She rolled her eyes, but in them I saw only disbelief, not anger – as though I were merely clueless, rather than hateful. “Of course, Russ. She’s your daughter. It’s Halloween. And besides, you need to be here to hand out candy for the kids who come by the house. What did you think was going on tomorrow night?”

As usual, Vivian had managed to keep me guessing.

I hadn’t seen Marge and Liz since London’s birthday party, so I swung by my parents’ the next afternoon, before the trick-or-treating got underway. I noticed right off that Marge had slimmed down even more. She looked fantastic, but it was on the tip of my tongue to tell her not to lose much more weight, as it might make her face look too severe. Liz, too, looked like she’d shed some pounds, though not as much.

Marge and Liz enveloped me in hugs as soon as I stepped through the door.

“So this is what you look like after a vacation, huh?” I said to Marge, giving a low whistle.

“I know, pretty fab, huh? I weigh as much as I did in college now.”

“You look great, too, Liz. Are you sure the two of you weren’t secretly at Canyon Ranch the whole time?”

“Thank you. But no,” she said. “It was all just good old-fashioned hiking and sightseeing. And like Marge, I kept my servings of rice and beans to a minimum.”

“I’m jealous. I’ve stopped losing weight, even though I’m still running.”

“How are things?” Marge asked. “When I talked to Mom last night, she said you landed some new clients? Let’s go out back and talk for a while.”

“All right. Let me say hi to Mom and Dad and I’ll meet you outside in a few.”

Visiting with my parents took fifteen minutes – Mom didn’t bring up the cancer, thank goodness – and I found my sister and Liz on the back patio, both of them drinking tall glasses of sweet tea.

For the next hour, we talked about their trip – the zip-lines, Arenal volcano, hikes through the cloud forest and near the coast – and I caught them up on all that had been going on in my world. Just as that part of the conversation was coming to a close, my mom popped her head out and asked Liz if she’d mind giving her a hand in the kitchen.

“So… you were told you had to communicate through attorneys, but then she showed up at the house and acted as if everything were normal?”

I nodded. “Don’t ask me to explain it. I’m just thanking God for small favors.”

“What I still don’t understand is why Vivian got London for both her birthday and on Halloween. You should get London for some of the fun things, too.”

“It’s just the way the weekends are falling.”

Marge didn’t seem satisfied with this explanation, but apparently decided to let it drop. “How do you feel about selling the house?”

“I guess I’m torn. We don’t need a place that big – to be honest, we never really did – but at the same time, there are a lot of memories there. Anyway, I don’t have much of a choice. Even though my business is finally taking off, it’s not like I’ll have enough in the bank to pay Vivian off when we sign the papers.” I paused. “It’s hard for me to believe it’s been almost two months since she walked out the door. In some ways, it seems like yesterday. In other ways, it feels like forever.”

“I can’t imagine,” Marge said. She turned her head and covered her mouth, coughing from somewhere deep in her chest.

“You’re still sick?”

“No,” she answered. “This is just a remnant from the bronchitis. Apparently it can take the lungs months to heal, even when the inflammation is gone. I felt pretty good in Costa Rica, but right now, I need a vacation from my vacation. Liz kept us on the go the whole time – I’m still wiped out. And my knees are killing me from all the hiking.”

“Hiking is good exercise, but it’s rough on the joints,” I conceded.

“Speaking of which, let me know if you and Emily ever want to go hiking with Liz and me. It’ll be like old times.”

“I will,” I said. At my answer, Marge tilted her head.

“Uh-oh. I’m sensing there’s trouble in paradise. Is there anything you’re not telling me?”

“Not really,” I hedged. “I just don’t know where the relationship is going.”

Marge scrutinized me. “Why can’t you just be happy with what you have with her right now? Because it seems to me like she’s been a rock to you these past couple of months.”