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“Yes. Once. He came up here last year, but I kept him out of sight and sent him back to Florida. ” I thought I might as well build up some trust by offering a partial confession.

“Oh God. ”

“Lu, stop saying that. ”

“Well, what do you want me to say? Seriously? Should we go out and buy some streamers? Should we throw him a party? Would that make you happy?” She was creeping up to shrillness, and I knew that the calm before the storm was just about over.

Dave put a hand on her arm and withdrew it, like her skin was burning hot.

“No, but I want you to be civil. I want you to let a little water flow under the bridge and give him a chance to say his piece. He’s pathetic, all right? I feel sorry for him, and I let myself get talked into this when I probably shouldn’t have, but it’s too late to do anything about it now. ”

“The hell it is. ” Lu put her glass down and stood. She put her face in her hands, then ran her hands back through her hair and faced me. “This is unbelievable!”

“I know. Just—I’m asking you, just be cool. Harry will be with him, and he’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. We’ll be fucked up and fine. It’s just supper, and he’ll be back on his way to Florida the next morning. ”

“Water under the bridge,” she repeated. She turned away from me and Dave both and glared into the backyard.

“If I can forgive and forget, I’d hope you can too. ”

“It’s different. ”

“How?”

“It’s different because he tried to kill you. He tried to take you away from me. I don’t know how much forgiveness I’ve got left, and I sure as all get-out don’t know if there’s enough left in me to cover that. ”

“Then don’t forgive him. I’m not asking you to like him, I’m asking you to tolerate him for an hour. Don’t do it for him, or because he deserves it. Do it for me, because I’m asking you to. ”

“This is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. ”

Dave raised a finger like he might have wanted to argue, but his desire to interrupt was overruled by his reluctance to get between Lu and me.

“So? Something has to take that title. Let it be this—at least it’s something harmless. ”

“Harmless. ” She used the word again, throwing it back at me. “Harmless. And I guess that’s your call, isn’t it? You wouldn’t bring him here if you thought for a second he’d do anything to either of us, I know. ”

“See? That’s more like it. ”

“But you’ve been fooled before. And I don’t like it. I don’t like the idea of it, of him being here in this house. I don’t like it that you think this is okay. None of this is okay. None of it. ”

I stood up then, too, because I wanted to be on eye level with her. I didn’t want her to stand there, looking down at me while she talked. “Jesus, Lu. If you’d just meet him, you wouldn’t be half so worried. He’s innocent and stupid. If you do this and you meet him, you’ll never worry again. You’ll never wonder. ”

“I don’t want to wonder,” Dave finally joined in. “I’d rather see him and know—and if I don’t know the second I set eyes on him, I don’t want to go through with it. But I’d be willing to set eyes on him. I’d be willing to find out. Lu? I think we should. I think we shoul

d at least take a look at him. ”

“So it’s both of you then, lining up against me?”

“No one’s against you,” I told her, and I meant it. “No one’s for or against anybody. That’s the thing—there’s no reason to struggle anymore. There’s no reason to feel that way anymore, and I want you to see it. I want you to know it, and to stop being afraid. ”

Out of pure frustration, I went ahead and left it at that—taking my leave while the leaving was good. I picked up my still-mostly-full drink and went back into the house, and I tried not to listen as they continued the conversation without me. It was tough to resist the urge to go back out there and argue some more, but there was nothing else I could tell them. Malachi was coming one way or another, and they were going to have to get used to it.

Maybe Dave would calm Lu down, and maybe she’d rile him up.

They’d have to work it out without me.

12

The River Walk