Chapter 7
The next morning, Danny gets up early to retrieve Eve from the airport.
“I’ll come with you!” Cal says.
“It’s really okay. You can do more wrapping.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble! Plus, roads are icy. And I don’t trust that you haven’t forgotten how to drive.”
“Oh, ha ha,” Danny says.
“Except to drive me crazy, of course.”
“I would never forget that.”
“Just a joke. I love you.”
“I know, Dad. I love you, too.”
They get in the car. Cal does let Danny drive, but he promises to be on high alert for any New York–induced swearing, swerving, or honking. Danny lifts an orange pill bottle from the cup holder.
“What’s this?”
Cal takes it. “Just normal old-guy stuff.”
“What? Oh, gross. Like Viagra?”
“No, like blood pressure stuff.”
“You don’t have blood pressure stuff. Are you embarrassed to have Viagra?”
“It’s blood pressure stuff! Jeez Louise.”
“You know, Eve’s ex didn’t use the brand names for anything? He’d call it erectile dysfunction vasodilator.”
“Sounds like a real weirdo.”
“Yeah. Last night, I had a dream he leaped from a tree and drank my blood. I’ve always thought he kind of looks like a vampire. Feel free to psychoanalyze that.”
“Wowie,” Cal says. But that’s all he says.
Danny flicks on the turn signal, and they merge through the slush onto the highway, following the signs for Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport.
Cal does this often. He loves to ask Danny personal questions, as if to test whether Danny will open up.
But when Danny does open up, Cal seems to have no idea what to do with it.
They drive in silence for a few minutes.
“Just as a heads-up,” Danny says, “Eve’s going to ask to drive. Is that okay?”
“Is she a good driver?”
“Yeah, she’s a great driver.”
“Why’s she going to ask to drive?”
Danny does not want to expose Eve, especially not when he and Eve have not spoken of this themselves. He says, “She just loves to drive and never gets the chance in the city.”
“Oh. I mean, sure, I guess that’s fine.”
“Cool,” Danny says. “Thanks.”
“So,” Cal says. He slaps his palms against his knees twice. “Eve didn’t want to spend Christmas with her own family, huh?”
“The Olsens aren’t always the nicest. It’s complicated.”
“Well, I don’t mean to pry.”
Danny turns on the windshield wipers as snow begins to flurry down. “They told her to pay back her college tuition. Like, they paid, and then all of a sudden, over the summer, they told her she owed them the money.”
“No. And she did it?”
“Yeah. It was a pride thing, I think. But she hasn’t seen them since.”
“You know, I always thought you liked her parents. I remember the way Julian spoke about his dad. Very admiring.”
“It’s different seeing them through Eve’s eyes. Julian acts like they’re the most important, incredible people. But you know what? They didn’t even go to Eve’s tour. And I just wonder, what does it say about the kind of person Julian is if he wants their approval so badly?”
“People get strange when it comes to their parents.”
“Sometimes I wonder if Julian only ever wanted me around because I made him look good in comparison.”
“That couldn’t be true,” Cal says.
“Just something that popped into my head at the wedding.”
“Oh, kid.” Then: “But you and Eve?”
“We’re good,” Danny says.
“For-now good? Or forever good?”
“How can you tell?”
Cal lifts his hands. “Wrong person to ask.”
Danny hesitates, then says, “Have you ever tried reaching out to Mom?”
“Your mom! Oh, gosh.”
“That’s not really an answer.”
“She ever get in touch with you?”
Danny keeps his eyes on the road as he turns into the airport lot. “No. She never has.”