He scanned the perimeter of the pool until he accounted for each of his children. Alec was by himself, as usual. And Lilah was sitting beside Cailey eating grapes with her. Lilah had become fiercely loyal to the poor girl, and Lance hoped that spoke of his daughter’s character. They were sitting next to Zell, who waved at him so demonstratively her visor nearly came off her head. He gave her a polite wave in return and turned back to watch the game, but the men, while back in the water, were still horsing around, swigging more beer, and leering at the women—girls, really—who’d congregated nearby.
On the end closest to where he sat, a heavyset, balding old man he’d seen before shuffled to the opposite end of the pool and, in spite of the crowds, made a motion for the lap lane to be cleared. Lance leaned forward, anticipating the response of the volleyball players. They weren’t going to like the old man making them move their game over. Lance was drawn into the drama, such as it was. The rest of the men moved over good-naturedly, but one stood his ground, his barrel chest puffed up, a beer gripped tightly in his hand. He was wearing, ridiculously, a red, white, and blue bandana in his hair, a youthful look he wasn’t able to pull off.
One of the guys tried to pull him out of the lane, saying something to him that Lance couldn’t hear. The man shrugged his friend off and stayed put, his chin jutting out as he waited for the old man to swim the length of the pool and reach him. When the man got closer, bandana man began yelling at him, his face red and his language definitely not appropriate for a family gathering. One of his buddies attempted to stop him again, and his attempt was met with a forceful shove. “I just want to know why this asshole has to come up here today of all days.” He gestured with his arm at the crowd. “I mean, look at this place, man. He shouldn’t ask to take up a lane on the fucking Fourth of July.”
With bandana man distracted by the exchange, the old man saw his opportunity and veered around him in order to make it to the wall. Lance couldn’t imagine why it mattered so much that he make it all the way across the length of the pool. He suspected it was tangled up in his pride, which was understandable. But the old man was too large to just slip by, and bandana man, alerted by the churning water, turned back and jumped into his path, colliding with him. What happened next brought Lance to his feet, and stilled the entire pool as all attention turned toward the drama in the shallow end.
The old man stood up and shoved the man, spitting water and hollering at the same time. Within seconds, James Doyle had turned from tossing coins into the water and was there, too, along with the rest of the volleyball players, jumping between the two before their punches could connect and make the situation worse. Lance, too, had automatically moved closer to the action, his blood pumping and his synapses firing as he watched the fight being contained. The two parties, now separated, pled their respective cases to anyone who would listen.
He could hear the old man grumbling to James about his right to swim in the lane reserved for that purpose no matter what day it was. James, whose glasses had fallen off in the melee, squinted at him and nodded his understanding as he fumbled to place the glasses back on his nose. James put his arm around the old man and began guiding him away. Lance worried about the old man, whose wheezing could be heard from a distance. Bandana man was being led out of the pool, amid loud protests. Some idiot handed him another beer, and he sucked it down like a big, thirsty baby.
“You didn’t tell me the Fourth of July was so exciting.” Lance heard the voice behind him and wondered how he could’ve ever mistaken it. He turned to find Jencey there, wide-eyed as she processed the scene. “I mean, I knew there were contests, but actual fights? That’s something to see!” She gave him a little smile, and he laughed.
“Guess this isn’t standard where you’re from?” he asked. He hoped the question would prompt her to tell him more about where she’d come from.
“I told you,” she said, shutting down his hopes, “I’m from here. Born and raised in this very neighborhood.” She shifted a heavy-looking beach bag on her shoulder. “So did you manage to save me a seat?” She looked around the pool, taking in the wall-to-wall people.
“As a matter of fact, I did,” he said, and pointed toward the chairs.
She gave a pleasantly surprised look. “Lead the way,” she said.
CAILEY
Lilah led me over to the tables they set up for the pie-eating contest. “I almost won this last year,” she said, then pointed at her flat stomach. “I can eat a lot more than you might think.”
I thought of Cutter shoveling in food at our kitchen table, the way my mom always teased him about having a hollow leg. Now a machine was feeding him through his veins. I wanted to tell Lilah that she should be glad that Cutter wasn’t there or she wouldn’t have a chance. But my throat closed up and I couldn’t say it.
“I bet you’ll win today,” I said instead. We were all friends, ever since the accident. That part was nice. Lilah gave me a thumbs-up as if she were reading my thoughts, then I realized she was referring to the contest and not Cutter. She turned to Pilar on her other side, who’d arrived minutes earlier and was still out of sorts that they’d been so late.
“My mom got some stupid call from her stupid lawyer. I mean, it’s the freaking Fourth of July. Why is he even working?” Pilar asked, and shook her head in answer to her own question. Lilah and I nodded our understanding, even though we had no idea what Pilar was talking about. But we did feel bad that she’d missed out on both the coin toss and the egg toss. Well, Lilah felt bad. I was glad I’d had a partner for the egg toss, though Lilah and I hadn’t even come close to winning that.
I heard my name being called and looked over to see Zell with her camera. Why she wanted to take a picture of me, who wasn’t even a relative, was beyond me. But Zell did things I didn’t understand a lot. She was a nice old lady, and I shuddered to think what would’ve happened to me if she hadn’t given me a place to stay since the accident. I’d be spending a lot of time all alone, that’s what.
As we’d driven to the pool that morning, Zell had told me that today was Independence Day and that meant we should think about being free, free from anything that makes us feel bad. Then she was quiet for the rest of the ride, and I guessed we were both thinking of the things we wanted to be free of.
Pilar and Lilah and I squished up together with our arms around each other and big smiles on our faces so Zell could snap the picture with her phone. “Will you send that to my mom?” Pilar hollered at her. Zell waved like she would, but I doubted that 1) she even heard her, and 2) she knew how to send a photo to Pilar’s mom. I still couldn’t imagine why she wanted a photo of me, someone who probably wouldn’t even live here this time next year. Next year I would be almost a teenager. I tried to picture a teenage me, but I couldn’t.
The man in charge of the contests came to stand in front of me. “You ready?” he asked, and gave me a smile.
I made myself smile back and nodded.
He raised his eyebrows. “You sure? You don’t look ready. You look like you’re a million miles away.”
“I was just thinking,” I said.
“About your brother?” he asked. I wasn’t shocked that he knew. Most people in the neighborhood had heard about Cutter, the news spreading like spilled milk across a table. And the man in charge of the contests lived right across the street from Zell, to boot. I saw him sometimes when he mowed his grass, stopping to mop sweat off his forehead with a towel he kept tucked in the waistband of his shorts. Sometimes his younger brother got out of the house and he had to chase him to get him back.
“Sort of,” I answered. “He would probably win this contest, if he was here.” I had to force the words out around the lump in my throat.
“I’m sorry, Cailey,” he said, looking into my eyes in a way most people around here avoided doing. “That your brother’s not here.” He gave a sad smile. “So whaddayasay we make sure you win this contest for him?” He made his voice sound weird, trying to be funny.