The Disenchantments by Nina Lacour

Author:Nina Lacour [LaCour, Nina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780525422198
Google: h8P6qBqGVxIC
Amazon: 0525422196
Barnesnoble: 0525422196
Goodreads: 13487082
Publisher: Dutton
Published: 2011-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

Tuesday

“Okay, this question is for me,” Meg says. “‘Meg, do you believe that people can stay in love?’ Ooh, good one.”

“Colby?” Bev calls. It’s startling to hear my name following the question I wrote. At first I was going to avoid real questions again, but then I gave in. If we’re going to spend the car ride doing this, I might as well ask about things I want to know.

“Yeah?” I call up to Bev.

Bev is taking her first driving shift of the trip. She drives more smoothly than Meg, who tends to accelerate every time she gets excited about something and slow down every time she spaces out.

“Can I wear these?” She points to my aviator sunglasses, hanging over the curtains on the window. “Mine are buried in my stuff somewhere.”

When we first got on 101 this morning, we were surrounded by bright mist that wove around the trees and the bus, but now the fog is dispersing and the sunlight is so intense it’s almost painful.

“Sure,” I say, knowing that usually she wouldn’t ask for permission, she would just put them on. She’s been acting polite and careful around me all morning.

“You bought them for me,” I add. “So I think that means you get to wear them whenever you want to.”

“Thanks.”

“Sure.”

Meg gives me an Oh, please look before resuming the game.

“My answer is yes,” she says. “Completely. I so think that people can stay in love.”

“Our parents are in love,” Alexa says.

“Exactly,” Meg agrees. “And Aunt Reese and Uncle Theo.”

“Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to see them tomorrow night!”

“Me too. You guys are gonna love them. And Colby, your parents are in love, and Bev, yours, too.”

“Staying married is not the same thing as being in love,” Bev says to Meg.

“I never said it was.”

“Yeah, but you just assumed that my parents were in love because they’re married.”

“No. I said they were in love because they always seem happy when I see them together. For a long time, my parents couldn’t even get married. Marriage has nothing to do with it.”

Bev doesn’t respond, just watches the road. I search for her reflection in the windshield but my glasses cover half her face. It’s never crossed my mind that Mary and Gordon might not be happy together, and suddenly, even after Meg’s emphatic yes, doubt creeps in. Maybe Mary and Gordon aren’t in love; maybe my mother isn’t coming home; maybe Bev will never change her mind.

After a few miles, Bev pulls over to a parking lot on the side of the highway so that we can hike down to the river. We wade in the cold water, and I stay a little longer, wander off from the rest of them. I call back all of these memories of my parents and me, taking day trips, cooking dinners, watching movies, making music. Ma laughing, Dad putting his arm around her. We were happy, all three of us.

I am almost sure.

When I get back to the van to take my seat, I see that Alexa has taken all the strips of paper and grouped them by handwriting.

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