The Summer We Buried by Jody Gehrman

Author:Jody Gehrman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

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The party is in full swing when we get there. Chet’s yard is green and expansive, with fragrant clumps of lavender rimming its borders and a circular stone patio taking up center stage. A dozen chairs are arranged around a big fire pit, and there’s a huge trampoline where little kids bounce, their laughter and screams of delight filling the air. The scent of grilled meat floats on the breeze, mixing with the aroma of the lavender and the perfume of dead leaves. The backyard is surrounded by vineyards, their leaves now gold and red; starlings swoop and dive in elaborate formations, hunting for the last of the grapes. Most of the adults are either gathered around the barbecue or sitting around the fire pit, drinking wine or beer, munching on hot dogs and burgers. It’s a warm, convivial scene, and though I feel a little flutter of nervousness about meeting Zack’s friends, I’m also glad I came along.

Zack introduces me to Chet, a big, affable guy with a red beard and a hearty laugh. His wife, whose name I immediately forget, is his exact opposite: a tiny, birdlike woman with short dark hair and a brittle, nervous laugh. I don’t miss the covert thumbs-up Chet gives Zack when he thinks I’m not looking, and I can’t help but wonder if Zack usually shows up at Chet’s parties alone. The thumbs-up could be a blanket endorsement of Zack bringing any woman along, or it could be a specific endorsement of me. Either way, I’ll take it. It beats a thumbs-down, anyway.

After the three of us have polished off our share of burgers, coleslaw, and potato salad, Zack gets pulled into a conversation by the grill with Chet and a pretty redhead who seems to be chatting him up, flipping her hair and touching his arm for emphasis. Jupiter and I sit near the firepit as dusk deepens and a string of lights festooned around the patio blinks on. There’s a small gaggle of girls in their teens who have made brief appearances before disappearing back into the house, their phones cupped in their hands, but Jupiter didn’t show any sign of interest in or familiarity with them. They’re probably too young to draw her eye. Jupiter seems at once younger and older than her eighteen years. Socially, she seems a little behind the curve, probably because of her nomadic upbringing. But every once in a while, when I catch her staring into the fire with a pensive sadness, she looks much more world-weary than her fresh-out-of-high-school peers.

I search my mind for a question I can ask that won’t be too invasive. “Have you been staying at your uncle’s this week?”

Jupiter tears her gaze away from the fire, but there’s something a little guarded in her eyes when they meet mine. “Yeah. It’s been good.”

“Any new thoughts about Colton?”

She sighs. “I haven’t been taking his calls. I need a little space.”

I want to tell her a guy who punches

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