My Stepbrother Came Home for the Anniversary, and I Didn't Know Him novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Birch

Arvid made pancakes on Sunday for the first time in five years, and he made too many.

He stood at the stove in his flannel with the spatula in his good hand and didn't mention my mother.

Her car was gone from the driveway.

"She's staying at her sister's till Thanksgiving," he said, to the griddle. "I asked her to. I need the house quiet to see what I think."

"Dad," Matti said.

"I'm not asking you to say anything, son. Eat."

We ate.

When Matti stood to carry his plate to the sink, Arvid put the spatula down and wrapped both arms around him from behind, and held him there with his face against his shoulder blade.

He didn't say a word.

Matti stood very still with the plate in his hands, and then he set it down and put one hand over his father's arm.

I looked out the window at the river so that nobody would see me looking.

Afterward we walked down the path to the water.

It was a gray, bright morning, and the birches along the Lester had gone yellow and were dropping their leaves in a steady quiet rain.

The path was soft and wet with them.

We didn't talk for a while.

"I've been calling her Diane in my head all week," I said.

"I noticed."

"She was Mom my whole life. I don't know where it went."

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