Chapter 24: Blue Mug

Astrid painted the back of the old board in the first week of May, kneeling on my grandfather's porch with a can of white paint.

She worked slowly, with her tongue between her teeth, and the letters came out tall and a little crooked.

I sat on the step with a mug of coffee and watched the lake break up into blue.

The five dogs from Duluth and my four were sprawled in the sun along the porch rail, and Pip had one of Tom's socks.

"Done," Astrid said, and sat back on her heels.

I read it out loud.

"GUESTS WELCOME. DOGS TOO."

"It's the same board," she said. "I painted the other side in May last year, the week I decided nobody would ever knock again."

"And now?"

"Now I'm painting it in May again, and I'm deciding something else."

She hung it on two new nails over the door, and she stepped back with her arms folded.

The wind had come around to the north that afternoon, and a low gray cloud was crawling over the spruce.

"Snow," I said.

"It's May."

"It's Minnesota."

The first flakes arrived before she could answer, big and wet and lazy.

By the time we had the dogs fed and the stove stoked, the world outside the window was white again.

We ate a late supper at the plank table with the lamps lit and the dogs piled on the floor.

Astrid's hair had grown out a little, and the silver streak had widened.

She wore my grandfather's old wool shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

She was thirty-six and I was twenty-nine.

She looked at me across the lamp.

"Come to bed," she said.

"It's six o'clock."

"I know what time it is."

She stood and held out her hand, and I took it.

We climbed to the loft together under the sound of the snow.

It fell soft on the roof, muffling everything, and the dogs settled below us with a chorus of sighs.

Astrid undid my braid herself, slowly, the way she had the first time, and combed it out with her fingers.

"Tell me what you want," she said.

"You."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I've got."

She laughed, low and warm, and the sound went through me.

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