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Back Love and Other Lies Save as PDF
Chapters (61)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Imagine a girl
  4. Prologue
  5. The Foreigner
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. The Skeptic
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. The Spectator
  31. Twenty-Four
  32. Twenty-Five
  33. Twenty-Six
  34. Twenty-Seven
  35. Twenty-Eight
  36. Twenty-Nine
  37. The Assassin
  38. Thirty
  39. Thirty-One
  40. Thirty-Two
  41. Thirty-Three
  42. Thirty-Four
  43. Thirty-Five
  44. Thirty-Six
  45. Thirty-Seven
  46. Thirty-Eight
  47. Thirty-Nine
  48. Forty
  49. Forty-One
  50. The Hunter
  51. Forty-Two
  52. Forty-Three
  53. Forty-Four
  54. Forty-Five
  55. Forty-Six
  56. Forty-Seven
  57. Imagine a girl
  58. Acknowledgments
  59. About the Author
  60. Also by Ben McPherson
  61. About the Publisher

Henrik met us on the eastern side, at the water’s edge. He had taken the ferry over from the mainland. He nodded at each of us in turn, embraced Vee. Then he took Franklin’s stroller wordlessly, walked ahead of us up a gentle rise to a piece of flat land that overlooked the harbor. And here by the spreading canopy of an old willow tree we planted a small willow for Licia.

Elsa hung a copper band on the tree onto which Vee had stamped the words:

Time to come home, Licia

We stood in a ring, closed our eyes, held hands around the sapling. From the fjord you could hear boat engines, and far away the sound of blasting.

“Licia,” said Vee, “what I miss most—” Her hand clasped tightly around mine.

“What you’re looking forward to,” said Elsa’s voice, gently correcting her.

“I mean, what I’m looking forward to is you and me going back to Whistler. Or anywhere with shitty weather, really. And skiing till Mum and Dad freak the frick out.”

I could hear Elsa laughing gently. I squeezed Vee’s hand. She squeezed mine back.

“I’m looking forward to breakfast and homework,” I said. “Our time, in the mornings, before the chaos of the day.”

A long pause. I could feel Elsa’s weight shifting, as if she were searching for the words. I leaned toward her. “Are you okay, love?”

I felt her nod. She tightened her grip on mine. She said, “Licia, I’m looking forward to listening more. I don’t think I’ve done enough of that and I plan to make a change. I’m looking forward to learning.”

We left the longest of pauses for Henrik, but Henrik said nothing.

“So here we all are, Licia,” said Vee. “We’re talking to you through a tree. That’s how much we want you back. Hope you can hear us. Because otherwise this would all be kind of lame.”

Henrik’s breathing sounded labored. When I opened my eyes he was there in front of me, stiffly holding Elsa’s hand, and Vee’s. His eyes were misting with tears. He took a half step backward. Vee stepped with him, taking her hand from mine. She stood there for a time, holding her grandfather’s hands in hers, saying nothing, then she let go and turned toward the sapling.

“Oh. Hey there.”

A goat and her kid had wandered up, were nibbling at the base of the slender trunk. Vee stepped toward Franklin’s stroller and lifted him out. She crouched down, held him close to the kid. Franklin reached out gingerly. The kid sniffed at his fingers, licked carefully at his palm. Franklin burbled and kicked. Henrik caught my eye and smiled.