“Your hair reminds me of Holland,” I said. And then I felt dumb. And maybe creepy. “Sorry,” I said.

“That’s fine.”

Then all at once it came out and it was all jumbled up and messy.

“I don’t think my dad is like your brother.”

She stopped moving.

“I’m worried he did what those ladies said he did.”

Rigmor looked serious. “Why?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s not trying to defend himself. He’s kind of hiding in that center. And other stuff. It makes me wonder. But I don’t want to know. He’s my dad.”

Rigmor sighed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “That would be terrible.”

“I wanted to tell you. In case you don’t want to be…to hang out.”

“You’re not your dad,” she said. She sounded just like Ben. It seemed so obvious, but I guess I always thought my dad was the best part of me.

Rigmor looked around the field. I wondered if she felt uncomfortable being alone there with me.

“Ready?” she said.

“Sorry?”

“Ready to run?”

“I’m still kind of—” I flopped over on my side to show how tired I was.

“You’re fine. And I need someone to pass so I feel like I’m winning.” She laughed. It was a nice laugh.

So I ran around the track way slower than her and we slapped hands when she passed me, which she did about ten times. I’d never done anything like that before. It was fun, even though my legs were noodles after two laps. But they weren’t as bad as they would have been when we first moved here. I’m getting pretty active, I guess.

When she was finished, she stretched, and I lay in the grass and stared at the sky. They have nice skies in Stony Butte.

Then I walked with her to meet her brother, who was waiting in the parking lot to take her home.

She leaned into the driver’s side window, where Nils was playing on his phone.

“Nils,” she said. “Rodney’s got something to say.”

I looked at her. Why did she keep doing this to me?

Nils looked up. He has her blue eyes.

“What’s up?” he asked. Not smiling.

I stayed silent, standing just behind Rigmor.

“Tell him,” she said.

I wondered if all Norwegians were so direct.

“I, uh,” I said.

“He thinks his dad did what they say. Rodney’s worried about it.”

Nils nodded, slowly. “That’s too bad, man. Your dad’s so talented. And he always seemed cool.”

Which was almost exactly how I felt.

“Nils is sort of friends now with the girl who accused him,” said Rigmor.

“Who?”

“The girl who said he touched her. Nils talks to her now.”

“Yeah, she always says she’s sorry,” said Nils.

“What do you say to her?” I asked.