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Chapters (77)
  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Also by Silas House
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Contents
  7. Part One
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. Part Two
  27. 1
  28. 2
  29. 3
  30. 4
  31. 5
  32. 6
  33. 7
  34. 8
  35. 9
  36. 10
  37. Part Three
  38. 1
  39. 2
  40. 3
  41. 4
  42. 5
  43. 6
  44. 7
  45. 8
  46. 9
  47. 10
  48. 11
  49. 12
  50. 13
  51. 14
  52. 15
  53. 16
  54. 17
  55. 18
  56. 19
  57. 20
  58. 21
  59. 22
  60. 23
  61. 24
  62. 25
  63. 26
  64. 27
  65. 28
  66. 29
  67. 30
  68. 31
  69. Part Four
  70. 1
  71. 2
  72. 3
  73. Epilogue: The Everything
  74. Acknowledgments
  75. About the Author
  76. About Algonquin
  77. Copyright

—and went to the grove of willow trees down by the Cumberland River, the trees where he and Luke had spent so many afternoons as boys. He lay down beneath the trees and watched the summer breeze shake their long branches. He thought about a God who had made the trees, and the river, and himself, and Lydia. Where was that God, these days? So far up in the trees Asher couldn’t feel Him anymore? Or just completely gone?

After a time he went into the house to pack his things.

11

11

He stayed a couple nights in the River Inn out near Ashland City. The room smelled of stagnant air conditioner water and the carpet was threadbare in places but the sheets and tub were clean enough. There was a massive old television perched on a banged-up dresser and he kept it on to fight the silence: game show hosts with bright white teeth, the local news anchors talking perkily about the flood recovery and county court clerks who wouldn’t give marriage licenses to gay couples, the depressing infomercials late at night. He spoke to Justin a couple times a day and only once did the boy ask what was going to happen.

“Everything’ll be okay, buddy,” Asher said, and once again he found himself telling his son something that might or might not be true.

He hadn’t packed much more than a shaving kit and a few books. He couldn’t concentrate enough to read. Sometimes he stood by the window and watched the parking lot where he saw cars come and go, people smoking as they gazed up at the moon, a couple who couldn’t help stopping to kiss passionately before they went on to the office to check in.

He found a trailer for rent out on Cheatham Lake and called to ask if he could see it. An old woman who leaned on a cane unlocked the door for him. “You’ll need to call and get the juice and gas switched out of the last renter’s name,” the landlady said, and listed all the things she didn’t allow her tenants to do. She was the most humorless person he had ever met. There was no furniture and it had not been lived in for a while but it was in good enough shape and its large windows looked out on the water where a white boat was pulling a water-skier, its sound a comforting hum in the distance. Even though he was very far out in the country there was still a strong cell signal so he could talk to Justin anytime he wanted. He went back out to the house to get a few more of his things and Lydia met him at the door.

“Justin’s still at school,” she said.