And that night she tries, to the extent she can with Dennis back in Washington. Well, it’s simple enough; she needs to get Jim up to dinner some time when Dennis is home. She gives Jim a call. “Hi, Jim? Mom here.”

“Oh hi, Mom.”

“How was the trip to Europe?”

“It was really interesting.” He tells her briefly about it.

“It sounds like you had a good time. Listen, Jim, how about coming up for dinner next week? Dad will be back home then.”

“Oh.”

“Jim. Dad hasn’t seen you for over two months, isn’t that right? And it isn’t right. He needs you just as much as you need him.”

“Mom…”

“Don’t Mom me. All these silly arguments, you should have more faith.”

“What?”

“You’ll come next week?”

“What?”

“I said, you’ll come up next week for dinner?”

“I’ll try, Mom. I’ll think about it. But he’s just going to think I’m leeching dinner from you guys again.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jim.”

“I’m not!”

“You are. You’re both too stubborn for your own good, and you’re just hurting yourself by it. You come up here, you understand?”

“All right, Mom, don’t get upset, okay? I’ll … I’ll try.”

“Good.”

They hang up. Lucy goes out to the video room, into the chair. The cat sits on her lap while she reads from next week’s lesson. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, the verses swimming into double focus as she tries to stay awake and concentrate on them. On the screen a hot-air balloon is floating over a snowy peak, in a dark blue sky. The verses are floating about, big and black on the white page … She jerks to, finds it’s after midnight. She’s been sleeping in the chair, the Bible open on her lap. She lifts the cat off, gets up stiffly to go to bed.

Chapter 49

49

Hana’s too busy to see Jim for several nights running, and he goes down to Sandy’s party depressed. She’s working, he’s not. What must she think of him?

At Sandy’s he stands leaning against the balcony wall, watching cars flow through the great interchange pretzel of the five freeways. Something to stare at for hours.

Suddenly there’s Humphrey’s younger sister Debbie Riggs, standing beside him and elbowing his arm to get his attention. “Oh hi, Debbie! How are you?” He hasn’t seen her in a while. They’re good friends, they’ve known each other since junior high; in years past she’s been sort of a sister to him, he thinks.

“I’m fine, Jimbo. You?”

“Okay, okay. Pretty good, really.”