Everything We Keep: A Novel by Kerry Lonsdale

matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t picture James fat.
    My favorite afternoons were rainy Saturdays. James came over after his football games and crashed, exhausted, on the couch. He skimmed through the comics while I read books, our heads resting on opposite ends. We didn’t move until Mom’s baked goodies lured us into the kitchen, our stomachs rumbling.
    By James’s twelfth birthday, I had known him for almost a year and had yet to be invited over to his house. No girls were allowed inside until he started high school. A stupid rule, James often complained with an eye roll, but one he obeyed. He’d seen the welt on his older brother’s backside. Thomas had invited a classmate home to study for an exam. Their father, Edgar Donato, had arrived home early and didn’t hesitate using his belt on Thomas after ordering the girl home. Girls and hobbies were distractions. Academics and athletics provided the foundation for the skills needed to carve their marks in the world. His parents had their sons’ lives all planned out.
    I’d selected the perfect present for James, something I knew he wanted but wouldn’t think of asking for from his parents, and wrapped it carefully. The paper crinkled as I knocked on his front door. Today was his party. Only boys had been invited, but I wanted to give him my gift. I couldn’t wait for him to see it.
    A boy I hadn’t met before opened the door. He was taller than James and older than Thomas, but his coloring was the same. Dark hair and eyes, an olive tint to his skin, hinting of the same Italian heritage. He must be Phil, their cousin. James had told me he visited frequently, usually when Phil’s dad, James’s uncle and Mrs. Donato’s brother, traveled for business. Uncle Grant was constantly flying out of the country.
    James was never happy when Phil came to town. He spent those days at my house, often leaving long after the streetlights came on. But Phil smiled down at me, and he seemed friendly.
    “You’re James’s friend. Aimee, right?” he asked.
    I nodded. “Is he home?”
    “James! Door!” He yelled into the house and turned back. “Sorry you can’t come to the party. James’s dad has this dumbass ‘no girls’ rule. He really wanted to invite you.”
    My eyes rounded. “Mr. Donato?”
    He laughed. “No, silly. James. I’m Phil, by the way.”
    “Hi!” I rolled up on the balls of my feet and back to my heels, anxious to see James.
    Loud footfalls resounded in the hallway; then James squeezed between Phil and the door.
    “Hey, Aimee!” he said right before Phil wrapped him in a headlock. Phil gave him a noogie.
    “Happy birthday, little retard,” Phil said in a Muppet voice. He sounded like Kermit the Frog and I giggled.
    James squirmed from Phil’s hold and shoved him. “You’re the retard, retard.”
    Hurt briefly sharpened Phil’s eyes. I wondered why the put-down bothered him when he’d just said the same thing to James, but then James spotted the present in my hands.
    I grinned and showed him the wrapped package. “It’s for you.”
    “Cool. Tell Mom I’ll be right back,” he said to Phil before leaping off the porch.
    I started to follow, then turned around. “Nice to meet you.”
    “You, too.” Phil grunted and shut the door.
    “Hurry up!” James shouted. “I have only thirty-five minutes before the party starts.”
    He sprinted into the backyard and jumped over the waist-high gate separating his property from the open reserve.
    “Your cousin seems nice,” I said when he helped me over.
    “He’s not,” James remarked, bolting into the woods before I could ask if Phil had ever been mean to him. Did he bully James? Maybe that was why James punched so well.
    “Wait up!” I huffed, chasing after him. The gift’s contents rattled, echoing off the oak tree canopy.
    He slowed, jogging alongside me. “Let me carry it for you.” He reached for the box.
    I twisted away. “No! It’s your present.”
    “What did you get