Something Fierce by David Drayer Page A

about. Rita’s death was hard on her. He said in a voice that was both reasonable and strong, “Maybe Gail didn’t hear you.”
    “Must not have.” She turned back to him then. “How’d you know I’d be back in here?”
    “I didn’t. I just had a feeling you were somewhere down here.”
    “My boy,” she said and touched his face. “So smart and handsome. How’s Megan?”
    Did she forget that he and Megan were no longer a couple? Hadn’t been for a long time? Or was she simply asking because she knew he and Megan still talked on the phone once in a while? “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her in a few months.”
    She smiled sadly. “You’ll find somebody and she’ll be one lucky girl, let me tell ya.” Then, she said, “Do you think I should get checked out?”
    He shrugged like it was no big thing and said, “What would it hurt?”
    “Nothing, I guess. It’d get everybody off my hind-end, if nothing else.” She shut down the engine and took the keys from the ignition. “Do you still want to go for pie and coffee?”
    “I’m always up for pie and coffee.”
    Sunday afternoon found Seth and both of his sisters trudging through the snow-blanketed woods behind their parent’s house in Cherry Run. They had changed out of their funeral clothes; Seth carried a bottle of wine and three plastic cups. They were on their way to a place that they called “The Spot.”
    Gail said, “It’s freezing out here.” Her cheeks and nose were already a bright red. “Couldn’t we have caught up at a cozy restaurant or something?”
    “I needed to get out,” Seth said. “Get some fresh air.”
    “The Spot” was about a mile and a half trek and was the site of what had once been a small house or cabin built on the edge of a precipice giving a spectacular view of a seemingly endless forest, one hill rolling into the next and a green river winding through the valley below. All that remained of the foundation was a stone fireplace and chimney which stood perfectly erect and completely intact. Seth had discovered it as a boy and managed to clean out the leaves and old bird nests. While growing up and on his visits home over the past many years, he came here to write or think and sometimes would invite one or both of his sisters to join him for a fire and conversation. They used to imagine who had built the house that once stood there and what had become of them. When they got older, they knew they could have found out by going to the county courthouse and checking public records, but they never did. It seemed more fun to imagine.
    “It’s colder than Kelsey’s arse out here!” Gail complained again, repeating one of their father’s common comparisons as t hey crunched along through the snow. She blew into her cupped hands to warm them.
    “Why aren’t you wearing gloves?” Tina asked.
    “Steffi was playing with them before I left for the funeral this morning and couldn’t remember where she put them.”
    Seth took his gloves off and handed them to her. “Here. Quit your whining.”
    “Thanks,” she said, wasting no time putting them on. “How in the heck did you talk Mom into going to the doctor’s?”
    “Mom would jump off a bridge if Seth told her too,” Tina said.
    “I didn’t tell her to do anything,” he said. “She asked me if I thought she should get checked and I said it wouldn’t hurt.”
    “She asked you?” Gail said. “Unreal.”
    Tina looked up at the trees as they walked. “Too bad Dad couldn’t have come along. He loves getting out like this.”
    “He’s not going to leave Mom alone after her disappearing act on Friday,” Gail said, “and he shouldn’t, though she’s been perfectly fine ever since.”
    “And she may be,” Tina said, sounding like a therapist, which she was. “Stress and grief can take a toll on a person, make them behave in some very odd ways. But if it’s more than that, we need to know.”
    “Why?” Seth blurted and both of his sisters