I nodded. I knew how easy it was for people to make assumptions.
She shook her head ruefully. “Even when Harvey went out with the twins, people were wondering why I wasn't angry that he was supposedly cheating on me. As if someone like Harvey would ever be interested in an old biddy like me.” She let out a soft chuckle at the thought. “I denied it for so long and then I just finally gave up even addressing it. I clearly wasn't going to change what people thought, so I let people think what they wanted to think. There was nothing else to do.” She smiled at me. “So there's your answer.”
“You didn't owe me an answer, Delilah,” I said. “You really didn't.”
“I know,” she said. “But it feels good to be able to share the truth and know there's a shot that person will believe what you say.”
“Well, then I'm glad you told me,” I said. “And I do believe you.”
“Thank you.” She slapped her palms to her thighs and rubbed them on her shorts. “Alright. Now I really need to get things rolling here. Thank you for listening to an old lady.”
“Any time,” I said.
Delilah stood. “Well, I'll make sure there aren't more times. You're here on vacation. You need to be enjoying yourself.”
“I am,” I said. “Jake and I both are.”
“Good,” she said. She frowned then. “Oh. I meant to ask you about the tow truck yesterday. Something wrong with your car?”
It was my opening to tell her about the tire slashing but I decided to keep my mouth shut. She didn't need anything else to worry about. “Just a flat tire. We had it towed to a local shop and they're bringing it back for us. Today some time, I think.”
“Probably Clarence,” she said, nodding her head. “He's got a place in the next town over that does repair work. He'll have it fixed for you in no time.” She worried her lip. “I hope you weren't needing it to go do stuff. You can always borrow my car if you need to...”
“No, no,” I said, holding up my hand. “We're just fine right here.”
“Good,” she said.
As if on cue, a tow truck lumbered toward the front gate from the main road, our shiny rental attached to the back.
“That was fast,” I commented.
“Clarence does good work.” Delilah waved at the driver, a balding man with a handlebar mustache, and pressed the button on the remote. “And he doesn't get much work up this way.”
“Bringing this back to your place,” Clarence called from his open window. “Belongs to some gal staying there?”
Delilah nodded and motioned to me. “She's right here.”
I waved. “Thank you,” I called.
“You betcha,” he said. He shifted the truck back into gear and made his way up the hill.
“Guess you aren't stuck here, after all,” Delilah said, smiling. Her eyes drifted over me and toward the road and the smile disappeared. “Well, this is going to be fun.”
I followed her gaze. A silver Suburban was turning into the gravel lot at the end of the pavilion.
“You don't sound like you mean that,” I said.
Her lips pinched tight and her shoulders filled with tension. “The meat for the potluck. I have it delivered. Steve from The Landing always brings it over and then helps at the barbecues.”
“Okay,” I said, still unsure what had changed her demeanor so dramatically. “Is he late or something?”
She shook her head. “No. That's not Steve.” She swallowed. “That car? That's Kat's.”
“Kat's?”
She stared hard at the Suburban. “Harvey's mother.”
TWENTY FIVE
Kat got out of the Suburban and shaded her eyes against the sun. She wore a pair of denim shorts and a red T-shirt that advertised The Landing. She spotted us, hesitated for a moment, then walked around to the back end of the Suburban. She lifted the window and pulled down the tailgate. She pulled a large box out of the back and made her way toward us.
“Where do you want them?” she asked as she approached. Her tone was curt.
“Table next to the grill,” Delilah said. She hesitated, then asked, “Where's Steve?”
Kat walked over to the table and dropped the box. “He's sick. He called me.” She walked toward the Suburban.
“See?” Delilah muttered. “Tons of fun.”
As nervous as Delilah seemed to see her ex-friend, Kat just seemed angry to be there. She grabbed another box and walked back toward us.
“Can I help you?” Delilah asked.
“No,” Kat said. “I've got it.”
“I can help you carry things.”
“I said I've got it,” she snapped.
She made three more trips to the Suburban and walked past us without saying a word. And each time, Delilah's anxiety grew. Kat slammed the tailgate on the Suburban on the last trip, her arms filled with one more large box. She dropped it on the table and started ripping the boxes open. Then she checked the propane on the grill.
“What time does thing start?” she asked.
Delilah checked her watch. “About half an hour.”
Kat nodded and ripped the rest of the boxes open. Stacks of frozen patties were stuffed inside of a large plastic bag.
“Are we just going to do it like this all afternoon?” Delilah asked.
“Do what?”
“This,” Delilah said, waving her hand in the air. “Not talk. Pretend like we're invisible.”
“Yep,” Kat said, pulling out meat patties and setting them on a tray. “I'm here to work, not discuss how you screwed up my son's life.”
Delilah's eyes grew round and she swallowed hard. “I did not screw up Harvey's life.” Kat didn't respond and Delilah continued. “Well, maybe if you'd been a more understanding mother, he might've spent a little more time with you.”
Kat flinched like she'd been tasered. She set another stack of patties on the tray and looked at Delilah. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” Delilah said. It was like something had sparked inside of her. I'd never seen her lose her cool but she was spitting knives. “If you hadn't just cut Harvey loose and stonewalled him, then maybe he wouldn't have felt the need to spend all of his time somewhere else.”
I could almost hear Kat's teeth grind as she clenched her jaw and set her hands on her hips. “Well, if you had respected my wishes and not turned him into your pseudo-son, he would've left this second-rate campground and gone and made a real life for himself somewhere else.”
“Harvey was an adult,” Delilah said, enunciating the word. “The problem was you never figured out how to treat him like one.”
“The problem was this place kept him from being one.”
“Yeah, if only he could've done something more adult,” Delilah said, rolling her eyes. “Like run a crappy restaurant in town.”
Kat's eyes narrowed. “At least I'm not about to declare bankruptcy.”
“At least I didn't just give up on life.”
Kat's cheeks flushed, the anger boiling over. I stood there, helplessly, watching the train wreck unfold. I didn't want to see them fight, but I knew it wasn't my place to get in the middle of them, either.
“I didn't give up on my life,” Kat said. “I stayed here to make sure my son would be alright.”
Delilah shook her head. “Which shows exactly how little you knew about Harvey. He'd be fine anywhere.”
“But if he hadn't been here, he wouldn't be dead!”
Delilah drew back as if Kat had slapped her.
“Yeah, you don't have a reply for that, do you?” Kat sneered. “Because you know it's true.”
Delilah swallowed. “Harvey was here because he loved Windy Vista. He loved Minnesota. And he loved the outdoors. No matter how hard you pushed him away, he wouldn't leave.” She swallowed again and leveled her eyes on the woman in front of her. “And it's not my fault that you have to live with the guilt of never having apologized to your son. Because he's gone now. And that opportunity is gone now, too.”
Kat froze. Slowly, she extended her arm and picked up one of the frozen hamburger patties. She stared at it for a second, then fired it at Delilah. The patty sailed a foot over Delilah's head and slammed into one of the posts holding up the pavilion, hitting it with a thud before flopping to the concrete floor.