"That Saturday-it's the 28th, right? I assume that's when you want to leave? Or maybe we can pack all day Saturday and leave Sunday morning."
"Sunday morning sounds more realistic."
"Do you know where you'll be living up there?" asked my mom.
"Not yet."
"I don't think that's something you should put off, Wyatt."
"I'll start looking at places online. Otherwise the company has made arrangements with some agencies for fast-track leases. But I heard there are better deals if you look for them independently."
"Well, don't kill yourself over it," she said.
We discussed minor details for a while and then channel-surfed somewhat collectively, landing on an early episode of Friends. Before long my parents made their way toward their bedroom. Stephanie and I said goodnight to them and were soon left alone.
"Do you need to get going?" she asked.
"Soon, I guess. Not yet."
She stood and went to the front door. "It's really not that bad out here," she said, hanging onto the doorframe and leaning out into the night.
We situated ourselves on the porch swing, overlooking the front lawn. Stephanie had carried with her one of my mom's massive old quilts and we bundled ourselves tightly within it.
"I'm not going to catch your cold, am I?"
"I really don't think you need to worry," she said. "I just like scaring Mom."
For a minute or two we didn't talk. I listened to the faint roar of cars on the highway, sequestered, as if it were not the sound itself, but just the memory. The cold, damp air nuzzled against my cheeks. I turned to her. "You're doing okay with everything?"
"I feel happy," she said. "I am happy. But I'm a little ambivalent about my situation with the new guy."
"So it is actually a situation?"
"Yes," she said. "It is. A new one, but a promising one. The problem is that I'm not ready for another situation. Or I don't want to be."
"You don't want to be?"
She took her time responding. "It's good to be alone for a while. Part of me wants it to last forever, but another part of me is scrambling every second to get back into something with someone. It's infuriating."
"It sounds like it."
She said little else about it, but I accepted that because she had shared this much with me, I owed her the same. Before I spoke, however, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Mikey had texted.
"I need to see you tonight, if possible," he wrote. "I messed things up with Sophie. I don't know what to do."
"Sure," I replied. "I'm at my parents' now. Can you pick me up? Do you remember how to get here?"
There was a brief delay before his next text, during which I apologized to Stephanie. "It's him. I think he's coming to pick me up. He's got a family thing he needs to talk about, I guess."
"Don't worry," she said. "Do what you need to do."
Mikey's reply arrived. "Not quite. Text me the address if that's okay. I couldn't stay in the house so I was out driving around Corbin. I'm not far. Sorry about the short notice."
I replied, telling him not to be sorry, and ended with the address. I then turned to Stephanie. "It's funny that he just texted me-Mikey, I mean. I was about to update you on all that."
"And?" she beckoned.
"Well, I guess it kind of a similar situation. Even if my reasons for staying single are more external. You said things with this new guy are promising. I'm definitely feeling the same way."
She nodded. "Do you know what you're going to do about that?"
"No. No idea. But I can't change my plans for him. Not big plans like this. He's not out-in fact he's only barely out to himself. There's just…so much going on with that situation. But in another way it's like, nothing is happening."
She nodded.
"I'm sorry, I'm just tired. It's making me lazy about how I describe it."
"It's fine," she said. "I think I mostly get the situation."
"On a more tangible note, I think he'll be here very soon. Would you like to meet him?"
"Yes," she said quickly, as if she might miss her chance. "He's comfortable with that?"
"I believe he is."
His car rounded the corner in the next moment, as we began extricating ourselves from the confines of the blanket. I had imagined leading Stephanie out to the street so that they could meet, but instead his engine shut off after parking and he had strode, quickly but without urgency, across the lawn by the time we stood up. I stepped down off the porch and said, "Mikey, this is my sister, Stephanie."
He reach out and shook her hand as they exchanged personal introductions. "It's so good to meet you," he said. He stood back a little said to me, "I'm sorry to come by so late. And to interrupt."
"Don't worry, Mikey."
"You're not interrupting anything. I need to go home soon, anyway," she explained. "You two enjoy your night." At this, she flashed a sort of sideways, clandestine smile, which communicated much more to me, I was certain, than it did to Mikey.