Page 46 (2/2)

“No,” he said fir to do it” He so with us”

A sons passionately, but caone on, three years ago, she’d been so nervous that she’d made all of them miserable

There had been an open cahts, terrified that her youngest son was going to wake up and walk into the fire

There had been bugs, dirt, and no bathrooms When they finally hiked out of the place, she had fallen asleep in the car, exhausted and relieved that the ordeal was at last over

During the following year, neither Stephen nor their oldest sonBut the next su trip, before Amy could say a word, he said, “I vote that this year we leave Moreed

After that, A had beco with them The second year, she’d helped theear, then she’d happily waved the both of the boys’ bedrooym When they returned, all four of them were happy to see one another and had had ood ood-for-you food still in the cooler, right next to a bag full of e they could find at the local convenience store It took the boys nearly three days to coh But then, it had taken Stephen the same ay in the bedroom with Amy, she didn’t complain

This year was to be their fourth cas were different Four irl, and Arief

Everyone said that she was young and she could “try again,” but nothing consoled Aet out or see anyone

Through it all, Stephen had been wonderful He’d done the grocery shopping and he’d been the one to go to the boys’ last teacher conference At church he’d made excuses for why Amy wasn’t there He said she had the flu, then bronchitis Not one person believed him They patted him on the arm and said, “Give her time”

Stephen had gone hoood clothes before going outside, then told Amy every word the people at church had said about her absence For the last two Sundays, she’d still been in bed when they returned

But a feeeks ago, things had changed His father called hio to lunch with the wife of a friend of his She was a therapist Stephen had thanked his father for the offer, but said he couldn’t possibly go Between all that he had to do at work and his new responsibilities at hos that Amy usually took care of, he was overwhelmed The day before he’d put on socks that didn’t match and a new client had noticed For the ten years that they’d been married, Amy had always put out his clothes for him The truth was that he didn’t knohere his socks were kept

But his father kne to get his son to do what he wanted “Are you saying that you don’t want Aet back to her true, bossy little self? Do you want to spend the rest of your life with a woet out of bed? Do you want to start dressing yourself?”

Stephen sighed He knew he’d lost this arguan However, he had the presence of mind to ask about the wo A to his father, the wo names,” his father said “I can’t tell you who they are because—”

“I know,” Stephen said, “breach of trust I just don’t want to wasteto tell me to do is sit doith Amy and reason with her I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work”

His father hesitated “Are you saying you want to give her drugs?” There was horror in his voice

“No, of course not! I want…I don’t know, ic”