“Yeah, pretty bad,” Trygve confessed, as excited about her progress as Page was. “They smell bad too.”
“Garbage.” Allie was struggling for words, and they laughed at her.
“I wouldn't go that far. Next time you'll have to come with us, and you can come fishing for garbage too.” Allie laughed at his joke, and he hugged her. She was still beautiful, it was amazing how little visible damage there was from the accident. For her, all the real damage had been inside.
Trygve and Page went back to spend Labor Day weekend at the lake. The air had cooled a little bit, and you could already feel the end of summer. They were sad to see it end, but even as chopped up as the time had been, it had restored them. They all had a lot to do when they went home, especially Page, who had her murals and her art program to work on, and a lot of hard work to do with Allie.
And it sobered them again when they picked up a newspaper and saw that Laura Hutchinson was going on trial Tuesday in La Jolla.
“I hope they put her away for a hundred years,” Chloe said vehemently, more for Allie than herself. And of course for Phillip. She had been only too happy to let Phillip take the blame and imply that it had been his fault. For the rest of time, he would have borne the blame of the accident, when she had been the one. Someone had come forward recently and said that they thought she'd had a lot to drink when she left the party. Why hadn't the police noticed that? Why hadn't they done anything about it? It was too late now. But at least, this time, she was going to have to pay for what she'd done in La Jolla.
“It's amazing how life changes, isn't it?” Page said wistfully as they sat at the edge of the lake at sunset. They were going home the next day, and the kids were all up at the house getting ready for dinner. They were going out that night, to a new restaurant in Truckee. “Five months ago my life was in a whole different place …and now look what we've been through, where we've gone. You never know in life what's going to happen.” They were richer for it in the end, but at what price. They had paid dearly for everything that had happened.
“I never want to relive that day,” Trygve said thoughtfully. “I still remember when they called me …and then I saw you at the hospital …I thought they were with you.”
“And I thought you'd been killed when they said the driver had been killed on the bridge …God, what an awful moment.” She looked up at him with wide eyes, filled with respect for the power of destiny, its cruelty and its kindness. “I guess we've been pretty lucky.” She smiled at him, and took his hand in her own.
“You've been so good to me these past months.”
“You deserve even better. Just give it time.” She laughed then, as though he'd said something funny, and he had, but he didn't know it. “Have you been doing any thinking about our plans?” He didn't want to push her, but he brought it up from time to time, just to remind her. He still wanted her to marry him when her divorce became final at Christmas.
“Yes, I have.” She said it quietly, looking out across the lake as he watched her, and then she turned to him with an odd expression. “Are you really sure that's what you want, Trygve? It's a lot to take on. I've got two kids …and Allie's recovery won't be easy.”
“Neither will Chloe's. And Bjorn will always be who he is. What about you? For all my pushing, how do you feel about my burdens?”
“I happen to love them very much. I never knew I could love someone else's kids as much.”She had even grown fond of Nick in the short time she had come to know him better over the summer.
“I'd say it's a fair match.” He smiled, and she nodded, and then he looked serious again. “I used to feel that I really shouldn't get married again because of Bjorn, that it wasn't fair to him. I couldn't imagine anyone loving him as much as I did, and I didn't want anyone to hurt him. And then you came along,” his eyes grew damp as he pulled her closer to him, “and you were so wonderful to him … he really deserves to be around people who love him. He's such a good little soul, in spite of his limitations.”
“So are you,” she said, nestling close to him, and she hadn't found his limitations yet.
“How does Christmas sound to you?” He smiled, looking mischievous, and this time she laughed.
“Actually, I was going to discuss that with you,” she said, and then lay on their towel and looked up at him.