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Several hours later Kali heard Lincoln's boots on the stairs outside the apartment. “You remember what I told you?”
Theo grinned.
“And you remember, big booms, but they're okay. They're safe.”
He gave her an exaggerated thumbs up. Kali nodded. She'd give them all what they needed tonight. Conquer all of their fears.
“Hey.” Lincoln stepped through the door but barely glanced at Kali. His shoulders were stooped. Dirt smeared across his face.
Kali stepped toward him, uncertainty tingling through her. “Are you okay?”
Lincoln put a hand to his beard. “A rough day.”
She stepped in his path. “Want to talk about it?”
He rubbed his temple. “I miscalculated. About a week's worth of work, and me along with it, fell from the sky.”
“Oh my gosh!” Kali gasped and put a hand to his shoulder, the nurse leaping within her. “Are you hurt?”
“Miraculously,” he shrugged out of her grasp, “I landed on a huge piece of rubber.
“Oh.” Kali stepped back. “Good.”
“Bruised. Angry. Feeling like a fool. But no worse hurt than that.” He shook his head. “Gonna hit the shower.”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
He groaned.
“After the shower. That's fine.”
Theo stood with his arms crossed, a pout on his lion's face.
“You'll show him later, Sweetie. He'll love it.” She glanced around the room. “A puzzle while we wait?”
No response.
“Or trucks?”
Theo walked toward the bucket that held his dollar store and thrift store vehicles. He hauled out the flattened TV box Lincoln had drawn a roadway on last week. In less than two minutes all of the trucks and cars lay across it.
Lincoln emerged a half hour later, looking slightly less haggard. Kali raised herself up off the floor.
“Whoa. Lion.”
Theo popped up and did his practiced silent roar. “You've got that down!” Lincoln smiled and put a hand to his chest. “Don't sneak up on me with that growl or you'll give me a heart attack.”
Theo smirked.
Lincoln gravitated toward the kitchen. “You happen to make anything for supper?”
“No.” Kali stood. Lincoln bent to open the fridge, his head lost inside it. “I thought we could go out.”
His head appeared. “Oh yeah? Well, I'll scrounge something up.”
Even his eyes looked tired. Dejected. They disappeared behind the fridge door again. “No.” Kali shortened the distance between them. “I meant us. All of us.” Lincoln rose. “Head down to the harbour, get some street food, see the fireworks.”
He shut the fridge door. “That's not—”
“Look,” she stepped so there were only inches between them and looked back to Theo, “it's not for me. The psychologist thinks it's really important for Theo not to be afraid of loud noises. That getting over that may be a huge step back toward speech.”
“Okay, but—”
“And I can't take him down there alone. All those people. What if he freaks? What if he runs or ... not only that. If we can't get a good spot, if people are crowding around us or something, you could lift him up on your shoulders, make sure he gets the best view. So—” Kali looked to the floor. Her words needed to come smoother. “So it will be amazing for him. So it will help.”
“They're fireworks. They're in the sky. Everyone can see them.”
“Please.” She raised her gaze to Lincoln. “Please. It's taken me a whole month to decide if I'll do this. What if it makes things worse? What if ...?” She shook her head. “I need someone there with me. And you're all I have.”
“That nurse.”
“She's at a cottage with her family.” She smiled and bit her lip. “It'll be fun. Just a few hours. It'll be nice.”
Lincoln looked over her shoulder. Kali turned to see Theo standing behind her, making the explosion motions with his hands. He let out puffs of air, almost the sound of a soft explosion. Almost. She looked back to Lincoln, who was grinning.
He shook his head. “Yeah. All right. I'll come.”
***
LINCOLN STOOD IN FRONT of his closet. It'd been months since he thought about what to wear. He dressed for the weather. He dressed to get dirty. He didn't dress for people, not even himself.
In Montreal, he'd had a closet full of expensive clothes. Stylish clothes. Clothes for every occasion.
He pulled out his least torn pair of jeans and a t-shirt that could barely be called threadbare. The last time his birthday had fallen on Natal Day was when he was twenty-two. It was the first summer after undergrad and his whole life seemed ahead of him. Dreams of architecture, of making his own way, still swam in his head.
The time before that he'd been eleven and Dad had taken Linda, Rachel, and him down to the harbour. And danced. Actually danced. Not much, but their father had raised his hands, swung his arms, and stomped his feet. Linda had begged off with her friends, rolling her eyes, only checking in every half hour or so. Rachel had asked to go off too, but their father had said no. She was thirteen and her friends could join them if they were so desperate to see her. Joseph, at seventeen, had pulled out of their driveway in the early afternoon and didn't return until after the fireworks had finished and Lincoln was in his bed. Lincoln couldn't understand it—why choose anyone else when they had their father's undivided attention?
He walked beside his father, a big mountain of a man, excited for the noise and the crowd and the way his father called him champ and put him up on his shoulders, even though they both knew he was too old for it.
That was the last truly good day. Shortly after, Alexander Fraser started to disappear. To get angry. To think Lincoln was his brother, not his son. At first they hadn't known what it meant. They'd teased and joked and lived as if everything would be okay. His father was young, how could he get such an old man's disease?
Lincoln pulled open his door.
“You ready?” Kali's smile was bright, almost too bright, almost manic, as if everything that mattered hung on this night. He wanted to see that smile relax, see it come naturally.
“Yep. How about you?” He turned to Theo and gave a little dance, his arms waving in the air. “Fireworks!”
Theo jumped up and down.
“Get your jacket,” said Kali.
Theo's head swivelled from shoulder to shoulder.
“Get your jacket. It's not cold now, but it will be. I'll put it in my satchel.”
He acquiesced, running across the room and coming back with the coat held high. Kali took it and stuffed it in her already full bag. Lincoln held open the apartment door. Theo, skipping by, gave him another silent roar. A ball of warmth, a feeling he'd almost forgotten, spread through Lincoln.
The night was humid, with an ocean breeze that promised the temperature would shift as the sun set. Lincoln glanced at Kali. She'd told the boy to grab a jacket, but the cardigan slung over her arm was thin.
“Just a sec.” Lincoln bounded back up the stairs and grabbed a sweater. It'd be a pain to carry it around all night, but a worse one to see her shiver.
The streets thickened with people as they neared downtown. Kali had wanted to go across the harbour to Alderney Landing—the concert, the official launching spot for the fireworks, the place where both of them had had such memorable days—but they'd see the fireworks just as well from this side of the harbour. And what if Theo did freak out? From the Halifax Harbour they could walk home, rather than wait for a ferry or try to manoeuvre one of their cars through all the traffic across the bridge.
And those reasons were true. It was also true that at Alderney Landing he'd be sure to see old friends. Maybe even his family—Rachel lived a fifteen-minute walk away. At the Halifax Harbour, the chances were less. He rubbed a hand along his beard. At the Halifax Harbour, with a few beers in them, people might not notice him. Might not question.