“Amanda. It’s Amanda.” Christine said the words like the name should mean something.
Lane looked at Amanda standing in the kitchen. She was the same height as Christine. Amanda’s hair was dyed black, her eyes were blue, and she had the face of an angel with pierced eyebrows. She wore a leather jacket, knee-length shorts, canvas running shoes, and a black T-shirt. Lane held out his hand and thought, Is she moving in too?
Amanda pushed his hand away and hugged Lane around the waist. He looked at Christine for help. Matt leaned against the fridge with his arms crossed.
Amanda said, “You don’t remember me?”
Lane recognized something in her voice. “You mean Amanda? Mandy? My brother’s daughter?” Lane hugged her back.
“You do remember! I didn’t forget you. Even when they stopped talking about you, I remembered. You sent me birthday cards every year.”
“You used to lick your finger and stick it in my …” Lane got chills up his spine.
Amanda stuck a wet index finger in his ear.
Matt bent double with laughter.
Christine said, “She still does.”
“Are you staying for dinner?” Arthur asked.
They moved to the deck while Roz chased wasps and made endless rounds of the spruce tree.
“I can’t really remember when it happened or why. My parents just stopped talking about you. There were no more Christmas dinners. No more birthdays with you. Remember the barbecues in the summer? It all just stopped.” Amanda looked around the table. No one replied. She looked at Lane. “Do you remember it that way?”
“Yes.” Lane watched Roz while thinking about Riley in their old yard.
Arthur set a salad bowl in the middle of the table. “He was told to stay away. There were several phone calls from his brother telling him that Lane had made his choice, and they were making their choice. By that time, Lane and I were living together. I was there when the calls came in. It was like a death.”
Lane got up to check the chicken on the barbecue. He felt emotions beginning to boil over.
“My mom went along with it?” Christine asked.
At the opening of the barbecue lid, Roz roared onto the deck and skidded to a halt next to Lane.
“What’s going on? Anybody been feeding the dog from the table?” Lane thought, What am I so upset about? I’ve dealt with this. I like this life better than the old one. He looked back at Matt, Arthur, Christine, and Amanda. Only Amanda made eye contact.
Roz’s tail was a windshield wiper on the deck. Her tongue hung out. Her pleading eyes never left Lane.
“Well, did my mom go along with the ‘excommunication’ or didn’t she?” Christine asked.
“We didn’t hear from any of them. Lane was told he wasn’t supposed to be around his nieces and nephews.” Arthur held up the bottle of white wine. “Anyone?”
“Me, please.” Amanda held up her glass.
Arthur smiled. “You’re underage.” He looked at Lane.
Lane shrugged. “Anyone driving?” He worked to keep his voice low, conversational, even though he felt like screaming at the outrage of losing all those years.
They all shook their heads.
Arthur poured five glasses.
Lane picked up the platter from the table. It took all of his concentration to take the chicken off the barbecue.
“So you were cut off from us, and no one asked us what we thought?” Amanda scooped Greek salad.
“I guess so.” Lane looked to his left. Roz was there, sitting and waiting. He saw Riley again, head resting on his paws.
“How come you don’t say much, Uncle Lane?” Matt asked.
Lane looked across the table at his nephew. Lane’s words flew out before he took the time to think about them. “You know what it’s like! You’re cut off from your family! My family wanted nothing more to do with me! They preached about the truth! When I told them the truth, when I came out, they disowned me. It was all very polite, of course! They just stopped inviting me over! I’d call, but my calls would never be returned, or they didn’t have time to talk! I finally gave up after I was told I was a bad influence around my nieces and nephews!”
Matt leaned back, a bit shocked at the explosion he’d sparked.
Lane read his nephew’s expression. “I’m not mad at you. I thought I was over it. I was wrong.”
“Finally, it’s out!” Arthur put his arms up like someone had just scored a goal.
Lane opened his mouth and closed it.
Matt smiled. “So, it’s just a mask! You always act like you’re in control. But, you’re just like the rest of us!” He started to laugh.
Roz rubbed her cheek against Lane’s knee.
Christine started to chuckle. “The dog’s already figured you out! You’re just a teddy bear on the inside.”
Amanda sawed at her chicken breast. Half the breast shot across the table and ended up on Arthur’s plate.
Arthur looked at her with amazement. As they laughed, the dog began to howl.
After supper, dishes, and a second bottle of wine, they stayed outside. Roz lay next to Lane. He felt her nose against his hand. He rubbed the thick fur on the back of her neck. When he pulled his hand away, she sat up and poked him with her nose until he returned to scratching her.
Lane felt the wine loosening his tongue and looked at the pink sky silhouetting the mountains.
“It’s great to be able to see the mountains,” Amanda said. “We can’t see them from my house.”
“That’s one of the reasons why we bought this place.” Arthur sat opposite from Lane.
“New house, new dog, new family.” Lane was surprised as anyone at what he’d said.
“Is that why you didn’t want us to get a dog, after what happened to Riley and what happened to your family?” Matt asked.
Lane thought for a moment. “Maybe. You get close and then …”
“Tell me about it. I know exactly what you mean.” Christine lifted her glass to look at the sunset through the wine.
“It’s always about you. You never think of anyone else, do you?” Matt glared at Christine.
Amanda laughed. “You two really are like brother and sister. Always bickering. Just like me and my brothers. Always reading more into what’s said than is actually there.”
“And sticking up for one another. Like after the dance.” Arthur lifted his glass and drained it.
“Did she tell you?” Matt looked sideways at Christine.
“Christine didn’t tell us anything. We have eyes. We could see what was going on. She had your back,” Lane said.
“Oh, I forgot. You’re a detective.” Matt looked for Roz who wagged her tail, put her paws on the arm of his chair and licked his face.
“Don’t get mad at Uncle Lane! He didn’t do anything!” Christine said.
Roz moved to Christine and licked her face.
“See what I mean?” Amanda raised her wine to see what was so interesting about the sunset, then she looked through the glass at Matt and Christine.
“I do.” Lane raised his glass and saw the pinks of the sunset accented by the legs of white wine in his glass and thought, Things just never turn out the way you expect them to.
The phone rang.
Christine got up and went inside. A few seconds later, she poked her head out the back door. “It’s for you, Uncle Lane.”
Lane got up and went into the kitchen. It must be ten degrees warmer in here, he thought. “Hello.”
“It’s me,” Harper said.
“What’s up?” Lane sat down.
“Christine tells me the party is going well.”
“It has its ups and downs.”
“She says you’re getting a little wild and crazy.” Harper sounded pleased.
“The DNA results are in.”
“And?”
“Lombardi’s blood and hair are a match. It looks like Blake killed him. And Rosco, the dog, was a match as well.”
Lane thought for a moment. “So the most reasonable conclusion is that Blake killed Lombardi and then the dog.”
“You think the dog tried to protect Lombardi?” Harper asked.
“Probably.”