When the emotional storm ebbed, Robbie hugged Macy and Meg, nodded politely at the others and returned to his hotel for the night. Soon, Grace, Meg and Macy made their way back to the condo while Gary and Troy quietly cleaned up the trash, wiped down the table and turned off the lights. Gary said he’d be back shortly and climbed into the bus while Troy walked back alone.
Moses noticed that Gary hadn’t returned. Where’d he go? He thought.
Inside the condo’s living room, Troy dropped into Sandi’s recliner, Meg into her own, and Macy and Grace sat close on the loveseat. Macy’s eyes were still wet, and every few minutes she apologized.
“Don’t be silly,” Meg said. “You’re allowed to feel everything you’re feeling.”
Moses heard the discussion behind him, read the body language, felt the emotions, but he kept his eyes on the sidewalk and his nose near the window.
“I’ll just say it,” Grace began. “I know I’m not a Gorton. I mean seriously, why am I even here for this? I get it. But Macy, you have nothing to feel sorry for. You were a child. And even if you weren’t, even if you were there to fly all by yourself—like Mallorie—you would have every right to say, ‘Not today.’”
At the sound of Grace’s voice, Moses turned away from the window, trotted to the loveseat and wedged himself up and in between them.
“I’ll say this,” Troy offered. “Obviously you knew, right, Mom? I mean the rest of us are sitting here like we’re stuck in a movie or something, and you’re . . .”
“Aware,” Meg said.
“Sure. Aware,” Troy agreed.
Meg smiled at Macy, who once again was shaking with the weight of the revelation. “I’ve known a long time,” Meg said. “My sister, my twin, she kept nothing from me. You could have guessed that. I wasn’t thrilled—no, that’s not the right word. I wasn’t pleased when Sandi first told me about the letters and your friendship. But what was I to do? Cut you off? Call your family? Then the years passed, and Sandi told me about your parents’ divorce. I was sick about it. Sandi told me that morning haunted you, and she was the only one you could really talk to. And then when your mother died, I wanted to reach out, but I didn’t know how. What’s it been? Three or four years?”
Macy nodded.
“By then my marriage was hanging by a thread. Gary and I were just enduring the days, and I was miserable and depressed.”
Macy began again to weep silently, and when she let her guard down, Moses licked her face.
“How could I say anything? Sweetheart, I know how hard this was for you too. So when Sandi invited me down for about the . . . millionth time . . . I came and promised Sandi that if anything ever happened to her, I’d be there for you. A friend. A mother. A home.”
Macy smiled through more tears. “That was my job,” she said. “I told Sandi I’d take care of you when she got sick. I promised I’d be a friend, a daughter, a nurse, whatever you needed.”
“And you have been all that and so much more,” Meg assured.
Troy watched Grace stand and move behind the loveseat. As Macy spoke, Grace ran her fingers through her new friend’s hair and began braiding it.
Moses also watched. He loved when fingers ran through his hair too.
“I feel so relieved.” Macy looked up at Grace and then at Meg and Troy. “This has been a heavy thing to carry around. And I just kept telling myself that the more I loved you, Meg, and stayed close, the more I’d move on from that morning.”
Troy leaned forward in the recliner and rested his arms on his thighs. “We’re glad too, but again, as much as I missed not having her growing up, this wasn’t your fault any more than it was mine or Mom’s.” Troy stretched across, took Meg’s hand and rested their hands on her armrest. “This beautiful woman was my mother in every single way. I knew about the crash for—well, I guess I don’t remember not knowing. It was part of growing up. I knew I was the weirdo in school being raised by my grandparents. And so what . . .”
Moses watched Troy and admired his devotion to Meg. He had the urge to walk up and lick Troy’s face, to lick every face, but the day had worn him out too.
“As for Robbie,” Troy said, “the dad that I always wanted to know, I guess I don’t know yet. I don’t know what happens next with him . . . He grieved his way, I guess. And we all grieved ours. I don’t know what happens from here, other than I’m open. Open to keep listening.”
With that, they heard a knock at the front door, and Moses made his way to the window. A moment later, Gary appeared in the living room. With Grace still on her feet braiding Macy’s hair from behind, he slipped into her spot on the loveseat.
When Meg began to catch him up, he began loving Moses with one hand and raised the other. “Wait,” he said. “Just wait.”
Moses scanned the room and saw all eyes settling on Gary, so his did too.
“Meg. I figure this whole trip. This . . . reunion or whatever you want to call it. It’s mostly my fault—”
“—Hold on, Pop,” Troy said.
“It’s true. I’ve thought about that day every day since it happened. When I’ve gotten up, gone to work, gone to games. When I’ve slept. When I’ve dreamt. When I fought with you, Meg. I thought of it. Why I didn’t stop her. Then why I didn’t confront Macy’s parents and shout my head off. Then why I didn’t chase down Robbie when he walked out. I figure I have more what ifs and whys than anyone.”
Moses flopped down on Gary’s lap and began watching Meg.
“I figure you all grieved your way, and I did mine. Which probably wasn’t the best.” Gary paused, seemed to study Moses’s face and scratched his head. “I guess what I most want to say is that while I don’t think I can fix the past or go back in time and take different roads, all I can do is try to make today better. It’s hard, maybe the hardest thing I’ve done. And I know it’s not perfect, and it might not even be what I really want. But I’m afraid it might be the best I’ve got.” Gary leaned down and kissed Moses’s head. “I’ve made a decision.”
When he paused too long, Macy touched Gary’s arm. “Should I go? I should go.”
“No,” Gary insisted. “Stay. It’s good. You’re good.” Gary looked at Meg and grinned. “These guys already know. Well, I figure Macy wouldn’t, but here’s the thing. I want you to have Moses.”
Meg’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry, what?”
Moses wanted to sigh. He sensed this moment was coming, had read the signs, but the reality that his life was changing forever had taken his breath. He lifted his head and watched and waited.
“You heard me. I want Moses to stay. I’m giving him to you. I want you to have him, to have my best friend.”
Best friend, Moses thought.
“This is my way of saying . . . I want you to be happy. And to not be alone.”
“Wait, Gary. Are you being serious? With me? With us?”
“Nothing but,” Gary said, and he stiffened his back.
Moses read the room.
Troy awaited Meg’s move.
Grace was more interested than ever in Macy’s hair.
Moses thought Macy’s face looked as if she wished she hadn’t asked if she should stay. That perhaps she should have simply jumped through the window and run.
Meg sat forward and looked sideways at Troy. “Was this your idea?”
Troy shook his head. “Absolutely not. “
“Grace?” Meg said. “So what is it? You all decided the best way to fix things was to leave an old dog and ride that dumb bus back to Virginia?”
Moses snorted. He didn’t know all their words, but he surely knew what “old dog” and “dumb bus” meant.
“No, definitely not,” Gary said. “This was my idea. My suggestion. I don’t want you to be alone, and I regret the last couple of years.”
“You regret.”
“I do.”
“Just the last couple years?”
Moses looked at Gary and didn’t know whether his dad was supposed to nod or shrug or both.
“Well, yeah, Meg. I do.”
Meg looked at Troy but gestured to Gary with her left hand. “So he’s demonstrating his . . . regret. With Moses.”
“Mom, keep hearing him out. He’s trying.”
Meg slowly stood, shook off Troy’s help and began to walk out of the room toward the back bedroom. “Yes, you’re right. He’s trying,” she said. “To apologize with a dog.”