The Last Song

“Will? Did I hear you come in?”

Ro

“Hey, Mom,” he said. He tossed his truck keys into a bowl perched on the entry table, right next to the vase of fresh-cut lilies. “I brought someone over. This is Ro

“Oh. Hello, Ro

Though Susan tried to hide it, Ro

But if Ro

“Is Dad around?” he asked.

“I believe he’s in his office.”

“Before I go, I need to talk to him.”

Susan shifted the magazine from one hand to the other. “You’re leaving?”

“I’m having di

“Oh,” she said. “That’s wonderful.”

“You’ll like this. Ro

“Oh,” Susan said again, turning to scrutinize Ro

Ro

“Interesting,” Susan said. While Ro

“Okay, so I’m just going to pop upstairs for a few minutes. I’ll be right back.”

Though Ro

With a couple of long, loping steps, he was heading up the stairs, leaving Ro

Ro

“So,” Susan said, forcing a smile. She looked almost plastic. “You’re the one with the turtle nest behind your house?”

“That’s me.”

Susan nodded. She’d obviously run out of things to say, so Ro

“Thank you.”

With that, Ro

“I thought I heard someone come in,” he said, walking toward them. His demeanor was friendly, almost jocular, as he approached. “I’m Tom, aka Will’s dad, and you’re Ro

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she responded.

“I’m glad I finally have a chance to meet the girl he’s been talking about.”

Susan cleared her throat. “Will is going to be joining Ro

Tom turned toward Ro

“Ro

“No kidding? That’s great. At least he’ll eat healthy for a change.” He paused. “I know you’re waiting for Will, but do you have a few minutes? I want to show you something.”

“I’m sure she’s not interested in your airplane, Tom,” Susan protested.

“I don’t know. Maybe she is,” he said. Turning to Ro

Of course, she thought, why wouldn’t the family have an airplane? Let’s just add that to the equation. This whole mess was Will’s fault. She was going to kill him as soon as she got out of here. But what choice did she have?

“Yeah,” she said. “Of course I like airplanes.”

She supposed she had an image in mind-a Learjet or Gulfstream parked in a personal hangar on the far side of the property-but it was a fuzzy image, since the only private jets she’d ever seen were in photographs. Still, this wasn’t what she’d expected at all: the sight of someone older than her father flying a remote-control toy airplane and concentrating on the controls.

The plane whined as it skirted over the trees, swooping low over the Intracoastal Waterway.

“I’ve always wanted one of these things, and I finally broke down and got one. Actually, this is the second one. The first one accidentally ended up in the water.”

“That’s too bad,” Ro

“Yeah, but it taught me that I should probably read all the directions next time.”

“Did you crash it?”

“No, it ran out of gas.” He glanced at her. “Do you want to try?”

“I’d better not,” Ro

“It’s not too hard,” Tom assured her. “This is one of the begi

“That maybe you should have read the directions?”

“Right,” he said. There was something about the way he said it that made him sound just like Will.

“Did you and Susan talk about the wedding?” he asked.

Ro

“I had to spend two hours today at the florist’s looking at flower arrangements. Have you ever spent two hours looking at flower arrangements?”

“No.”

“Consider yourself lucky.”

Ro

“You’ll have to forgive my dad. He sometimes forgets he’s an adult,” Will quipped.

“At least I’m honest. And I didn’t see you racing home to help.”

“I had a volleyball game.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that was the reason. And I gotta tell you, Ro

Though Ro

“It’s true,” Tom added quickly. “Don’t be embarrassed.” After making sure the plane was flying straight again, he glanced at Ro

Will, meanwhile, was shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you’re saying this, Dad. Right in front of her.”

“What’s the problem?” Tom looked at Ro

“Not at all.”

“See?” He tapped Will’s chest, as if he’d proved his point. “She doesn’t care.”

“Thanks for that.” He grimaced.

“What are dads for? Hey, you want to give this thing a whirl?”

“I really can’t. I’m supposed to bring Ro

“Listen to me. Even if they serve you eggplant on rutabaga with tofu, I want you to eat what they put in front of you and then make sure you compliment them on the meal,” Tom admonished.

“It’ll be probably just be pasta,” Ro

“Really?” Tom seemed disappointed. “He’ll eat that.”

“What? You don’t want me to eat?”

“It’s always good to experience new things. How’d it go at the shop today?”

“That’s what I needed to talk to you about. Jay said there’s a problem with the computer or the software-everything keeps double printing.”

“Just at the flagship or everywhere?”

“I don’t know.”

Tom sighed. “I suppose I’d better check it out, then. Assuming, of course, I can land this thing. And you two have a good time, okay?”