Chapter 7: What Oliver Got Back
We had three more days at the hotel.
They were, without question, the best three days of that trip — and some of the best days our family had shared in years.
The hotel staff, after word spread quietly through the building the way it does in small, self-contained places, seemed to go out of their way for Liam.
Not in a pitying way.
In the way that people do when they've witnessed something that reminded them of what matters.
The server from the first night brought Liam an extra portion of chocolate cake on the second evening without being asked.
The lifeguard at the pool learned three of his jokes and told them back to him badly, on purpose, so he could correct her.
He loved that.
Robert stopped by the pool on our second afternoon, not in any official capacity — just to sit for a few minutes and watch Liam argue with Ben about whether the scouting crab had returned or whether this was a different crab entirely.
"It's the same crab," Liam said firmly.
"Look at his left claw.
It's slightly bigger."
"You cannot tell that from here," Ben said.
"I absolutely can."
Robert sat beside me on the bench.
He was quiet for a moment.
"Diana called Oliver last night," he said.
I looked at him.
"She called him just to talk.
No occasion.
No reason.
She asked him what he'd been doing.
He told her about a video game he's been playing.
She listened for forty minutes." Robert paused.
"Oliver's mother called me afterward.
She said Oliver came downstairs after the call and said, 'Grandma Diana actually listened to me today.'"
I didn't say anything.
"She's going to visit him next month," Robert said.
"First time she's made the trip to see him on her own.
Usually it's only at family events."
"That's good," I said.
"It's a start," he said.
"It doesn't undo twelve years."
"No.
But Oliver doesn't need twelve years undone.
He needs next month to be different."
Robert looked at Liam, who had now recruited the lifeguard into the crab debate and was presenting his case with considerable authority.
"Your son did that," Robert said.
"Whatever Diana said to Oliver on that phone call — it came from what Liam said to her at the pool."
"Liam told her to find out if Oliver likes jokes."
Robert smiled.
A real one, quiet and a little tired.
"She asked him.
Apparently Oliver does stand-up comedy videos on his tablet.
He has forty-three subscribers."
I laughed.
I couldn't help it.
"Don't tell Liam," I said.
"He'll want to collaborate."
"Would that be so bad?"
I thought about it.
Two boys, different cities, same wheels, same absurd commitment to humor as a life strategy.
"No," I said.
"It wouldn't be bad at all."
On our last evening, we went back to the same restaurant.
Same table.
Same server, who greeted Liam by name and asked if he'd made a decision about the dessert menu situation, because he'd been studying it for two days now and she needed an answer.
Liam ordered the chocolate cake again.
And the ice cream.
Ben didn't say a word about saving room.
Halfway through dinner, Liam looked up from his plate.
"Mom."
"Yeah?"
"I've been thinking about what Diana said.
About Oliver."
"What about it?"
"He's twelve and he uses a power chair and he does comedy videos." Liam pointed his fork at me.
"We should find him."
"Find him."
"Like, online.
See if he has a channel or something."
Ben looked at me over Liam's head.
I looked back.
"We can look when we get home," I said.
Liam nodded, satisfied, and returned to his cake.
Ben reached under the table and found my hand.
We didn't say anything.
We didn't need to.
Outside the window, the ocean was dark and the lights from the boardwalk were reflected in long, broken lines across the water.
Somewhere down the beach, a family was setting off small fireworks — low, soft bursts of color that faded before they reached the clouds.
Liam watched them.
"Hey, Dad."
"Yeah."
"Why do fireworks go up and then come back down?"
"Gravity."
"What if gravity was optional?"
Ben considered this seriously.
"Then fireworks would just keep going."
"Forever?"
"Until they hit something."
Liam thought about that.
May you like
"Cool," he said.
And that was the last night of our vacation.
