Page 16 of While the Sun Shines

“Uh, yeah?”

“What happened to mowing?”

“Yeah, I should…yeah.” He digs his hands into his pockets. He should go get on the tractor. But he steps forward instead, towards where Abelardo’s already gesturing for Penny to come over to him.

Which she does, letting the door fall so Drew has to catch it with his foot before it can smack him in the face.

“This is worth the entire drive,” Abelardo says, picking up the album. “Whit, oh my God, is that you? And Penny!”

Drew can’t see which photos Abelardo’s looking at, but he knows the stack of albums they’re from; they arrived in a pile of boxes Whit’s parents had brought over last summer, and he, Whit, Cooper, and Penny laughed as they went through them. Since then, Drew’s found Cooper and Whit flipping through them more than once, Whit patiently listing the names of classmates and old friends as Cooper follows along, unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the local high school, since he’d grown up in Brooklyn.

And he’s an expert by now, because he leans past Whit to flip forward a few pages. “This one,” Cooper says, pointing. “Look at Whit, all dressed up.”

“Nice dress,” Abelardo says and grins at Penny.

“Hi, thanks for visiting; no, you’re not welcome to show up here and zero in on all my embarrassing memories,” she says, trying to wrestle the album away from him.

But Abelardo just holds the album up, out of her reach, and he’s tall enough that the most she can do is grab for it.

“I was promised pictures if I ever visited. Pictures and bottle-feeding a calf.”

“You have to ask Drew if you can feed a cow,” Penny says. “Meanwhile, I’ll take that, thank you.”

But Abelardo just flips another page. “Nice dress and nice hair, Penny. And damn, Whit, that tux. Are you in here too, Drew?”

“Drew didn’t go to our prom,” Penny says.

I wanted to, Drew could say, but it would mean pushing into the knot of them, and there isn’t enough room around the table, not with all four gathered tight around the album.

“Neither did I, but I’m gonna Photoshop myself into all of these anyway,” Cooper says.

“You can’t Photoshop physical pictures,” Whit says.

“I can with a glue stick and some scissors.” Cooper holds up his hands. “Fine, removable tape. We don’t want to mar the precious images of that time Whit took Penny to prom.”

“Family legend. I’ve got to see this again.” Abelardo flips back to the prom pictures, holding them closer to inspect them.

But now Penny can reach the album and she does, grabbing it and slamming it shut. “Oh, look at that; the time for bringing up all of my old embarrassing high school moments is over. Can we go back to the pictures of Whit in braces?”

“Only if you tell me again how Whit had to come back and be your date,” Abelardo says, and Penny whacks him on the arm with the album.

“Farm-tour time,” Penny says. “This is the kitchen, and you’re a jerk. Holy shit, Ab, I missed you so much.”

“Missed you too.” He grabs the album to pull her close to hug again. “This is such a nice place. I love it.” Over Penny’s head, he smiles at Drew.

A beat too late, Drew says, “Thanks.”

“Your family’s, right?” Abelardo asks, still holding onto Penny.

“Yeah.” Drew nods and it feels too stiff and jerky.

“It’s so old; it’s gorgeous,” Abelardo says. “My condo is so boring compared to this charm.”

Bet the heat works, Drew could say. That Abelardo doesn’t spend the winter loading the woodstove full of logs to stave off the constant chill from the wind seeping through the walls.

Though, it’s a comment Drew’s heard often enough from anyone stopping by—the character in the warped, rippling old glass in the windows, the detail of the hand-carved banister, the delight of the worn, wide pine floorboards.

Drew digs his boot into one, leaving a bit of dirt from the sole that his aunt would’ve frowned at. Penny is the one who brings those types of people around. Drew’s friends are all in this room, and Whit’s not one for a rotating list of visitors, but Penny brings work friends by sometimes, or her sisters when they visit.