Page 90 of The Sky in Summer

What they proposed, and what is about to come to pass, was a home switch. I would take care of their house for a year, and they would care for mine. It was a genius solution, with all parties thinking they were getting the best of the deal.

Gaston gave up everything he loved to move to Montana and be with Aurora. It was not a sacrifice he has said over and over. But it was. Of course it was. Now he gets another opportunity to walk the narrow streets, to smell the freshly baked croissants. He will see his old studio and visit what relatives remain. I think there’s a few cousins and an aunt. I didn’t get to it, but he will. There will be time to do it all.

I thought deep down inside there would be a difference of opinion between the two of them. She would hide her real feelings for his sake and mine. I thought he would be thrilled, and she would think about how miserable it would be missing us. Secretly she would be counting the days until she was back in her own house. But that isn’t how it has played out, and it makes me happy to know how totally into this my mother is.

Turns out Aurora Lyon imagines her middle-aged children can take care of themselves for one year. She said as much. And pointed out her grandchildren, except for sweet Poppy, have their own things going on, as they should. When she said those things, I saw another side of my mother. The person she is, independent of motherhood, showed up strong to the party. I liked her. And what was really cool, it became easier to imagine that young, smart, adventurous girl she was.

She is looking at this as the continuing adventure, I think. My dad is fucking digging it. Just the two of them again, like they were at the start. They haven’t been those two people for so long. But this time things will be a little different. They have the money and the time to do whatever they want. It’s gonna be an action adventure, romantic comedy, starring the French sculptor and the American hippie. Because that is who they still are. The projector paused the film in nineteen-sixty-nine. Now they get to resume the origin story.

And I get to relive my childhood in the house I grew up in. I’ve lived there for almost eight months now. That’s where I get the mail, anyway. Not that David and Tyler would give a shit, but Layla isn’t comfortable with us officially living together while they are still at home. I get it. Begrudgingly. We have made do with the thousand and one places we have found to be together. Including my parents’ house.

My mother’s hand raises and waves.

“Van, we will send you a text when we get to the apartment. But don’t expect a call. We are planning on sleeping that entire first day.”

“Sleeping? Love, we are going to be living in the most romantic city in the world. Remember?” Gaston’s eyebrow lifts.

“I remember,” she says, smiling slyly.

“Good. It wasn’t sleeping we were doing,” he says to David sitting next to him. “You understand what I’m saying?”

That gets big laughs from the table. And it begins a whole new conversation about how they watched the moon landing on the roof of a building in Paris. I listen quietly, as they go back in time to the beginning. Their first days sound an awful lot like the last few and all the ones in between. It has been love, all along the way.

I reach for my cell and bring up her name.Peaches.I start typing.

My parents aren’t going to be home tonight. Want to come over?

The End .. See what life has in store for eldest Lyon son, Aargon in :The Leaves In Autumn