Read Fly Away for Free Online

garage.”
    “I’ll stop the milk delivery and call the police,” Bud said. “Just so they know to
     watch the house.”
    Johnny hadn’t thought of any of those things. Kate had always done all the prep work
     for their trips.
    Margie patted his forearm. “Go make the reservations. We’ve got you covered.”
    He thanked them both and then went into his office. Seated at the computer, it took
     him less than twenty minutes to make the reservations. By 6:50, he’d bought airline
     tickets and reserved a car and rented a house. All he had to do now was tell the kids.
    He headed down the hallway. In the boys’ room, he went to the bunk beds and found
     both of his sons on the bottom bunk, tangled up like a pair of puppies.
    He ruffled Lucas’s coarse brown hair. “Hey, Skywalker, wake up.”
    “I wanna be Skywalker,” Wills murmured in his sleep.
    Johnny smiled. “You’re the Conqueror, remember?”
    “No one knows who William the Conqueror is,” Wills said, sitting up in his blue and
     red Spider-Man pajamas. “He needs a video game.”
    Lucas sat up, looking blearily around. “Is it school time already?”
    “We’re not going to school today,” Johnny said.
    Wills frowned. “Cuz Mom’s dead?”
    Johnny flinched. “I guess. We’re going to Hawaii. I’m going to teach my kids how to
     surf.”
    “You don’t know how to surf,” Wills said, still frowning. Already he had become a
     skeptic.
    “He does, too. Don’t you, Dad?” Lucas said, peering up through his long hair. Lucas,
     the believer.
    “I will in a week,” Johnny said, and they cheered, bouncing up and down on the bed.
     “Brush your teeth and get dressed. I’ll be back to pack your suitcases in ten minutes.”
    The boys jumped out of bed and raced to their bathroom, elbowing each other along
     the way. He walked slowly out of the room and down the hallway.
    He knocked on his daughter’s door, and heard her exhausted, “What?”
    He actually drew in a breath before he stepped into her room. He knew it wouldn’t
     be easy, talking his popular sixteen-year-old daughter into a vacation. Nothing mattered
     more to Marah than her friends. That would be especially true now.
    She stood by her unmade bed, brushing her long, shiny black hair. Dressed for school
     in ridiculously low-rise, flare-legged jeans and a T-shirt that was toddler-sized,
     she looked ready to tour with Britney Spears. He pushed his irritation aside. This
     was no time for a fight about fashion.
    “Hey,” he said, closing the door behind him.
    “Hey,” she answered without looking at him. Her voice had that brittle sharpness that
     had become de rigueur since puberty. He sighed; even grief, it seemed, hadn’t softened
     his daughter. If anything, it had made her angrier.
    She put down her hairbrush and faced him. He understood now why Kate had been wounded
     so often by the judgment in their daughter’s eyes. She had a way of cutting you with
     a glance.
    “I’m sorry about last night,” he said.
    “Whatever. I have soccer practice after school today. Can I take Mom’s car?”
    He heard the way her voice broke on Mom’s . He sat down on the edge of her bed and waited for her to join him there. When she
     didn’t, he felt a wave of exhaustion. She was obviously fragile. They all were now—but
     Marah was like Tully. Neither of them knew how to show weakness. All Marah would let
     herself care about now was that he’d interrupted her routine, and God knew she spent
     more time getting ready for school than a monk devoted to morning prayers.
    “We’re going to Hawaii for a week. We can—”
    “What? When?”
    “We’re leaving here in two hours. Kauai is—”
    “No way, ” she screeched.
    Her outburst was so unexpected he actually forgot what he was saying. “What?”
    “I can’t take off from school. I have to keep my grades up for college. I promised Mom I’d
     do well in school.”
    “That’s admirable, Marah. But we need some time away as a