Chapter 62

“You’ll get it,” I told him. “I promise.”

Once the weather cooled off again one fall, Archie had tried to teach me Dawn’s meatloaf recipe. I couldn’t quite recall if it was the same year or the next.

“You gotta get both hands in there to mix it all up.”

The texture of ground meat, eggs, milk, and mushy bread through my fingers wasn’t terribly pleasant. “We got four hands in there, now.”

“Even better.”

In the end, it was the worst thing I had ever put in my mouth.

“We must have left something out,” I said. “Or put too much of something in.” I barely managed to swallow my chunk. “Maybe too many hands.”

“Dawn says it’s the love that matters most.”

“That doesn’t sound like Dawn.”

“I swear, she said it,” Archie claimed, trying a second bite, but letting it fall from his mouth almost immediately.