*
Casey balanced a large plastic storage bowl filled with chili inher hands while locking the deadbolt on her front door. She’d slung a tote bagcontaining a bottle of wine, a loaf of Texas toast, and a Ziploc baggie ofhomemade brownies over her shoulder. Despite her cargo, she opted to walk thethree blocks to her standing Wednesday dinner engagement. Though thetemperature still held at just over eighty degrees, the evening air lacked thehumidity typical of Tennessee in late August.
As she passed the park, she nodded at several parents watchingover their young children from a bench near the playground. She’d walked Seanto the same park to play more times than she could count. The green space soclose to the house had been one of its major selling points. She’d been happyshe was able to stay in the neighborhood after she and Jacqueline broke up.She’d been prepared to fight for the house, but surprisingly Jacqueline hadacquiesced without protest and, in fact, had insisted on paying part of themortgage so that Casey and Sean wouldn’t have to worry about money. Casey hadargued, not comfortable with Jacqueline supporting her, but Jacqueline hadinsisted that her contribution was for Sean. She’d also admitted that with allof her traveling, having Sean and Casey close to her father eased her mind.
Casey had worked hard to build her business and decrease herdependency on Jacqueline’s money. She’d reached a point of self-sufficiencyseveral years ago and had started putting any money that didn’t support Seaninto a savings account. She’d presented him with a chunk of it each year as hestarted college. She planned to sign the account over to him upon his collegegraduation. She felt good about separating herself financially from Jacqueline.But she’d never let go of her connection to Teddy.
As she reached Teddy’s house, she knocked once, then, using herkey, opened the door in order to save him the walk to the foyer. “Teddy?”
She found him in the living room, in his chair with the sportssection. She didn’t know anyone else who read an actual newspaper. Herattention span was so short, she typically heard the latest sound-bites fromthe local television network while editing photos and drinking her morningcoffee.
She touched his shoulder and returned his greeting on her way tohis modest kitchen. The outdated countertops and cabinets inspired a wave ofnostalgia for her mother’s kitchen. Teddy even had the same ivory-coloredappliances she’d grown up with. She dumped the chili in a big pot, set it onthe stovetop to warm, and turned on the oven to heat the bread. After pouringtwo glasses of wine, she headed back through the doorway to the living room.While most of their neighbors, herself included, were opening up the floorplans in these old houses, Teddy had retained the walls that defined eachseparate room and made the footprint feel smaller.
“Anything good in there?” She nodded toward the now-folded paperon the lamp table beside him as she handed him a glass.
“Never is.” He sipped, then nodded his head in approval.“Something smells good.”
“Chicken chili. It’s been wafting through the house all day. Ican hardly wait for the bread to toast.” The small plate of cheese and crackersshe’d called lunch in between clients today hadn’t kept her stomach from growlingthroughout the afternoon. But her day had already been jammed before she’dagreed to squeeze in a senior portrait session that required her to drivetwenty minutes outside of town to an abandoned barn.
“Did Sean get away before you started crying all over him?”
“Yes. Smart-ass.” She gave an exaggerated sniff. “I’m gettingbetter at this.”
“Oh, honey, you never get better at letting them go. You justlearn how to hide it.”
“Now there’s something I’ve never been good at.” The sarcasticcomment slipped out before she could censor it. She usually avoided talkingabout Jacqueline with Teddy. He’d never stopped treating Casey like a daughter,and that couldn’t have always been easy for him.
“You weren’t alone in that.”
“Sorry.” She stood and headed for the kitchen to check the bread.“Today has me feeling nostalgic.”
He nodded absently, his eyes taking on a distant look. The ballof emotion in her throat grew larger as she continued into the kitchen. Shehated these moments of vulnerability that reminded her of his advancing age.
“Get a grip, Casey.” She rolled her eyes as she bent to take thebread from the oven. Mostly, she was simply emotional and being melodramatic.But a small part of her couldn’t help focusing on all of the little ways he’dbeen acting differently. Where she’d once seen only a strong family provider,this past year, she’d caught glimpses of frailty—both physically and mentally.
As she spun toward the counter, she nearly ran into Teddy, nowstanding in the middle of the kitchen. She jerked the tray close to her to keepfrom burning him, and the bread slid toward her, several of the pieces endingup trapped between her shirt and the edge of the cookie sheet. She maneuveredthe hot pan onto the counter while trying to salvage the bread.
“Geez, Teddy. Don’t sneak up on a girl like that.”
His eyes darted from the bread to the front of her shirt, and aslight tremor shook his hand as he swiped his forehead. He appeared more shookup by the near miss than she did. He stared at the three slices of bread now onthe floor.
“I hope you weren’t craving bread.” She gathered them up andthrew them in the trash, then bent to clean the crumbs from the floor. Despiteher attempt at levity, he still appeared bothered. She straightened and touchedhis shoulder. “Hey, it’s fine. Did you come in here for something?”
“No—I—” He looked around, obviously now at a loss as to why he’dentered the kitchen.
She steered him toward the dining room. “Sit down. I’ll bringyour dinner.”
When she set a bowl of chili
