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“I hope his patients are okay.”
“Don’t you worry, sugar, we will get them fixed up good. Sawyer is one of the best.”
Did she say we? Okay, so maybe we weren’t going to be friends.
“I better go. Sawyer needs me to assist.”
I bet he did. I threw my phone in my bag. Now what did I do? Go tell his dad and Bridget we needed to cancel? Go in by myself? Move to Fiji? That was a serious consideration after last night. I read that in Fiji they like their women curvy. It’s like Hawaii. Why hadn’t I considered moving to these places before? I may even be considered too skinny there. It would be like a dream. I could eat pineapple and roasted pig all day long with no judgement.
I decided I better at least make an appearance since I had seen both Warren and Bridget peek out through the curtains. I grabbed my lame pasta salad. I was seriously bummed about it. I made the best pasta salad with roasted tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. What was available at the deli had limp noodles and smooshed olives. What a way to make an impression. I depended on Sawyer to remind me of these things. I was surprised he hadn’t.
Oh. I stopped on the sidewalk. I felt a sharp jab in my heart. Maybe that’s what Sawyer wanted to talk to me about. He was tired of us palling around. That’s probably what last weekend was about. Our final hurrah. He was probably thinking that he had carried me through this past year, but now it was time for him to spend some time looking for a girlfriend or wife. He had been awfully distant this week. Maybe he had been trying to pawn me off on his mom. I shuddered at the thought.
On that depressing note, I headed for the door. A small smile appeared when I noticed a huge red, white, and blue wreath with a sparkly silver bow on the door. I could hear mom say, “These are my kind of people.” I had a feeling they were my kind of people too, even if it made me feel disloyal to one of my best friends.
I didn’t even have to knock. Bridget and Warren opened the door with big, welcoming smiles.
“We’re so happy you could make it,” Bridget waved me in.
“I’m sorry Sawyer isn’t here yet. There were some emergencies at the eye center. He’ll be here as soon as he can.”
Relief flooded Warren’s face. Poor guy.
I held up the plastic container. “And I’m sorry I forgot to make pasta salad and you have to deal with store bought. You should know I am chronically forgetful unless it involves dessert. I always seem to remember to make those.”
They both laughed at me.
“My kind of woman.” Bridget took the container from me. “This is great. Thank you.”
“Well, come on back,” Warren warmly invited me. “I was just getting ready to throw the steaks on the grill. I wanted them to be fresh. We can grab some beers or soda and chat on the porch.”
“Do you have Dr. Pepper?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Warren responded.
I already loved these people. “Lead the way, then.”
We walked through the cozy home that was minimally decorated, unless you counted the many pictures of his sons on the wall. I had to stop and stare at a few in the family room before we headed through the patio doors. I touched one of a toothless baby Sawyer. He was freaking adorable. He had chubby thighs like me back then too. He had such curly hair as a toddler. I recognized the teenage boy in his football uniform. My heart skipped a few beats.
“He was such a handsome boy,” Bridget commented while handing me a Dr. Pepper.
“Uh-huh.”
“Still is.” She gave me a sly smile.
“For some, I suppose.” I grinned.
Warren chuckled while opening the sliding glass door.
While I followed them out, thoughts in the back of my mind kept nagging at me, like why did Warren have all these pictures of his sons and his ex-wife didn’t? I had never seen one from Josephine. My thoughts were interrupted by the paradise that awaited me in the backyard. It was landscaped to the hilt, with retaining walls, flower beds, several fruit trees, and a lush lawn that begged to be run across barefoot. A hot tub filled the corner of the large deck with a built-in grill. I could easily picture Sawyer out here playing catch with his dad. A thought that made me both happy and sad.
“It’s beautiful back here.”
Warren looked out over his yard and sighed with a sad smile. “A lot of good memories happened here.” He pointed to the grove of fruit trees. “Every year, Sawyer and I would plant a new tree, and he helped me build this deck.”
