“Like modernizing it,” Linda guessed.
“Yes.” Tom nodded slowly. “But...”
He swallowed. His eyes drifted back to Eleanor’s photograph on the wall.
Linda followed his gaze.
When she turned back, the understanding shone brightly in her eyes.
“Tom,” Linda said softly. “Is this panic attack all about Mom?” He nodded. There was no point in denying it. “She would have wanted you to move on.”
Tom said nothing. His throat had gone too tight.
“She wouldn’t want you to be alone, Tom.” Linda squeezed his hand. “And for the record, I know for a fact that she had been planning to modernize the bakery again before she got sick.”
Tom looked up.
“Really?” Tom asked.
“Really,” Linda confirmed.
“I didn’t know that.” Tom swallowed the lump lodged in his throat.
“She was working on a new summer menu the year before she passed away,” Linda recalled. “We talked about it on the porch of Heart House one evening that fall. She had ideas for blueberry galettes and a cold soup service for the summer crowd. She was going to bring it to you in the spring.”
Tom felt the lump in his throat deepen.
“Even if she hadn’t been,” Linda continued gently, “Tom, the bakery has been frozen in time for five years. And so has your apartment. And so has your heart.”
Tom drew a breath.
“With everything left the way it is, it feels like keeping her memory alive,” he admitted, his voice gruff.
“Tom,” Linda answered, “we keep her memory alive with our good memories and our photos. Your business needs to grow. The world has moved on, and Mom would have wanted you to move with it.” Her eyes softened. “It’s about time you got some new items on that menu.”
“I just feel like I’m betraying her,” Tom whispered.
“That’s natural.” Linda’s voice was very soft now. “I know it isn’t quite the same, but do you remember when you and Mom started dating?”
“Yes.” Tom managed a small, fond smile.
“I liked you,” Linda recalled. “Right from the first time Michael and I went over to the bakery to have lunch with Mom. You were great. Kind. Funny. You treated Michael and me like your own kids. And I wanted to accept you so much, Tom. But there was this little voice inside me that said if I let you in, my dad would fade away.”
Tom’s eyes stung and he said nothing as he didn’t trust his voice at that moment listening to his daughter’s story.
“And then I tried that horrible stunt where I tried to set you up with Mrs. Goddard’s daughter,” Linda continued.
“Oh, I remember that one,” Tom recalled, with a watery laugh. “You were a determined little thing.”
“Mom took me aside afterward.” Linda sighed. “She wasn’t angry and just like I’m telling you now, she understood what I was going through. Because she had gone through what you’re going through now over my dad.”
“Of course, it’s like things have come full circle,” Tom said. “What did your mother tell you?”
“She told me that you would never replace my father,” Linda explained. “That no one could ever take his memory from me, or take his place in my heart. But that our hearts grow, Tom. They grow to make room for other people we love.”
Tom felt the lump in his throat finally give way to two slow tears that he did not bother to wipe.
“Your mother was a wise woman, sweetheart,” Tom said hoarsely.
