Page 48 of Learning at 40

Eventually, the conversation shifts to me.

“Zack mentioned your husband passed as well. I’m so sorry to learn that. Were you married long?” Anna asks.

I don’t want to lie to her, but the situation is too complicated to explain on a first girls’ night out. “Not long. He was in a similar situation as your husband. Quincy had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.”

“Oh my gosh,” Autumn squeaks, covering her mouth while Anna reaches for my hand, apologizing for my loss.

“I understand.” My response is all-knowing and filled with compassion for Anna’s position. Losing Quincy wasn’t nearly as rough as Anna’s loss of Ben—that long-term, long-lasting kind of love they had—but it doesn’t diminish the fact I had a hole in my heart after Quincy passed away. It almost equaled the loss of Grandpa, almost. Ben had also died young while Quincy was nearly double Ben’s age. “He was older, though, and had lived a long life.”

“Where did you live before Lakeside?”

“Just outside Grand Rapids.” Fondly, I recall living in the second-largest city in Michigan. “When I inherited my house, it seemed like a good time for a change.” I smile again, understanding Anna’s decision to move, even if it happened under difficult circumstances. “Lakeside is turning out to be one of my favorite places as well.”

“I don’t suppose a certain neighbor has anything to do with that.” Autumn wiggles her brows.

“You mean Anna?” I tease.

Anna laughs and adds, “Those men are thick as thieves, but this is girl zone. What’s said here stays here.”

Autumn gives her sister-in-law a skeptical look. “Oh no, I know that look. Do not go into matchmaking mode.”

My eyes widen as I glance back and forth between the two women, and Autumn continues. “Anna hatched a little plan in that smart brain of hers to set me up last summer and—”

“And look where you are now?” Anna squawks. “In love, happily married, and with a baby.”

Autumn blushes. “You wanted to set me up with a different man.”

Anna waves a dismissive hand. “Mason. Logan. Potato, tomato. What’s the difference?” she teases.

Even though I hardly know the men half as well as these women, I could think of a few differences. Autumn quickly defends her husband, ticking attributes off on her fingers. “Oh, I don’t know, Logan’s sweet, funny, and a family man.”

“Well, I don’t need to try to set River up. She’s already with Zack,” Anna explains as if I’m not present. Then she turns to me. “Speaking of family, Zack’s newly divorced, as you know.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Autumn grumbles.

“How do you feel about other people’s children again?” Anna’s teasing me as she already knows I love them but want my own someday.

“Quincy had a few,” I admit, which tips Autumn’s brow. “They are older than me, though.”

“Do you see them?”

“Never. Quincy was not close to his children, unfortunately.”

Anna’s forehead furrows. When you’re a loving, doting parent, it’s hard to comprehend that some parents just are not loving and doting.

“Zack really does love his boys,” she assures me, but I don’t need her to be team Zack. “He’s just had a rough time. He and Jeanine fought often, and in order to avoid confrontation, he worked too much, keeping himself distant from Trevor and Oliver. Those boys were left too often with nannies. But I know in his heart, he could be a good dad.”

“I believe that as well. He’s just . . . lost.”

“They’ve all been in that position,” Autumn interjects. “Well, maybe not Ben. But Logan was like that with Lorna, and Mason is hopeless.”

“Oh, really? What’s Mason’s story?” I ask, just curious as I heard he has a five-year-old daughter he hardly sees.

“It’s a mess,” Anna says, and that seems to be her final answer on the subject.

“Speaking of other people’s children,” Autumn starts once more. Were we speaking of other people’s children again? “Zack’s sons adore you.”

“I adore them.” Slowly, I smile, recalling how yesterday was my day off, and I’d spent another day with Zack and his boys. They played in the tree house for hours before lunch, and then we shared an afternoon of sunshine at the beach.