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“My friend Lizzie says pretty girls always have boyfriends.”
Nora and I looked at each other. “Can I take this one?” she asked.
I held my hands out. “Please do.”
“Pretty girls definitely don’t always have boyfriends. And if a boy likes a girlonlybecause she’s pretty, he’s probably not someone who should be her boyfriend.”
Maddie nodded. “You’re pretty.”
“Thank you. So are you.”
“What is that?” My daughter pointed to the Mason jar in Nora’s hand.
She set it down on the rolling food tray. “This is a gratitude jar. This one belongs to your great grandmother, but I have one, too.”
“What’s in it?”
“Well, those are good memories. When good things happen, we write them down and put them in the jar. That way, when we’re having a bad day, we can read them, and it reminds us how much good we have in our life.”
“Daddy, I want to make a gratitude jar!”
“I think yours would be overflowing,” I said. “Because someone I know is pretty spoiled and doesn’t have many bad days.”
The nurse came back to take Gram’s vitals and remove her port. I figured we should give her some privacy. “Maddie, there’s a vending machine down the hall. You want to check it out?”
Her eyes grew wide, and she jumped from the bed. “Chocolate!”
I looked to Nora. “You want something?”
She shook her head. “I’ll take the walk with you guys anyway.”
The visitors’ room was empty. Maddie ran over to the machine and licked her lips while perusing the selections.
“Her mother doesn’t allow her to have much sugar. Carrie’s been obsessive about her weight since Maddie was born and counts every carb, even Maddie’s.”
“Oh, that’s not good.”
“Don’t get me wrong, sugar isn’t great for you. But I don’t want my daughter to start obsessing about her weight and have an eating disorder. I’m more of the belief that moderation is the key to diet.”
“Me too. As you can tell from the five pounds of pasta I ate last week at dinner.”
I looked her up and down. “Whatever you’re doing. It’s working.”
“Thanks again for dinner, by the way.”
“You’re welcome.” I winked. “Thank you for the ride home.”
She blushed.
I debated saying more, but who knew when I might see her again with Gram being discharged. So I had to go for it. “I called you a couple of times last week…”
She smiled resignedly. “I know.”
“You know because you saw my name come up in your missed calls, or because you watched it flash on the screen until it went to voicemail?”
Her face answered my question. I nodded. “Got it.”
Nora shook her head. “I’m sorry. It’s just… You’re hard to say no to. So it’s easier to avoid the question.”
