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“Well, B.J., there are two boxes of books in the living room. You can put them all in that bookcase and plug in the lamps,” Dani said. “Wiley, if you don’t mind, all the boxes marked LINENS, if you can put the contents in the cabinet in the hall, I’ll sort them later. And Sean can do his tech magic with my electronics.”
“What about me?” Aaron asked.
“You can come lift the heavy stuff in the kitchen for us while Shirley and I get the dishes and pans put away. Lord knows we don’t want B.J. to starve.”
B.J. grinned. “Yes, ma’am. I like the way you think,” he said, and bolted for the living room.
Being single meant not having a lot of belongings.
They had everything out of Dani’s boxes in only a couple of hours, and then broke down the boxes, tied them in a bundle, and left them at the curb for trash day.
Sean had her computer connected to Wi-Fi and Internet, and her TVs were ready for viewing. One in the living room. One in her bedroom. Her pots and pans were on the shelves beneath the kitchen counter, her glasses and dishes in the cabinets above. They’d moved the living room furniture around enough to accommodateher area rug, and had the table in the kitchen wiped off and loaded with Shirley’s fried chicken, potato salad, and deviled eggs, along with paper plates and plastic cutlery. They’d left the soft drinks in the bottles for easier cleanup. There would be no dishwashing tonight. Just eat their fill and carry out the trash.
Dani was exhausted and it showed. She didn’t feel like she could eat a thing until she took that first bite of fried chicken, then rolled her eyes.
“So good,” she mumbled.
Shirley beamed. “Thank you, sugar.”
“Mama is a really good cook,” B.J. said.
Shirley accepted the compliment with her usual grace, and the same comment she made at their table every night.
“Thank you, son. Please don’t talk with your mouth full.”
“Right!” B.J. said, still chewing.
Laughter rolled around the table.
Dani felt like a different person. Today, this family had found the dead weight of grief within her, and buried it with laughter.
She ate what she’d taken out on her plate and was reaching for her soft drink when Sean raised his fork and pointed at Aaron.
“Hey, Aaron, would you pass the potato salad and eggs, please?”
“Sure,” Aaron said, picked up the bowl, and quietly put another spoonful of potato salad and another halfof a deviled egg on her plate without looking at her or even saying a word, then calmly passed the bowl.
Dani looked at what he’d just done and up at him, and kept staring until she made him look at her.
He sighed. He didn’t know if she was insulted or just pissed. He lowered his voice and leaned closer.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to offend. But you didn’t take enough food to matter first time around. Sean asked me to pass the potato salad and eggs, so I did. But before I let it go, I gave you a little extra just in case. In this family, if you wait around trying to decide if you want more, then it’s too late. You didn’t know this. I was just helping. And now you know.”
Every fear she’d had that he was going to be another manipulative man controlling her choices just went out the window.
She whispered back, “I had no idea. I was an only child. Thank you for the egg and taters.”
Aaron blinked, then saw the twinkle in her eyes, and threw back his head and laughed.
The startled looks his family gave him were because they hadn’t heard him laugh like that in years. They looked at each other and grinned, then just kept eating. Whatever she’d said had their blessing.
The Popes left her house just before dark, with the constant words of Dani’s thanks still ringing in their ears.
The brothers had loaded B.J.’s Harley into the back of Wiley’s pickup truck so he wouldn’t be riding it up the mountain in the dark, and then left in a convoy, with Aaron and his mother bringing up the rear.
Dani stood on the front porch watching until the taillights of the last vehicle had disappeared, then she went inside and locked both doors, before going through the house to make sure the shades were pulled. She paused in the middle of the house, listening to the quiet hum of the air conditioner, and felt a sense of peace and a knowing she was where she belonged, then flipped on the night-light in the hall, and went to her room.
She was exhausted, but her hunger had been sated and her house was in order. It was more than enough for today. She ran the bathtub full of water, sprinkled in some aromatic bath salts, and stripped where she stood before slipping into the hot steamy water.
