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Liz smiles. “Your parents are good people, very kind.”
His mom is, his dad isn’t, but maybe he’ll eventually come to accept me.
“So where are you living now?” Easton asks Liz.
“In a small town in Minnesota, a couple hours from here. Harold finally retired and we decided to buy a few acres and have a hobby farm.”
Harold is her husband. He was a truck driver and always on the road. When I lived with Liz, I rarely saw him.
“We have goats, chickens, three dogs.” Liz laughs. “It’s a lot of work, but we like it. You two should come out and visit sometime.”
“We should,” Easton says, smiling at me.
“We’d love to have you,” Liz says. “We have a big old farmhouse with lots of spare bedrooms.”
“We’ll plan on it,” Easton says. “Sometime this fall, before hockey starts.”
“You play hockey, Sean?” Liz asks.
“He’s really good,” I tell her. “He even got a scholarship.”
“I’ll have to tell my grandson. He’s a huge hockey fan.”
“And I go by Easton now,” he says. “Not Sean.”
She tilts her head. “You changed your name?”
“My parents did. They decided to call me by my middle name instead of my first.”
“That must’ve been hard on you, having people call you by a different name.”
He shrugs. “I got used to it.”
Penelope comes out of the house. “Oh good, you’re back.”
“We haven’t left,” Easton says as she comes over to us. “Mom, you remember Liz.”
She gasps. “Liz.”
She smiles at her. “It’s nice seeing you again.”
Penelope hugs her. “It’s been forever.” She steps back. “You look wonderful.”
“You’ve barely changed.” Liz laughs. “You look like you did the day you picked up Sean.”
“Easton,” Penelope says, barely above a whisper.
“Yes, that’s right. He was just telling me he goes by Easton now.” Liz looks up at him, like a proud mom would. “I can’t believe how much he’s grown. I almost didn’t recognize him.” Her eyes go to me. “And Nova has become a beautiful young woman.” She looks back at Penelope. “I’m so happy they found each other.”
“I am too,” Penelope says, sounding regretful for all the years she kept us apart.
“Well, I suppose I should let you all get on with your day,” Liz says. “Let me give one of you my phone number so we can stay in touch.”
“Liz, if you’re not busy, we’d love to have you join us for lunch,” Penelope says.
Liz’s face lights up. “That would be wonderful! I was just killing time until my grandson got home.”
“Please, come inside,” Penelope says. “The kids were just going to get some propane for the grill.”
