Page 89 of The Calendar of New Beginnings
“Yes, but I heard what you said back. Neither of you is right.”
April walked out of the kitchen, and Lucy heard the front door close moments later.
She studied the three photos on the kitchen table. Her mother was mistaken. She had to be.
If she were right, everything Lucy believed in was wrong.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Andy was preparing Danny’s current favorite for dinner: macaroni and cheese. Some idiot who ran the lunch program had served this nutrition-free meal three days ago, and Danny had refused to eat any of his old favorites over the last few nights. Only macaroni and cheese would do. Andy had finally caved after a two-night-long protest.
Lucy had texted him to say she was running late and not to hold dinner for her. He’d told her that was for the best since their menu sucked. She’d seemed off in her text, but he’d been too distracted to press her. He could figure out what was going on with her when she arrived. Right now he was stuck in food hell.
He’d found a recipe online, which he’d thought would be more nutritious than using a box. It had horrified him to see how much butter and cheese was involved in a homemade recipe.
He told himself he wasn’t a bad father as he fumbled with the white sauce. Crap. Even meals with no nutritional value were beyond his cooking competence. He almostadmitted defeat and dragged Danny to the store to buy a box, but he bucked up. He could do this. It was only a white sauce. But his looked pretty lumpy… Danny hated lumpy food—he wouldn’t even eat mashed potatoes and gravy if there was the tiniest lump in either.
His son was never going to eat this.
Danny ate it. All of it. And after he’d snarfed down the broccoli Andy had insisted on including, his son threw his arms around his neck and given him a smacker on the cheek.
“That was the best meal ever, Dad! Thanks.”
Then he hopped off his lap, leaving Andy to stare stupidly at Rufus. “Sometimes I don’t understand anything.”
The dog whined in solidarity. The doorbell rang, and Danny gave a “Whoop.”
Andy smiled for the first time since he’d caved in to his little food monster. Seeing Lucy always brightened his mood. She was becoming one of the greatest joys in his life—a life that felt more balanced with her in it.
Right now, he was surrounded with the people and things he loved: Danny, Lucy, his family, his work, and Dare Valley itself. He hadn’t been this happy since he’d realized Kim was the one. Even though he was trying not to get ahead of himself, he knew Lucy was the one too. She was just way too skittish to hear that yet. And he was way too uncertain of what would happen if she was able to resume her career.
“Grandma!” Danny shouted, catching Andy off guard. He headed out of the kitchen to see what had brought his mother over tonight.
Danny was telling her all about the macaroni andcheese, and while she was listening, she had one eye on the kitchen doorway as he came through it.
He knew that look. It meant trouble.
“Hi, honey,” she said, giving him an encouraging smile. “I thought I’d stop by and see if I could play with Danny tonight and put him to bed. It’s my favorite thing in the world.” She ruffled his son’s hair. “He’smymacaroni and cheese.”
“I’m not pasta, Grandma,” Danny said with as much exasperation as a five-year-old could muster. “I’m a boy!”
“Are you?” she said, crouching down and smelling him. “You smell kind of cheesy to me.”
He scrunched up his nose. “I don’t smell cheesy, Grandma. That would be silly.”
“Yes, it would be, wouldn’t it?” she asked as he wrapped her up in a hug. “My mistake. How about you go pick out some books for bedtime while I talk to your dad?”
“Great! I’m going to pick a lot of them, Grandma.” He raced out of the room and pounded up the stairs, Rufus barking behind him.
Andy crossed his arms. “All right. This is unexpected. Anything you need to tell me?”
The smile her grandson had put on her face faded. “Lucy and her mom had a big fight today.”
Shaking his head, he said, “I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to that.”
“Well, it has, I’m sad to say. I thought perhaps you two might want to be alone for a while. Natalie said Lucy was coming over for dinner tonight, but it didn’t sound like anyone was babysitting later, if you know what I mean.”
Even though he was a full-grown adult and a doctor, a flush broke out over his ears. “Jeez, Mom.”
