“It was good. My brother and nephew came over. I made his favorite dish...’pisghetti.”
“’Pisghetti?”
She laughed lightly. “Yeah, Jeremiah still has a little trouble pronouncing spaghetti. Anyway, I made them lunch, lemon pound cake included, and they took the leftovers home. I hate leftovers. But don’t worry, I made us strawberry cheesecake tarts for our dessert. Two desserts in one day is going to have me tripling up on my spin classes this week.” She lightly patted her flat stomach.
“I have a few other ideas in mind to help you work those calories off.”
She giggled.
She talked more about her nephew, Jeremiah, and her brother. It was apparent how much she loved them.
It took us about twenty minutes to get to the park and find parking, but I paused just as I was about to turn off my car. Instead, I turned to her, again noticing the sadness in her eyes.
“You want to tell me what’s wrong?”
She appeared shocked. “Nothing’s wrong. Why, did I?”
“You didn’t do anything. I get the sense you’re a little off tonight.”
“I’m sorry, I?”
“You don’t owe me an apology. But I don’t like seeing the sadness in your eyes.”
She blew out a deep breath, turning toward the windshield. “It’s my parents.”
“Your parents?”
“Yeah, seeing Sean with Jeremiah always gets to me. It reminds me of how my dad and Sean were together, and how much my parents loved Jeremiah. They were so excited when they found out they were going to be grandparents. I remember my mom mentioning how much she couldn’t wait until I had kids. She planned to spoil them rotten,” she chuckled.
When she paused, I covered her hand, which still rested on my lap.
“It’s ridiculous… they died almost two years ago. I should be over it by now.”
I snorted. “There is no expiration date on grieving for the people you loved. It’s okay to be sad.”
She gave me a half smile through watery eyes. “And now I’ve ruined our date.”
“Nothing’s ruined. We’re still together.” I passed her a tissue from the box I kept in the glove compartment. She dabbed at her eyes with the tissue in her free hand. I still held onto her left hand in my lap.
“How about we take a drive?” I suggested.
“What about the movie?”
“There’ll be other movies.”
“I’d like that.” Her voice was low, filled with a sweetness that pulled at my heartstrings.
“Why do you have this?” she questioned, pointing to the scanner I’d taken out of my glove compartment.
We drove around for the better part of an hour. I asked her about her parents, and she divulged all about them. If the light in Angela’s eyes when she talked about them was any indication, they seemed like great people. Her sadness transformed to happiness as she talked about the different family vacations they went on. Her voice growing shakier when she talked of the last trip they took to the Bahamas. The one that’d killed them.
“It does bring me comfort knowing they died together. I don’t know if either one of them would’ve survived without the other,”she’d said when speaking of their death.
“It’s a police scanner,” I answered her question, pulling it from her hand. We were parked at a spot that was about ten miles outside the city. It overlooked the surrounding suburbs and part of Williamsport.
“I know what it is. I just want to know why you have it?”
Smirking, I leaned my head against the back of my seat. “I’m sure your brother and father had one.”
