Ruth sat up and looked down.
From that angle, it looked like a strange pod with two holes on the top.
Trusting Katie with her life at that moment, Ruth slipped her feet in.
Before she could form any words, the 'pod' surrounding her feet started to massage.
And it felt like, "Heaven..."
Katie got up and pecked a little kiss on Ruth's cheek. "I'll help dad with dinner. I hope you like it."
"Like it?" Ruth giggled and then groaned as something pressed up against the arches of her feet. "I loooove it."
Ruth enjoyed hearing Katie and Nick softly speaking in the kitchen.
She could hear them coordinating their efforts and when she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine that this was going to be her everyday life someday.
"I hope you're hungry. Katie's friend from the dance company, Eun?"
Katie agreed softly and Nick continued on.
"Her uncle opened a Korean Take Out place nearby. We stopped to get food. And I think," Nick chuckled, "we got some of everything on the sides menu. Katie knows the names of the sides-"
"More like what they are, but I don't know if there are names for it."
"Ah..." Nick chuckled again. "So it's going to be a kind of buffet style dinner."
Their voices were closer than before, and Ruth opened her eyes to watch them carrying trays into the room.
"I'm good with anything," Ruth sighed blissfully, "as long as it's edible. I'm good." She looked from Katie to Nick and gave them a smile with watery eyes. "Thanks."
"Hey," Nick set down one tray with food and one with plates and utensils, "we missed you and wanted to have dinner."
Katie picked up a plate and met Ruth's gaze with her own. "I'm going to tell you what the things are. You just tell me if you want some, okay?"
Ruth nodded, not sure she could trust herself to speak.
Around her, Katie and Nick helped her fill her plate and her world with warm smiles and conversation.
Ruth realized that beyond the food she was 'good.'
Better than good.
She felt wonderful.
With Nick and Katie in her life, everything had changed.
And her dreams, once again, opened up and filled her with hope.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
NICK
Opening night of the Nutcracker was completely different for him.
Instead of finding himself sitting between a bunch of dads who weren't volunteering behind the scenes like their wives, he was sitting beside Ruth in the theater.
Every year Katie told him the best places to sit given where she was on stage. Sightlines and spotlights weren't something he really paid much attention to, but Katie knew everything like the back of her hands and the bottoms of her pointe shoes.
