her legs, accentuating her gorgeous beaded sandals and manicured toes.
Tugging at her mustard-stained T-shirt that always seemed to show off her I’ve-had-babies pooch when she sat, Angela clasped a throw pillow to her abdomen. “It’s all ready, actually.”
“Great.”
Angela played with the golden tassel on the pillow, which had already been old when she and Wes purchased it fourteen years ago for their first real home. Even though her in-laws had been wonderful—allowing Wes and Angela to live with them for nearly two years while Wes finished school and Angela cared for Kylee—they’d been so excited to finally have a space of their own.
“So.” Eva played with her oversized hoop earring. “I got this call on Friday. Did you know that Brent and Wes signed up to run an ultra-marathon in New Zealand this spring?”
“No.” Of course Wes hadn’t mentioned the race. He probably knew how upset she’d be that he was running off to explore and play, leaving her to run the household by herself for the thousandth time.
Angela stuffed the thoughts down deep. She couldn’t let herself have any more emotional outbursts, which meant she needed to be better about disguising her feelings. As far as her children were concerned, things between their parents had been wonderful. They didn’t have to know about the fights, the tears, the fact they couldn’t seem to get on the same page.
It didn’t matter anymore. Wes was gone, and they’d never reach a resolution to their issues now. The best thing Angela could do was forget about them, put on a happy face, and move on.
“Aunt Eva, you’re here!” Kylee’s joyous exclamation filled the room as she rushed in and dropped into the chair where Zach had been sitting.
Her children’s reactions to their aunt made sense. Eva was cool, fun, spunky, free-spirited—basically everything Angela was not. Angela was the one who had to say no to their whims. The responsible one.
Eva only had to look after herself. Plus, she could literally afford to do whatever she wanted with her time.
“Good to see you, girl.” Eva reached across the divide and squeezed Kylee’s hand.
“What were you saying to Mom about an ultra-marathon?”
“Oh, I was just telling her that your dad and Uncle Brent signed up to run one in New Zealand.”
“Really?”
Angela shifted in her seat.
“Yeah, I got a call from some woman. She had no idea that Brent . . .” She swallowed, her eyes pooling with tears.
Kylee leaned toward her aunt, gripping her hand in both of her own. “You should do it.”
“Do what?” Eva squinted at her niece.
Yes, what was her daughter talking about?
“Run the race in his place. You know, like in memory of him or something. I dunno. Lots of people have done stuff like that. Like, there was this mom who ran the London Marathon in memory of her daughter who died of cancer. The daughter was sick for twenty-six weeks, so the mom ran a mile for every week her daughter lived after her diagnosis.”
Angela stared at Kylee, who had just said more in the last minute than she had in the last month. Revealed more, anyway. “Why did you happen to read about that?”
Avoiding Angela’s gaze, Kylee shrank back in her seat a bit. “I thought about doing something like that in memory of Dad.”
Oh, sweet girl. Angela’s heart twisted, and she longed to cross the room, gather her daughter in her arms, and cry with her.
But the thought of Kylee, stiff and unresponsive at her offer of comfort, kept her still. She didn’t want to make her daughter uncomfortable, especially in front of Eva.
“That is the best idea in the world, Kylee. Get over here.”
Without hesitation, Kylee moved to the couch, allowing Eva to embrace and snuggle her close. The sound of quiet crying rose to meet the silence in the den.
And Angela, sitting not five feet away, stood and snuck into the kitchen to pour the drinks for lunch.
5
Her niece was a genius.
“You should do it.” Eva couldn’t get Kylee’s words from last night out of her head as she emerged from the subway stop nearest the heart center and crossed the street with hundreds of other New Yorkers on their way to another day of work.
Something about the day felt new, the air laden with possibility. A hint of saffron and cinnamon tingled Eva’s nose as she strode past a local Indian eatery, a bakery, and a trendy independent bookstore all packed together on one street corner.