when he arrived home. Jack had expected Henry to stay with him but Henry had declined the invitation, saying he was going to stay with a relative in town. He was dressed in sweats.
“Have you been working out?” Jack asked, noticing that his friend was sweating.
“A little bit,” Henry replied evasively. “Now I’m hungry. Want to go for breakfast?”
“No. I’ll eat too much if I go out. Dinner is at two and I want to be hungry. I’ll scramble some eggs and make toast if you want.”
“Sounds good,” Henry replied.
It seemed strange to Jack that Henry did not stay with him then showed up sweaty in a jogging outfit. Something was going on.
A brown wreath made of bare branches hung on the front door of Danni’s house, perhaps a symbol of autumn’s end and Christmas to come. Jack rang the doorbell.
Danni answered wearing a snug brown sweater and jeans and the most beautiful smile Jack had yet seen. She gave Jack a big hug, then she opened her arms to Henry.
“Here’s the man who saved my life. Welcome to my home, Henry.”
She led them into the living room and sat them on the couch. A fire was just getting started in the fireplace, the wood crackling in the background. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“I’ll have a beer,” Jack said. Henry indicated that would be fine with him as well.
Danni left the room and returned a few seconds later with the beer and a beautiful young woman who bore a startling resemblance to her although her hair was dark brown.
“This is my daughter, Hannah. Hannah, these are my friends Jack Tobin and Henry Wilson.”
Hannah greeted them both warmly. She had a mature confidence about her that was rare for a woman her age.
“Gentlemen, if you will accompany us to the dining room, dinner is ready to be served,” she said after the introductions were complete.
The dining room was small, but it made the atmosphere even more intimate. Danni had decorated the table with a festive lace tablecloth, a gold leaf centerpiece, and deep orange candles. Danni and Hannah started bringing in the various dishes and setting them between the candles and the place settings: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, collard greens, corn, and cranberry sauce. Last but not least came the turkey, beautiful and golden brown.
“Gentlemen, please join us in a moment of thanks,” Danni said after she and Hannah sat down. They all held hands as Hannah spoke.
“Dear God, please bless this food we are about to eat and these friends who have joined us today. Amen.”
“Jack, will you carve the turkey?” Danni asked.
Jack stole a glance at Henry who just smiled and nodded.
“It will be my pleasure,” Jack said.
The food was delicious and they talked and laughed as if they were old, old friends. Henry told stories about his and Jack’s fishing excursions on Lake Okeechobee.
“The only thing that’s always missing is fish. They seem to know it’s our boat and that Jack’s cooking. I don’t want to eat what he’s cooking and they don’t want to be what he’s cooking.”
Henry was a good storyteller and everybody laughed. Hannah regaled them with stories of life in Boulder, hiking the Flatirons, and being a freshman in a college so far away from home.
“Mom sent me to Colorado when I was young and I hated it for a long time. Then I started to remember how beautiful it was. I couldn’t wait to go back.”
All in all it was a great meal. Both men helped with the cleanup. Jack cleared the table and Henry loaded the dishwasher.
“This is my job on the boat, too,” Henry told Danni. “Only we don’t have a dishwasher.”
“Sounds like you need to speak up, Henry,” Danni replied.
“It wouldn’t do any good. There are only two jobs in the galley and Jack’s a better cook but don’t tell him I said that.”
After dinner, Hannah sat on the couch with Henry and peppered him with questions about life in prison and what it was like on death row, issues Henry didn’t usually talk about. She was so genuinely interested in his experiences, however, that he found himself telling her everything.
“There were times when I thought I would never see the outside world; never have a delicious meal like the one we just shared; never enjoy a good conversation like this. It certainly teaches you to cherish every day.”
“And that made you and Jack friends forever, I guess?”