perfect. I was excited about the possibilities of company, daydreaming that the boys were mine and wondering what it would be like to be married to a man ten years older than I was. I didn’t even unload my car or take the groceries inside. I was so excited, I’d even coughed up the money for store-bought flowers, a rare indulgence. And, the weather felt a lot cooler than it had been in the morning, which I took as a good omen. In fact, everything seemed like a good omen.
I marched right up their front steps, crossed the porch, knocked on the door, and waited.
Archie answered and, of course, Tyler and Hunter were right behind him, nearly colliding with each other as they sock-skated toward the door across their gleaming heart pine floors. Archie, whose longish hair was sexy as hell, was wearing corduroy pants, a plaid shirt, and a thin cardigan, looking every inch the kindly and distinguished professor that he was. He reminded me of Alexander Skarsgård. I mean, break a sweat.
“Well, hi, Holly,” he said. “Would you like to come in? How’s your mother?”
“Oh, no, thanks; she’s fine. Nothing broken. Her doctors wanted her to stay the night just to be sure she’s okay.”
“Mith Holly!” Tyler shouted. “Come see my map of Italy I’m drawing for extra credit!”
“Cool it, Tyler,” Archie said.
I smiled and said, “I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be nice if y’all came over for dinner?”
“Well, thank you! I was just going to order a pizza for the kids.”
“Well, I’m making chicken and mashed potatoes with little green peas. Nothing fancy.”
“That sure sounds better than pizza,” Archie said, with a smile so honest and beautiful, it almost made me gasp.
“I hope so,” I said.
Tyler and Hunter began rubbing their stomachs and licking their lips while making yum-yum grunts.
“Mmmm! Mashed potatoes!” Hunter said.
“Are you sure it’s not an inconvenience?” Archie said. “You do so much for us. I don’t want to impose.”
“You couldn’t impose if you wanted to! Not even one tiny little bit!” I said. “See y’all in about an hour?”
“That sounds fine. Thank you!” Archie said and then turned to his boys. “Gentlemen? Synchronize your watches! We depart at eighteen hundred hours!”
“We don’t have watches, Daddy,” Tyler said with his toothless lisp. “We’re still too little. Remember?”
Maybe I’d buy both boys watches for Christmas. Batman or Mickey Mouse watches?
“Great! See you soon!” I said and left.
I took the bags of groceries from the trunk of my car and hurried inside to get supper started. This wasn’t going to be a romantic dinner with candles, but I put on my favorite Tony Bennett album of George Gershwin’s music anyway. I just wanted to see how motherhood and marriage might feel. You know, just try it on, like a sweater. Oh, sure, I had made dozens of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the boys after school or on the weekends when Archie had an errand to do, even before they lost Carin. I was sure the boys looked at me like an adopted aunt of sorts, because I got plenty of hugs from them. And I had also wiped away buckets of tears when they felt blue or angry or frustrated. In the first days after we buried Carin, I’d taken them casseroles and cake, just like all the other women on the island. It was our tradition, and a nice one, I thought. But this would be the first time I cooked for Archie and the boys in my own house with them all there.
When Momma wasn’t ranting and raving, she occasionally delivered some wisdom. One of her favorite sayings had to do with the way to a man’s heart being through his stomach. I’d dazzle him with my special chicken dish. I wasn’t a gourmet or anything close to it, but I had a way with chicken, thanks to a recipe I’d cut out of Southern Living magazine ages ago.
I washed and cut the potatoes into chunks and dropped them into a pot of salted water with their skins left on and set them on the stove on a high flame. I always used a potato ricer on the cooked potatoes that would catch all the skins when they were pushed through. Then I opened the package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, laid them on paper towels, and blotted them dry. I mixed two eggs in a soup plate