against her and laid her head in Catherine’s lap. “Something with a dog in it, I’m thinking. What do you think?”
Cookie’s ears went up.
“Yes, definitely something with a dog in it.”
It took a while to find a movie where the dog didn’t die. “The kids liked this one,” she said to Cookie, and began to stream Beethoven. “Now, there’s a dog I’d never have,” Catherine said. “Saint Bernards are terrible slobberers.”
The movie was cute and Catherine enjoyed it. She also enjoyed having the little dog with her on the couch. But what a nuisance it was having to let her out to go potty later. And what a nuisance to have to feed her the next day and take her out for a walk.
“Dr. Dimatrova did say I needed to walk a mile every day once I start chemo, whether I feel like it or not,” she informed Cookie as they started down the sidewalk in the morning fog. “If I have you with me I’ll have to do that, won’t I?”
Oh, no. Was she really thinking about keeping this dog?
After their morning walk she had another email from Sierra. Let me know when you start chemo. I’ll bring you chicken noodle soup.
And that afternoon a text from Sophie. I just toured Cupid’s Chocolates. Yum!
“It’s good to hear that things are progressing nicely between Sophie and Trevor,” she said to Cookie. Cookie barked her agreement and wagged her tail.
Actually, it was good to hear from both the sisters. Two days before Christmas she heard from them again, this time via the mail. Sierra sent a box of lavender-scented soap and Sophie sent a box of chocolates from Cupid’s Chocolates.
To be remembered by such new friends warmed her heart. “You have a lot to be thankful for,” she told herself.
And what a difference in attitude that was from the Christmas before. Not that she didn’t have her moments when she wished Bill was still with her, when she didn’t look at the mantelpiece with the two empty stockings hanging from it and tear up, but she was starting to use the good moments to counterbalance the bad ones.
She wrote thank-you notes to both sisters, stuck them in her mailbox for pickup and then did a little shopping of her own. Online. She found a book for Sophie on herbal medicines and an inspirational book for Sierra on how to get past a breakup, then had them shipped. Then she took a bath and enjoyed using the lavender soap.
And tried not to think about the fact that she hadn’t heard from either Rudy or Athena. She had, on impulse, sent Athena a Christmas card. Probably a silly idea. Those two would go on the list of people who merely passed through your life, the human equivalent of a cruise ship, headed for a new destination.
Then, Christmas Eve, the postman delivered a package. From California.
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The return address on the box said Santa Monica. Rudy and Athena both lived in Santa Monica but she didn’t remember the rest of either of their addresses. She carried it out to the kitchen, Cookie trotting along behind.
She got scissors and opened the box, her heart thumping in rhythm with Cookie’s tail. Something from Rudy? Was it possible?
Inside it was another box, wrapped in shiny red paper and tied with raffia ribbon. On top of the box sat a red envelope. She opened it and pulled out a Christmas card. Inside it was signed, Merry Christmas from Athena.
No Rudy added to the signature and that was disappointing. Although it shouldn’t have been. She’d known what they’d started was done and would fall into the category of Christmas past.
Still, it warmed Catherine’s heart that his daughter had thought of her. “Isn’t that sweet?” she said to Cookie. “I’ll put it under the tree to open Christmas morning.”
Except Cookie was liable to eat the ribbon. She’d just have to open the present right then and there. She worked the ribbon off the box, pulled away the wrapping paper and lifted the lid.
There sat a large version of the hand-painted glass globe candleholders she’d bought for her daughter and daughter-in-law. This one was blue, featuring a night sky over a small-town snow-covered street. The houses made her think of Germany. She’d admired a globe just like this one but refrained from spending the money on herself. Now here she had one, and from such an unexpected source.
She gave it a place of honor on her dining room table, then sat down