phone rang that evening, just as it was getting dark, she frowned. It was an unknown number, so she answered it, reasonably sure it wouldn’t be Everett or Richard.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s me.”
Teddy paused for a moment, running through the list of male voices that could be calling her from a number she didn’t recognize. “Um . . . I’m sorry, who is this?”
“Carlos!”
“Oh,” Teddy said.
And then she realized that Carlos wasn’t calling her to shoot the breeze, because he didn’t shoot any breezes that weren’t vintage toy related. “Carlos, what’s wrong?”
“Josie’s in the hospital,” he said. “I’m here now. Can you—”
“I’m coming,” Teddy said, then hung up.
61
After calling Carlos back to get details about which hospital and how to find Josie (seriously, how did people in movies always end these conversations so dramatically? Didn’t they need to clarify anything?), Teddy drove there in record time. She hadn’t asked Carlos how Josie was doing—it seemed silly to waste time on the phone when Josie needed her now—and when she burst into the room to see Carlos sitting at her bedside, Josie laughing and talking, relief hit her so hard that she thought she might cry.
“Josie!” she croaked, unable to think of anything else to say.
Carlos stood up and gave Josie a kiss on the forehead. “Since you have company, I’ll be getting home.”
“Thank you for coming here, sweetheart,” Josie said with a gentle smile, her voice slightly hoarse.
Carlos nodded, then gave Teddy a hug. She froze, then relaxed into it and hugged him back. “I’m glad you’re here with her,” he said, meeting her eyes, before he left.
Teddy watched him go, shocked.
“He might not have much to say most of the time,” Josie said, prompting Teddy to turn around. “But he knows what to say when it matters.”
“Josie, what happened?” Teddy asked, sitting down on the chair at Josie’s bedside.
Josie rolled her eyes. “It’s stupid. A heart attack.”
Teddy opened her mouth and Josie held up a hand. “A minor one. Very minor. The most minor thing that could be considered a heart attack, really. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Perfectly fine people don’t have heart attacks,” Teddy insisted.
Josie sighed. “I’m seventy years old. If a minor heart attack is the worst thing to happen to me, I feel pretty lucky.”
Teddy swallowed, looking at her hands. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Honey.” Josie reached out and grabbed Teddy’s hands, then waited until Teddy met her eyes. “I’ve had a good long life.”
“Stop it!” Teddy said, tears springing to her eyes. “What are you saying?”
“Oh, shut up and listen,” Josie said. “I was so lucky to meet John, and you know we never had children.”
Teddy nodded. Josie had had such a packed-full schedule that Teddy always assumed she’d never wanted kids, that taking care of someone else would have slowed her down.
“We tried. For a long time. And when it became clear that it wasn’t gonna happen for us . . . well, I figured maybe it wasn’t meant to be. John and I always loved spending time together, just the two of us, and we thought it might be for the best. We could be together, uninterrupted. We could travel.”
Josie sighed. “But of course, we didn’t travel. John opened the store, and that was that. We spent all our time working. And after he passed away, I guess part of me wondered . . . well, if maybe I’d made a mistake. If I should’ve figured out why we couldn’t get pregnant, seen if doctors could’ve helped us. Or looked into adoption. Had a family another way.”
“Oh, Josie,” Teddy murmured, squeezing her hands. “I didn’t know. . . .”
Josie shook her head quickly. “This isn’t a sob story, sweetie. That’s just what life is. Even if you’re happy with the path you went down, part of you always wonders what was on that other road you passed a few miles back. That doesn’t mean it’s some grand tragedy. But it’s a loss all the same.”
Teddy pressed her lips together.
“But then.” Josie smiled. “I met you. And from the moment you walked in the store, with that shy smile and your bright eyes, I thought, ‘Oh, this is my daughter.’”
Teddy wiped away a tear and nodded.
Josie squeezed her hand. “You’re my family, Teddy. And, honey, I’m so proud of you.”
“I want to take over the store,” Teddy said suddenly, her conversation with Sophia and all thoughts about how she didn’t really want to do it flying out of her head. “I know I can do