Page 71 of The Path To Us

I would scoff but like usual, Zoey’s being cute and pretty smart to think of naming the orange cat Cheese to go along with Macaroni.

“Of course I did.” He looks up at me and explains, “My late wife always made the best lemonade and lucky for me, she tasked me with helping her make it enough times that I remembered how to make it. Lemonade, lemon-lime soda, and a little bit of orange juice. It’s not complicated but it’s delicious.”

“Sounds like it.”

I follow him to the house and Zoey and I take a seat on the porch at his command while he gathers us drinks. Like he suspected, I have questions but I’m not about to ask Zoey. She wouldn’t have a clue as to why I’m sitting here wondering if I got played and if I did, by who.

I guess one question of mine is answered, though. Now I know why Addy acted the way she did when I brought up the Noosma farmhouse. I found it odd that she seemed to clam up about it, but I didn’t think to ask why.

“Isn’t she perfect, Unca Beau?” Zoey asks, nuzzling the kitty and cuddling up next to me. I wrap an arm around her and pet the little fur ball that’s purring like crazy in its new owner’s arms.

“She is. You like her?”

She shakes her head. “I wuv her. Can I keep her?”

“What if I said we can keep her here?”

“But I don’t wiv here and I need to see her every day!”

“Maybe we can work something out,” I tell her, hoping that whatever Richard’s about to tell me will ease what’s building internally. The ball of worry and unease that has the potential to ruin everything if I don’t tamp it down.

“But she’ll miss me, Unca Beau!”

Luckily I’m saved by Richard pushing backward through the screen door, carrying a tray with three glasses of lemonade and a bowl of Oreos. I take it from him and set it on the small table next to the chairs.

“Thank you.”

“Sure thing. Here you go, Squirt.” I hand the smallest glass to Zoey and she grins, taking a big sip.

“Mmm. It’s so good, Pop.”

“Glad you like it.”

She hands it back to me so that she can get down on the ground and play with Cheese.

I take a long drink as well and hand Zoey an Oreo. “She’s right. It’s delicious.”

“I’ll make sure Addy knows how to make it.”

I close my eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“’Bout fifteen years ago, my lady’d been gone for a while. My son lived in Seattle. And I was here alone. Not just alone. Lonely. The terrible kind that makes you not just sad but depressed, too. I never really liked being around people much. Suppose I needed to get over it, but I was the way I was, you know?”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway, I was sitting around on a Sunday afternoon, relaxing in my easy chair and watching some old John Wayne movie I had on tape when these two crazy gals pulled into my driveway. I peeked out the window to see them looking around and, man,” he chuckles at the memory, “even from inside the house I could tell they were completely lost.”

“Addy?”

“And Suzie.”

I grow quiet and sit back. I knew that Addy and Suzie would take drives often but it was their time. She never spoke of where they went or, apparently, who they met.

“Addy and Suzie came here?”

He nods. “Stared right where you’re sitting and smiled so big. I went out to greet them and within ten seconds, I’d forgotten all about being lonely. They had that kind of power, you know? To make a man forget his troubles.”

He’s absolutely right about that.

---