Page 72 of The Path To Us

They did.

“Those two… they brought light. We sat here and drank lemonade and ate these terrible cookies I picked up from the store and laughed for a long while before I gave them directions how to get back to town. And ever since that day, once a month, I get to spend a few hours of my Sunday with Addy and now with Zoey.”

“How did I not know this?”

“She was embarrassed to be seen with me,” he says.

I blanch at his words. There’s no way. That’s not the Addy I know and love.

He starts laughing. “You should see the look on your face. Of course that wasn’t the reason. I honestly don’t really know. The three of us fell into a friendship that wasn’t about anything at all but enjoying each other’s company. Sure, there were a few times that they invited me to join them for things at their house and I always accepted. The second Thanksgiving after we met I spent at their house eating turkey and playing cards.” He leans over on his knees and takes a drink of his lemonade before lowering his voice. “And when Suzie got sick, I was there. In the background whenever they needed me. She was like a daughter to me. I never had a daughter. My boy was grown and moved away. You know they didn’t have much for family around. It worked.”

“I just…” I look out around me trying to picture the three of them sitting here doing the same thing Zoey and I are doing right now. “I had no idea.”

“You didn’t need to know.”

“So… the house?”

“I want it to stay in the family,” he says.

My jaw drops and I rub my forehead then the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes closed.

“I’m sorry. What? Is Addy your daughter?”

“Boy. You’re not listening to a word I’m saying.”

“Old man. You’re not saying a whole lot of words that are making much sense to me right now.”

Macaroni and Richard’s dog come bounding up the steps, both panting and soaking wet, Macaroni smelling worse than Zoey’s breath this morning.

“Eww! Macaroni! Nugget! You stink!” Zoey shouts, pinching her nose and grabbing Cheese before running behind me.

“These two must have gotten into the pond to cool off then rolled in something.”

“I’ll say.” I look at Macaroni and wonder how he’ll do riding in the back of the pickup because there’s no way I’m letting him in the cab to bring him home.

“We can wash them up before you leave. And Macaroni does just fine in the back,” he tells me, somehow reading my mind.

“Nugget, huh?” I ask, pointing to Richard’s dog.

He shrugs. “Take a guess who named him.”

Why am I not surprised? Zoey obviously has Richard wrapped around her little finger.

“Back to why you called me about the house.”

“Told you Suzie was like a daughter to me.”

“So why not…”

“Why not, what? You think I’m crazy, I can see it, but Addy’s my family in every sense of the word. For fifteen years, she’s given me a reason to not be so lonely. When this one came into the mix,” he says, nodding at Zoey, “and Addy asked if I’d be Zoey’s Pop, I felt like I’d been given a second family. Nothing in this life matters more than that, Beau. Nothing.”

I sit quietly, still not understanding but not knowing exactly how to ask again without looking like an idiot.

“C’mere, Zoey. Come sit on Pop’s lap.”

She stands from her place on the ground and climbs up onto his lap, still holding the kitten.

“What is it that I asked of you when you first agreed to buy this house?”

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