“Jacob?”
“Sorry, Aunt Margo,” I said. “I was just… remembering…”
“Remembering has become such a curse to me now,” she said. “I remember things and then… I can’t stop crying for the rest of the day.”
“You stay in that house too much,” I said. “You need to get out more, meet new people…live your life.”
She sighed. “I hate meeting new people,” she said. “They want to know things about me.”
I smiled. “That’s usually how it goes.”
“Yes, and then I’m forced to tell them about my life,” she continued. “No, I’m not married. I was once, but I’m not anymore. Yes, I had a son, but I don’t anymore.”
“Hey,” I said. “You still have a son; he’s just…”
“Dead?”
I cringed, but she continued without missing a beat. “It’s been ten years since he died, Jacob… Can you believe it? Ten years.”
I closed my eyes for a moment. “Ten years,” I repeated. “Feels that long to me.”
“Me, too,” she replied.
“Maybe you can come and visit Noah and I sometime?”
“Maybe,” she said. “How is my little man?”
I smiled. “He’s doing well. I’m doing my best…”
“You were always so hard on yourself.”
I smiled; she had always known how to read me. “He misses having a mother in his life,” I said. “He told me he wanted a mommy last month.”
“There’s still time.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not ready for that.”
“For what?” she asked. “To move on with your life? Isn’t that the very same advice you just gave me?”
“It’s different.”
“No, it’s not. It’s just easier to give advice than to take it.”
I smiled. “You have a point.”
“This man asked me out yesterday,” Aunt Margo said abruptly.
“Really?” I said, more pleased than I could say.
“He runs this breakfast shop where I go on weekends,” she said, sounding slightly nervous. “We talk every now and again, and I suppose we’re friends. He’s divorced, too, and he’s got two kids with his ex-wife. They’re both married with kids of their own.”
“Well, are you going out with him?”
“I told him I’d think about it.”
“Is that why you’re calling me?” I asked. “For approval?”
“No… Yes… I don’t know,” she sighed.