I nodded. “I think she’s coming up on Sunday.”

“Good, we’ll have a barbecue. I already invited Luke and that adorable Liam. Too bad Asher won’t be here. He’s taking the kids camping.”

“Don’t try to matchmake Jane and Asher again, please. She was humiliated last time.”

Mom scrunched up her face and shook her head. “I feel so bad about that. She’s had a crush on him for so long, and I just love her so much, and Asher needs a sweet woman like her. I mean, she’s a doctor, for goodness’ sake. Why wouldn’t he want a sweet, beautiful doctor to be a stepmother to his kids? Plus, his kids already love her. Everybody loves her. That boy is stubborn. He should listen to his mother.” She raised her eyebrows at me.

I shrugged. I wasn’t getting into their business, at least not with my mother. She was about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

“Mommy, Mommy! Look at me!” I looked up over to the trees on the other side of the driveway. Dylan was on Luke’s shoulders, touching the high branches and picking leaves. “I can touch the trees. When she’s big enough, Calla can too,” he shouted, and Luke smiled over at us. My two lives had intersected again. What might have been was now real, and it eclipsed what used to be. It blazed a trail of beautiful pain, and I shut my eyes as a tear fell.

“Oh, honey…” Mom put her arm around me. We both remembered a few years ago when Will had done the same thing with Dylan. “There will always be moments like this one, when we will remember him. Sometimes, the happy memories are what hurt the most.”

I leaned my head against her shoulder, and we watched Luke and Dylan together. Calla broke our bittersweet reverie by saying “Mama” for the first time. We looked at each other, and Mom squeezed me tighter.

“New memories are being made every second, sweetheart. Don’t miss them. Don’t be afraid.”

“I won’t be afraid,” I promised.

We stopped and said goodbye to Gram, then we loaded up my car and headed home. The drive was uneventful until we pulled into the driveway. We noticed a foul stench originating from the back seat, specifically from Calla’s side of the back seat. Dylan’s exclamation of “Ew, Calla pooped, and her onesie is brown now” confirmed the direct location of the smell: blowout diaper. Shit just got real, and Luke was about to get a lesson in parenting that he’d missed with Dylan. It seemed like Calla’s scheduled bath time was moved into dinner prep time.

“I have to give Calla a bath, Dylan. Judging by the smell, it will take a while. I’ll make spaghetti tomorrow, and we can have something fast tonight, okay?”