Dominique didn’t answer, but rather thoughtfully chewed on her piece of toast. She didn’t feel it necessary to share that her mother had left the frozen onion-pepper mix and a box of frozen Texas toast last month when Dominique had gone out of town and Anita had stayed in the Valley so that Justin wouldn’t miss school.

“Justin is a growing boy, has a lot of potential in sports. Fresh fruit and vegetables... that’s what he needs.”

Dominique’s fork stopped in midair. “I don’t need any advice when it comes to raising my son.”

“Maybe not,” Jake calmly countered, placing the last bit of omelet into his mouth and finishing it before he continued. “But when it comes to raising a healthy teenager who’s not overweight, has a low cholesterol count, and no signs of type 2 diabetes... you might consider making a few changes to your grocery list.”

“Is that so?”

Jake nodded.

“And just how many kids do you have that makes you such an expert?”

“Right now? About twenty-five.” Jake reached for his juice and leaned back in the chair. “Justin reminds me of me when I was his age, except I was heavier. Thankfully my natural athletic ability kept me from being dogged, and when I got serious about sports, the extra weight fell off.”

“It will probably be the same for Justin.”

“When I was twelve,” Jake continued, “my father died from heart disease. He was only forty-nine. My favorite uncle died two years later, same thing. Very few men on my father’s side lived past their sixtieth birthday. My college coach was big on diet being a major component to staying in shape. We had a team nutritionist, which was outside the norm back then. That’s when I made the connection between my father’s health, the stuff in our kitchen, and especially the stuff he’d grown up eating with our grandmother.”

So that’s why you’re such a health nut. Her stance softened. “It had to have been devastating to lose your father at such a critical age.”

“Yes.” A shadow came over Jake’s face as he remembered the man he’d worshipped. The day his mother told him that Jake Sr. was not coming home from the hospital remained the saddest one of his life. It also shaped the decision with which he still grappled. And no matter how he wished life were different... it was what it was.