“You were so small.” Ethan jokes with me. “You got guns, Dad.”

“Who taught you that?” Laughing, I take the picture back from him and put it back in my wallet, right behind the picture of Gabriel.

“Uncle Beau,” he says, and I shake my head.

“Anyway, kiddo, if you can do me a favor and give her a chance, you’ll see how awesome she really is,” I say softly, and I’m about to say something else when the door opens and slams closed, and she comes rushing in with a glass plate in her hand.

“Okay, I got the bread crumbs,” she huffs. Going to the stove, she turns it on. “And the only thing my mom had was apple pie, but she’s going to make you apple crumble pie tomorrow so we can have it then.” She looks at Ethan. “Or you can have it all yourself,” she says and points at the apple pie in front of her.

“Your mom made apple pie?” Ethan asks.

“She has this huge freezer where she puts all her baked stuff in, and she told me that all I had to do is put this in the oven for an hour, and it’ll be perfect.” She looks like she is flustered, and I get up and walk over to her.

“Baby,” I say, and she just looks at me like she is going to cry.

“I’m ruining it,” she whispers. “I’m ruining everything.”

I hold her face in my hands and wipe away the tears that come down her cheeks. I can see she was crying before she got into the house. “Baby, nothing is ruined,” I say. “Will you come and sit down with us so my boy can meet you, please?”

“But I have to make dinner for him,” she says. “He’s a growing boy, Jacob.” She looks down. “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

“I love you,” I say, kissing her.

“Jacob, you just kissed me, and Ethan is here,” she says.

“He needs to get used to it,” I say. The timer goes off, so I let my hands fall from her face.

She turns and goes to put the pasta in the water, and I go back to the table to help Ethan, who just smiles at me. “She is going to make me pie tomorrow,” he says.

“Yeah, kiddo, she will,” I say, and she makes us mac and cheese. She tops it with bread crumbs and bakes it at the same time as the pie.

“I forgot vegetables,” she says, putting her hand to her head.

“Good,” Ethan says, and I shake my head when the oven buzzes.