“Oh, honey, that’s ruined. Step aside.” Amanda bumped her hip into Gretchen’s to get her to move. “The only thing I can use here is the pasta. Do you have more milk and cheese?”

She grabbed the ingredients from the refrigerator. “I really tried.”

“You really did.” Amanda did a double take when she finally looked at Gretchen. “Are you okay? You don’t look like someone who had a great visit with the doctor today.”

“Do I look like someone whose wife is spending Valentine’s Day with their not-so-new girlfriend?”

“Ooh. Ouch. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Gretchen leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms. “My scans came back fine, and there’s no one I’d rather spend the day with than you two.”

“You’re lying and it’s sweet.”

“I’m not lying,” Gretchen said. “She’s moved on. It’s that simple. So I’m trying to be happy with where my life is now. I love having a dinner date with my sister and my son.”

Amanda started to shred the cheese but paused. “Can you drink?”

“Amanda, I swear, I’m really okay.”

“I know, but I think we should feed the kid, put him to bed, and then open a bottle of wine.”

“Who knew you were so romantic?”

“Shut up and help me shred this cheese and fix your disaster.”

She worked very well under Amanda’s direction, and in no time they had macaroni and cheese on three plates next to thickly sliced ham steak.

“What do you think, Cricket?”

Caleb pushed the ham off his plate but kept shoveling the macaroni and cheese into his mouth.

“Take it as a win,” Amanda said with a laugh.

“Hey, Caleb, wanna tell me about Meredith?”

Amanda choked on her water. She wiped a drip from her chin and looked at Gretchen with comically large eyes. “What are you doing?”

“I’m curious, and Jax won’t tell me much. Who better to spill the girlfriend beans than the chattiest boy on the planet?”

Caleb must’ve considered the title to be a compliment because he shot them a cheesy, orange grin.

“Do you like her?” Gretchen needed to know the answer but absolutely didn’t want to know it. What if he liked Meredith more than her? She instantly regretted having hired the perky young woman so many years ago. As present as Meredith was in her memory, Gretchen couldn’t conjure up a clear picture. “Is she pretty?”

“Oh my God,” Amanda said around a mouthful of food.

Caleb looked thoughtful with one eye closed and his mouth turned up. “Yes,” he said simply. That told Gretchen nothing.

“But what does she look like?”

Caleb laughed. “You know what she looks like.”

She wished for just this one moment Caleb could fully comprehend what amnesia was. “I don’t really remember, sweetie.”