Southern Chance (Southern 1)

“Um,” Ethan looks at me and then looks at Kallie, “apple crumble pie.”

“Okay,” she says, “I’ll see what I can do.” She turns and walks out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

“Um, Dad,” Ethan says, “is she going to bake me a pie?”

“Kiddo.” I look at him. “I have no idea.”

“She’s jumpy,” he says to me, and I look at him.

“She’s nervous,” I say. “She was nervous to meet you.”

“Why?” he asks. I tap my fingers on the table.

“Well, she knows how important you are to me,” I say.

“And she wants me to like her.” He nods at me as though he’s solved the puzzle.

“Yeah, kiddo.” I lean over and kiss his head. “She wants you to like her.”

“She’s pretty,” he says.

“She is,” I agree with him. “She’s always been.” I grab my wallet and take out a picture that I’ve kept hidden in the back. It’s frayed at the edges and the color has changed from glossy to a yellow tint. “This was us.” I show him the picture we took on prom night. The only one I had on my phone.

“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.

“Go wash up, please,” Kallie says to me, and Ethan pushes away from the table, putting away his homework and walking into the little bathroom on the side to wash his hands. “Can you get me three plates, please?” she asks, and I walk over and grab three plates for her. I look at the baked mac and cheese and lean in to kiss her neck.

She scoops out three plates and leaves it to sit for a second to cool off while she sets the table. “Where does everyone sit?” She looks at me, not wanting to sit in Ethan’s or my place and it be awkward.

I’m about to tell her that she can sit anywhere when Ethan pipes in. “I sit here.” He points at the chair where he was just sitting in to do his homework. “And Dad sits there.” His hand moves to the head of the table. “And Grandma sits here.” He points at the chair next to him. “You can sit in front of me and next to Dad.”

She looks at him with a smile. “That sounds like a good plan.”

He gets in his chair, and Kallie puts his plate down in front of him and another plate down where I’m going to sit. I wait for her to get her own plate and come to the table. She sits down and looks at me. “Do we say grace?”