Page 10 of His Best Friend's Widow
“Yes!” Carter jumped into the air. “That’s awesome.”
Landon smiled as the boy ran off to tell his sisters the news. How badly did Carter need a male role model in his life? He had his granddad, didn’t he? Surely Landon wasn’t the only one giving him attention. He told himself it was just because Carter thought he drove a cool car. Which he did, if he said so himself. He worked hard and rewarded himself with it when he’d been at the company for five years. It was great to be able to buy the nice things he wanted, but something about sharing them with someone else just hit him differently.
“Dinner in five minutes,” Hailey called out.
Landon swiftly moved to the kitchen. “How can I help?” He practiced the question he planned to ask a lot.
Hailey bit her lip from where she stood, dishing food onto plates. “Um, here, you can take these to the table.”
He grabbed the plastic plates from the counter and carried them.
Hailey pointed as she spoke. “The pink one is Charlotte’s, it goes there. Ellie’s is purple and goes beside her. Green is Carter’s at the end of the table.”
“Got it,” Landon said, following her directions. “What color is your plate?” he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.
“White,” she said. “But I’m the only one who gets a regular grown-up plate.”
“Oh, I see.” He tilted his head. “What about me?”
“I guess you can have a grown-up plate too. Unless you want a blue plastic one. All kid plates seem to come in either pink and purple or blue and green. With only one boy, we have extra boy colors.”
“As much as I like blue, I think I’ll take the bigger white plate.”
“Wise choice.” Hailey nodded.
As she filled glasses with milk and set them on the table, Landon took it upon himself to gather the kids. “Carter, Ellie, Charlotte, come to the table. It’s time to eat.”
The kids came to the table, wide-eyed. He guessed they weren’t used to a booming male voice in the house. Hailey’s voice was much softer and higher-pitched.
Each of the kids took their seats, and Landon watched as Hailey moved to the table. His stomach twisted as he looked at the available seats and wondered where to sit.
“You can sit here by me.” Carter pointed to the empty seat on the side of the table. It wasn’t the head of the table where Kyle had always sat, but it was next to Hailey. Landon decided to go with it.
“Thanks, bud.”
“Let’s pray before we start,” Hailey said, folding her hands together and bowing her head.
Landon did the same and closed his eyes. He tried to listen as Hailey thanked God for the food, but his mind was busy with his own prayer.
He prayed for this family, that God would allow him to help them. And that He would protect his heart from the pain of missing his friend.
And from the sudden loneliness he felt sitting around this table with the little family he had missed so much.
6
Hailey checked her watch for the umpteenth time. Why couldn’t she just relax? Carter was with Landon, and the soccer fields were ten minutes away at the most. Besides, practice wasn’t even supposed to be over yet.
She sighed and looked around the living room. Normally on soccer nights, the girls had to be dragged to practice when they were tired and cranky. Hailey felt rushed to get them to practice, and then rushed to get them back home, showered, and in bed at a decent time. Too many times she had considered just pulling Carter out of soccer. But he loved it, and he remembered Kyle playing with him in the backyard and promising him he could play when he was six. Kyle had started at six, and that was the age he wanted Carter to start. So Hailey had signed him up, as promised.
Now the girls were already bathed and in bed looking at books quietly. Hailey took a deep breath, realizing that it had been much more relaxing. The girls had played together after dinner, and she had managed to clean up the kitchen and even pick up the living room while she waited for Carter to get home.
She hated to admit it, but having Landon take him really did help. Not that she would let herself get used to it. Landon could have a meeting next week, or decide he was too busy, or even have a date. She chuckled at that. In all the time she’d known Landon, he’d only been on a handful of dates. He said he wasn’t interested, but people were always trying to set him up. He was good-natured enough to go and be polite, but she was pretty sure he’d never gone on a second date with any of the women.
Why was that? Sure, he was busy with his career, but was that all he really wanted? Kyle had always wanted the best of both worlds—career and family. Maybe that was more unique than she had realized. She frowned remembering that Kyle had been overlooked or turned down for promotions more than once. He always said he was fine with it, but she knew it was because he refused to stay late for those after-dinner meetings. And he’d turned down an offer to move once because the kids were settled in their school. Now it meant the world to her. All the promotions in history couldn’t compare to having him home for dinner. They would never get that time back, and knowing now that his life had been cut short, she knew he had made the best decision when it mattered.
She heard the girls starting to talk in their room and decided it was time for bed. In their room, she stacked their books for them, sang a song, and whispered a prayer before turning out the lights.
“Goodnight, Mommy,” Ellie said.
