Chapter 38

“I don’t know about you boys,” she said, “but I’m ready to get out of these clothes.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Kevin said. “I think we are too.”

After we’d changed, we sat on the porch sipping lemonade and unwinding, and Mrs. Simpson said, “Kevin, I asked your mama to come back over here after a while by herself.”

“What for?”

“So she and I can walk through the house and see if there’s anything she truly needs, or just wants in the way of a keepsake.”

“That’s nice of you. Don’t you want any of it?”

“There’s a few cooking utensils and things in the kitchen that I intend to take with me, along with last year’s canning. Those, and some family photo albums, are all I want, besides my clothes. And my quilting frames, if we can fit them in the car.”

“You really are making a clean break,” he said.

“Best way to do it,” she said. “Not many people my age get a chance to start over.”

“Good for you. By the way, who services your car these days?”