“Sweetie, that’s all part of it. She’s busy too. Just take it slow,” I advised, having no real idea what I was saying. I’d been fortunate enough to never have a job that would have interfered too much with my romantic relationships, except of course when I’d gone overseas. But Al had always liked leaving the country with me, and being freelance and then a novelist she was able to do that whenever we wanted or needed to.

“Yeah, I know,” Kallie said with a sigh. “I just hate that it’s so hard to coordinate anything with her. And she’s a lot younger; I feel a little weird about that.”

At this, Alice made a sound that might have been annoyance. It was hard to tell, but she was obviously displeased with Kallie’s pessimism. I sighed, realizing that I agreed with Alice.

“She’s not that much younger than you are, Kal. And it really doesn’t matter much anyway. You’re still in the very beginning stages, but you seem to like her a lot.” Kallie smiled, and I grinned back at her. “See. Just let things take their course and see where it goes. It could end up being something really good for both of you. God knows you deserve some happiness.”

I said it because her last break up had been painful enough to put her off dating for the past seven years, and I really wanted to see her with someone. I wasn’t one of those parents who needed to see my child with someone in order to be happy, but Kallie did genuinely seem happier when she was in a relationship. I wanted that for her. My many years with Alice had been wonderful, and I wanted her to experience the same.

“Yeah. I guess I’ll see how it goes,” Kallie said, and stood. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go check and see if she’s out there so I can ask her to dinner whenever she gets done.”

I was about to tell her that Gemma would be coming back shortly to give Alice dinner and check her vitals, but then I realized that she probably wanted to talk to the girl out of her parents’ earshot. “Sure, we should be here when you get back,” I joked. Kallie just rolled her eyes, gave Alice a shrug, and left the room. “She’s so far gone,” I said to Al as soon as she’d left. “Reminds me of you.”