Granted, it wasn’t a gourmet meal by any means, but after living on Planet food and random takeout since Al had been sick made it feel really good to make something myself. Before long the kitchen started to smell good, and I got myself some red wine and mixed it with balsamic vinegar to make a light sauce for the stir fry. I also found some long grain rice and got that boiling while the stir fry finished up.

By the time the meal was ready I was feeling a little bit better. I poured myself a glass of wine and took my food to the living room, where I watched TV and tried not to focus on the silence of Alice being gone. It was hard, but I managed to distract myself enough with reruns of sitcoms to get through the meal somewhat pleasantly.

I cleaned the kitchen afterward, knowing that I should probably clean the rest of the house as well but having no motivation to do so. We had a cleaning lady who would be coming in soon anyway, and from the looks of things Jenny had been keeping the place in shape. I cleared the pans and dishes I’d used from the counters and got the dishwasher going, and as I was wiping down the counters and the stove top the house phone started ringing.

It was Tina, calling to check on me. I told her that I was fine, and she asked if I’d eaten yet. I told her I had and she laughed and said she’d been thinking about coming over with dinner in a little while, but if I’d already eaten we could make a date for the next day. She and Angelica had gotten some information faxed to them about home care services for Alice when she was released. I said it was fine if she wanted to come over tomorrow evening, and that I could run to the store and get some food to throw on the grill. She said she’d tell Angelica and maybe she and Charlie and the kids could come too.

I was pretty excited about that, since I hadn’t really seen my grandchildren since the stroke. I’m sure Tina knew that, which was why she’d suggested it, but I figured she was lonely too in that big nice house all by herself. She didn’t mention it, though, and I didn’t have the heart to say it out loud. Instead, we talked briefly about how Alice was getting along, and Tina apologized again for not having been to see her before today. I told her that it wasn’t a problem at all and that she never needed to worry about things like that. She thanked me and hung up not long after, and I suspected that having gone to see Al had affected her more than she cared to admit.