Free A Widow Redefined by Kim Cano Page A

she’d probably say something embarrassing.
    “I’m glad to be here,” Josephine said. “I love that Tyler is so focused on health at such a young age.”
    I smiled, but inside I wondered if she knew the reason why. I hadn’t told her. And I didn’t know if Tyler had. I decided I wouldn’t say anything. It would be up to Tyler if he wanted to bring up his dad and share that experience with her.
    “Tell us about yourself?” Mom chimed in, putting the poor girl on the spot.
    “What would you like to know?”
    “Tell us about your family,” she said.
    Josephine nodded. “Okay. Let’s see. My mom is a registered dietician. My dad’s a Philosophy professor, and I used to have a little brother, but he died when we were kids, of cancer.”
    Josephine and Tyler made eye contact, sharing an unspoken connection, and it was then I knew they’d talked.
    Josephine cut into her food and continued. “My parents are what normal people call weird. You can’t imagine the kinds of debates I witnessed in our living room as a child. My dad loved talking with others about their spiritual beliefs, sometimes a little too loudly.”
    My mom and I laughed, then I glanced over at my son. He sat glued to her every word. I’d never seen him so enchanted by another adult. It was sweet, and at the same time it saddened me somehow.
    I wondered what Tyler had said to Josephine about Justin. I wondered if he shared his feelings more freely with her than he did with me. Then I laughed at myself for even having such a silly thought. I was glad he had someone to talk to. I don’t think we could’ve asked for a better person.
    As our meal drew to a close, I stretched and rubbed my belly. “I’m stuffed. Thank you so much for stopping by and doing this.”
    “My pleasure,” Josephine said.
    After we finished cleaning up, she said, “Well I should get going. I don’t want to take up your whole night. One more thing though… “ Josephine reached into her bag and pulled out an index card. “Here’s the recipe for what we just ate, in case you’d like to have it again.”
    I smiled at her and said, “Thank you.” Then I walked her to the front door to say goodbye. Tyler was right behind me.
    “See you at class,” she told him, then winked.
    Tyler nodded and wore that big, dopey smile he’d had on before.
    I giggled as she walked away.
    •••••
    Friday night Tyler acted even weirder. “I’ve got a lot of homework this weekend,” he blurted out. “Maybe I can work on it tonight and you and Grandma can watch a grown-up movie.”
    This sent up my mom antennae. It wasn’t like my son to blow off movie night.
    After Mom and I watched a scary movie, I went in to check on my son. He was in his room, drawing, all done with his homework.
    “Hey Mom. What are we doing this weekend?” he asked in his voice that always preceded a favor.
    “Nothing. Why?”
    “Well, last time I was at Josephine’s she was talking about the Art Institute downtown, asking me if I’d ever gone.”
    He didn’t have to butter me up with my own movie night to go on an excursion. “Do you want to go there this weekend?”
    “Can we?” he asked.
    “Of course,” I said. “We can all go down on the train, make a day of it.”
    Tyler sprung to his feet. “Cool!”
    With plans made and everyone off to bed, I decided to go online and map our route and find out what the museum entrance fees were. I spent a little time on the site and was ecstatic to discover they had nine paintings by Gauguin on display. Tyler will be psyched.
    I browsed the web mindlessly for a few more minutes. Then, just because, I Googled Sabrina Bergman.
    I was surprised by how much information came up. The majority was connected to her family’s fashion business: The Bergman Collection. I checked a few links, but most were reviews of what someone of importance in the industry thought about the clothing. Then I clicked a link to the company website. There were pictures of