Suzie’s House 455 : Toast and Shoes

It wasn’t that Sophie considered Ethan selfish. She’d seen him do unselfish things many times in the course of a fairly long marriage. He simply didn’t think very far beyond himself. His acts of selflessness were always spur of the moment, brought on by a kind of surprised compassion.

So she shouldn’t have been surprised by the brand new pair of sturdy white nursing shoes in exactly her size that magically appeared on her seat at the kitchen table. She lifted them up, checked the size printed into the thick rubber soles, then set them down again.

“Emma, you didn’t….” Sophie’s voice trailed off under the weight of the ridiculousness of the idea that Emma might have bought them.

“What?” Emma glanced over as she whisked past from the toaster to the fridge. “Oh, the shoes? Dad got them.” She sounded as if this should be considered a normal thing.

“Did he really?” A smile tugged the corners of her mouth. She schooled the expression off her face before he could notice. He might guess she softened a bit. “Where is he?”

“He said something about work. Or maybe it was an interview. Something like that.” Emma continued winding around the kitchen in pursuit of a makeshift breakfast. “He was leaving when I got up.”

“Oh.” The smile tried to make a flickering return. Sophie wasn’t sure if she should let it. She went to the counter to slide a couple pieces of bread into the toaster. “Emma, what do you think about your father?”

“I du-know.” Emma shrugged. She plopped into a seat at the table with her toast and a glass of milk.

“Do you mind that he’s back?” Sophie turned around so her hips rested against the cupboards. She crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn’t really sure what she was expecting from Emma.

“As long as he doesn’t try to make me be like I was, I don’t mind.”

“Be like you were?”

“I… I mean….I like me now. I want to keep liking me.”

“I thought your new confidence came from James being gone.”

“That doesn’t hurt.” Emma shrugged, but then she shot a grin at Sophie. “But… James was only part. A big part, but only a part.”

She nodded, and the motion reminded Sophie a little of a bobble head dog that used to ride on the dash of her car many years ago.

“But… the band…..” Emma looked vague as she bit into her toast.

“That band means a lot to you.” Sophie caught herself feeling some animosity toward Emma’s new past time. The toaster binged at her. She turned, putting her back to Emma at the same time she faced breakfast.

When she’d first become aware of the band, she had assumed all the members beside Emma were amoral. Instead, as she’d met the other members and gotten to know them, she’d found them to be…. well, just regular kids. Not that they were a bunch of boy scouts or choir boys. But they had stood by Emma with a fierce kind of moral support that Sophie could have used for herself.

“Gotta go!” Emma gulped the last of her milk. She surged out of her chair so forcefully it tipped.

“Emma!” Sophie intended to tell her to be more careful.

“Don’t try to stop me, Mom.” Emma’s eyes blazed. “We are going to play at the park today, and nothing you say will stop us.”

“Um… break a leg.” She pressed out a smile of encouragement.

Emma looked surprised. She took the few steps across the room in three long strides then wrapped Sophie in a bear hug.

“Thanks Mom. I love you.” In a blink, she’d run off. Sophie didn’t even have time to return the hug.

Sophie nibbled her toast and thought life wasn’t too bad when you kept an open mind.

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