Then he turned toward Stormy and smiled.
“My dad actually proposed once.”
My fork froze halfway toward my mouth.
“Really?”
Jordan nodded.
“To my mom.”
I released the breath I had been holding.
I felt foolish for allowing my thoughts to leap so far ahead.
Yet the teddy bear remained impossible to ignore. It moved slightly every few minutes from the backpack beside Jordan’s chair.
I gestured toward it.
“That’s an unusual keychain.”
Jordan glanced at the bag and smiled.
“Oh, this?”
He detached the bear and carefully set it on the table.
“One ear is crooked.”
Jordan smiled.
“Dad always joked the woman who made it got tired halfway through.”
Before I could stop myself, I reached for it.
My fingers touched the faded blue material.
One blue button.
One green button.
The green button still had the tiny mark along its side from when I had dropped it on my dorm-room floor before sewing it into place.
Every uncertainty disappeared.
This was not another bear that happened to resemble mine.
I was holding the one I had made for Richard more than two decades earlier.
“I always figured she’d probably laugh if she saw it now.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
Stormy smiled.
“So who made it?”
Jordan stared at the bear briefly.
“You don’t?”
“My dad never told me her name.”He gave a small shrug.
“He just said she was the only woman he ever truly loved.”
The sentence hit me with unexpected force.
“What happened?”
“I’ve asked him a hundred times.”
“And?”
“He always says he lost her because he waited too long to tell her the truth.”
A painful pressure formed in my chest.
Jordan continued, unaware that each word was loosening something I had held together for years.
His gaze dropped to the bear again.
“Just this.”
Stormy smiled.
“That’s actually kind of romantic.”
Jordan laughed.
“When I graduated high school, he handed it to me.”
A faint smile touched his face.
“He said, ‘One day you’ll love somebody enough to understand why some things are impossible to throw away.’”
He continued looking at the bear.
“I didn’t understand what he meant until tonight.”
I lowered my eyes to the plate so neither of them would notice my expression.
Twenty-two years before, Richard had been preparing for his final exams while I completed the last stitch.
“What if it brings you bad luck?” I’d joked, handing him the tiny bear.
He had immediately fastened it to his backpack.
“Impossible.”
Then he kissed my forehead.
“Because it came from you.”
Stormy gently bumped Jordan’s arm.
“I think your dad sounds sweet.”
Jordan smiled.
His affection for his father was unmistakable.
Whatever had happened between Richard and me, he had become a good parent.
That realization filled me with pride, grief, and more unanswered questions than I could manage.
I carried the dessert plates away before anyone could notice my trembling hands.
While standing at the sink, I heard Stormy laugh.
Then Jordan said something behind me.
“Why?” Stormy asked.
“He was supposed to pick me up after dinner.”
Jordan took out his phone.
A moment later, his eyebrows pulled together.
“That’s strange.”
“My battery died.”
Stormy checked the clock.
“Maybe he’s already outside.”
Jordan crossed to the front window.
Instead of looking relieved, he frowned.
At that moment, my phone began ringing.
The number was unfamiliar.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A man responded.
The voice was older and roughened by time, but I recognized it instantly.
“I’m sorry to bother you. My truck broke down about two streets over.”
“My son Jordan said he was having dinner with Stormy.”
A pause followed.
It lasted too long.
My hand tightened around the phone.
“Yes.”
His next breath trembled.
“If it’s not too much trouble…” Another pause. “Could someone possibly pick me up?”
I shut my eyes.
Twenty-two years vanished in one heartbeat.
