Chapter 1 – Decision

Susan Lewis folded her arms and leaned down on the edge of her kitchen sink as she looked out through the window into the back yard. It was a beautiful, sunny late afternoon. Cosmo had climbed from the top of the slide to the top ridge of the wooden swing set. He was straddling the wide beam as he tried to fit the pirate flag into the hole his dad had drilled for it months ago. She wasn't worried. She had seen him do the same thing many times. She knew that he would scootch back and then ease himself back to the top of the slide and then slide backwards down into the grass. That was his routine. Five years old and he already had a 'slide habit' mastered. She smiled slightly and shook her head. Her son was a hoot. He never failed to amaze and delight them. Them. Her smile faded somewhat and her eyes shifted to the sight of the girl in the swing. Susie's legs stretched out straight in front of her and she twisted herself slowly from side to side as she turned the purple and silver soccer ball around in her hands. She looked up as Cosmo said something and smiled. Susan watched the two of them as Cosmo scootched backwards and swung his already tanned legs down onto the slide landing. Sure enough, he plopped down and slid backwards down to the grass. Susie grinned and then her smile faded and she went back to turning the ball over and over. Susan sighed. Her nieice was finally beginning to get some of the physical maturity that she had longed for…moaned about for months. She had taken Chuck's death hard. Really hard. A girl on the cusp of womanhood and she had lost the man in her life….twice. First the stepfather that had raised her from babyhood and now the uncle that had stepped in for the last three years.

Two months. It had been two months since Chuck died. Sometimes it felt like it was just yesterday and others like an eternity. It had been a horrible winter. She had kept him home with Hospice help and he had died here…with them. With the family he loved and that loved him so desperately. She hadn't really thought about how hard it would be to stay in the house when the hospital bed and the oxygen tanks and the helpers were all gone. It seemed so empty. She had tried to get things back to normal. Tried to get them all back into a normal routine. School, daycare and work. There had been play group counseling for Cosmo. Group grief counseling sessions for Susie. She had been offered the same but had declined. She dealt with death and grief all of the time. It was a fact of life. She could deal with this. She could. She had tons of help after all. Everyone at the hospital had stepped up to help with her shifts and administrative duties. She had friends. Susie had friends. Cosmo had a multitude of play dates with sympathizing school buddies. Normal.

Susan reached down and pulled the paper from her pocket. It was an email with a picture of a house. A duplex. She studied it carefully again and glanced out at the children in the yard. Maybe it was time. She was trying hard to abide by the cardinal rule not to make any drastic life changes for the first six months but…..maybe it was time now. Maybe it was time to make a decision.

She brought the email out again after dinner. She cleared the plates from the kitchen table and brought dishes of yogurt and fresh fruit to them for dessert. Cosmo dug right in and Susie pushed the fruit around for a bit. She glanced at the paper when Susan moved it to the center of the table.

"A duplex?" she said as she picked it up. "Are we moving?" Susan shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. 'It's just something I have been thinking about. Kinda nice. We would have our own garage and our own house basically. It shares a front porch and a small backyard. It would be closer to Grandpa…..and Grandma Martin."

"You want to move back to Chicago?" Susie's eyes widened. "What about your job here? Could you even get a job in Chicago again?" Susan grimaced and shook her head.

"I can get a job just about anywhere I want to, Miss Smarty," she chuckled wryly. "But if we sell this house and with insurance money, I wouldn't have to for a while. I could get the two of you settled and moonlight and try out a couple of different places. I would have to sign an actual contract until I found a place that was a good fit for all of us." Susie frowned and set the paper back on the table. Susan studied her niece as the girl thoughtfully stirred her strawberries into the smooth yogurt in her bowl.

"It has to be a decision all three of us make together," Susan said quietly. "I know that you love your school and you have good friends….."

"There are schools in Chicago," Susie interrupted softly. "and I can email my friends." She dragged her blue eyes to Susan's green ones and a slight smile crossed her face. For the first time in a while Susan saw a familiar spark in Susie's eyes.

"You won't have as much freedom in the city," Susan warned. "There are no malls and getting your driver's license…."

"We can take the el," Susie said. "And there are parks and Michigan Avenue."

"Like we can afford Michigan Avenue…." Susan chuckled. Susie grinned and raised her eyebrows.

"Are you sure?" Susan asked. Susie nodded. They both looked over at the little boy who sat at the end of the table enjoying his dessert.

"What do you think, Cos?" Susan asked as she lifted the picture of the house up for him to see. "Do you want to move to a new house? Live closer to Grandpa?" Cosmo studied the picture in front of him and glanced from one face to the other. He took the paper from his mother and looked at it again.

"But if we move to this house…" he said slowly as he looked up at his mother. "How will Daddy find us again?" Susan's heart fell and she glanced across the table. Susie sighed.