Ally was flipping through the channels on her TV aimlessly.  It was a Sunday, so the store was closed, she had cleaned the house, and she got a call from her real estate broker, telling her that someone wanted her condo in Tampa.  The phone rang and she got up and answered it. “Hello?” “Hi.” “Hey Howard, what’s up?” “Bored, you?” “Same.” “Oh, so I caught you at a good time.” “Yeah,” Ally smiled.  “Hey, you want to come over?” “Sure but I’ll have to ask my mom first… hold on.”  Ally rolled her eyes when there was a pause on the other end.  “She says it’s OK.” “Get your ass over here!” Howie showed up and walked in the door.  “Al?  You decent?” “I’m upstairs!” Howie clambered up the stairs.  She saw Ally in her mother’s bedroom. “Hey.” Ally looked up.  “Hey.” “What’s going on?” He sat down next to her. “I wanted to show you something.” She gave him the scrapbook. “Wow, where did you find this?” “A couple of months ago when I was going through her things.  I thought you would like to see it.” “I didn’t know she kept this.” “Neither did I until I found it.”  She opened it.  “Go ahead, look at it.” They both looked at the book, each reminiscing about each little picture they saw; each had its own story to tell. They looked at it for a few hours.  Ally looked at the scrapbook differently now that Howie was there.  It was like their life story revisited—not the bad times, but just to talk about the good times with an adult perspective.  Her wall that she built up was crumbling in boulders.  It felt good. Howie and Ally had just remembered the story about how they decided to try to crush ice cubes so there would be snow in Florida, which, of course didn’t work. “…And your mom came out to find the backyard in nothing but mud from the melted ice?” “She was so mad!  Especially when she stepped in a big puddle and ruined her new shoes!”  Ally came down from the laughter, when a sudden wave of sadness came over her. “Ally?”  Howie looked at her. She felt the tears come to her eyes.  “I’m sorry.” “No don’t be.” “It’s just that I miss her so much. I’m fine, and then sometimes it hits me.”  She covered her face with her hands and began to sob.  Howie put his hand on her back and Ally responded by hugging him, crying into his shoulder.  He put his hand on her head. “It’s OK to cry.  Let it out.”  She cried for a few minutes Ally looked up at him.  He wiped the tears from her face.  “Feel better?” She sniffed.  “Yeah.  Will you take me somewhere?” “Sure, anywhere you want to go.” “Let’s go.”  She got up and Howie followed. ~*~   They walked through the cemetery, where they finally went to the gravesite where Ally’s mother’s gravestone was placed. Ally sat at the stone bench next to the grave.  “Hi Mom.”  She touched the gravestone. “You want me to leave you alone?” “No, sit.” Howie sat next to her.  “Look, Mom, Howard’s here.  We decided to let things go.  I know you always wanted me to call him.  You got the last word in, like you always did.” “Mrs. Holston,” Howie started.  “I never forgot you.  No one made cookies like you did.  But Ally’s doing fine.” “Hear that Mom?  So I’m OK, no need to worry about me.  I found the scrapbook.  I love it.  It really brought back a lot of good memories for us.”  Ally sighed and rested her head on Howie’s shoulder.  “What do you think she would say?” “About what?” “Us.” “I think she is thrilled, probably pointing a finger from up there saying ‘I told you so.’” Ally gave a silent laugh.  “I bet she is too.” Chapter 10 Contents Chapter 8