after the storm

 Fan was relieved when Jody stomped away and out the door. She reminded Fan of herself at that age, too smart for her own good. Maybe Jody looked all of twelve instead of twenty-one. Things like that came in more handy than the girl would ever know. Fan was forty-eight but most thought she was not quite forty.

 Of course, Jody thought she knew better and wanted to tell Fan a thing or two about the whole ordeal with Charlie.  Jody must have quickly forgotten all those troubling years when her brother Jay was home.

But as numb as Fan felt at the moment, she didn't see it coming. She never expected this to be the end with her and Charlie. At the moment she was too tired to think. 

She couldn't win with Charlie. It was so final and cold. Just when she thought life was looking up. The kids were out of the house. She'd found a better place to work. Damn, if he hadn't bought her a new wedding band last Christmas. Naturally, she'd thrown it at him when she left.

Maybe it was COVID. They'd never spent so much time together in lockdown. And now this. It just didn't feel real.

Sal took a pan from her and told her he'd make her some noodles, comfort food in his book. She didn't quite believe him but let him have at it. She was certain she couldn't eat. But as soon as she smelled the garlic and fresh tomatoes with a few spicy seasons he brought, Sal changed her mind.

"Eat this. Shower and go to bed," Sal told her. Maybe he was all the romance she needed with a buttery voice, a quick smile, and a soft laugh that could cure just about anyone. He was a teddybear of a guy, but he was leaner than she knew. She really hadn't expected him to unload her car. She'd hoped her boys would have come, but they never did.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He was treating her as if he were her dad. Fan knew she was a good five years older than Sal. 

Of course, this whole COVID nightmare changed Sal's business too. He didn't run a bar anymore but fixed up the pizza oven in the kitchen of his bar and started making takeout. Somehow he was surviving in this economic mess even if he lived in the same apartment complex.

He left once he saw her eating the warm noodles. Yeah, he knew what she needed. She should listen to him more often.