I Was Seated Alone at My Son’s Wedding — Then a Stranger Said ‘Act Like You’re With Me’

“Well, guess what?”

“I’m making them anyway.”

I hung up before he could respond and immediately turned off the phone.

“That felt good,” I admitted to Theo.

“I imagine it did.”

“though I should probably mention that I don’t actually have a house in Tuscanyany.”

I stared at him for a moment, then burst into laughter.

“You don’t?”

“Not yet,” he said with a grin.

“But I can have one by next week if you’re interested.”

The casual way he said it, like buying international real estate was no more complicated than picking up groceries, should have been intimidating.

Instead, it was thrilling.

“Theo,”

I said slowly.

“What exactly are we doing here?”

“We’re living,” he said simply.

“For the first time in 50 years, we’re actually living instead of just existing.”

My phone, despite being turned off, somehow managed to ring.

Theo looked at it with amusement.

“I think your son may have some additional thoughts to share.”

“Let him think,” I said, leaving the phone silent.

“It’ll be good for him.”

But even as I said it, I knew that Brandon’s panic was just the beginning.

The real consequences of my newfound independence were still to come.

Monday morning brought an unexpected visitor to my front door.