Forever: A Lobster Kind Of Love by Jody Pardo, Jennifer Tocheny Read Free Book Online Page A

at my house, from the ramp to my front door to the getting the cable turned back on. My house was a Cape Cod, and I was not far from the bay, so I’d had my house raised to prevent flooding. 
    I couldn’t wait to be back in my own home again. The EMTs were more quiet and subdued than the crew that had brought me here, and shortly after leaving Manhattan and heading north out of the city, the EMT riding in the back with me had his nose in a murder mystery novel while the driver sang along with the radio. By the time the skyscrapers disappeared in the distance, the gentle rocking of the ambulance had lulled me to sleep.



Lydia
Thursday
    I turned down the radio looked for house 4462 on Deep Cove Road. As I watched the numbers count up, I smiled as I found it. I turned down the driveway and looked around at the view.
    I was on sensory overload. I took in the landscape of the gorgeous white two-story home on the waterfront with plush green grass and tall pines all around the property line. I had to be dreaming.
    As I dug down in my bottomless pit of a purse, I jumped when someone banged on the passenger side window. My heart rate picked up quickly and I could barely see the top of a gray head of hair as a small fist pounding the window.
    “Lydia, is that you? Are you okay? Get out of that car right now so I can hug you, young lady. I have been waiting two months! Don’t make an old lady wait any longer.” I assumed Ethel Greenway, 75-year-old spitfire, all of 4’10” weighing probably around 100 pounds soaking wet, was bouncing around the front of my SUV before going over to the driver’s side.
    Her messy bun bobbed up and down on the crown of her head as this little senior Energizer bunny hopped over to open my door. She stood there staring at me with a huge smile as I clenched my necklace.
    I can do this. Deep breath . I tried to give myself a mini pep talk.
    “You coming out or are you planning on sleeping in the car?” I couldn’t help but smile as Ethel’s words snapped me out of my internal pep talk. She held her hand out and as I placed my hand in hers and stepped out of the SUV, she pulled me into a hug.
    She patted my back. “Welcome to your new home, sweetheart. Let’s go get you fed and talk some. Then, I can show you your apartment and you can get settled. But first, some food, we need to get some meat on these bones.”
    She didn’t know my full story, so there was no sorrow or pity in her eyes, but I was sure she knew I had a past. She enthusiastically dragged me into the house to be fed. As I followed Ethel’s lead, I soaked up the details of her home.
    This house was huge, and she lived here alone. I wondered to myself, how does she keep up with a house this size?
    Ethel interrupted my assessment and announced, “We are going into the kitchen. I made some lobster rolls and coleslaw. I hope that’s okay? You do eat lobster don’t you?”
    I couldn’t help but smile, “Yes, I eat lobster. That sounds wonderful.”
    She glowed with excitement. “Well, okay then, you have a seat and I will put a pot of coffee to brew and we can talk.”
    I looked at Ethel with gratitude. “Thank you.” I felt this amazing connection with Ethel already. She was like an adopted grandmother; I’d never had living grandparents growing up. They’d died long ago when I was an infant.
    Sitting at the table with Ethel, the food in front of me looked and smelled amazing. She beamed from ear to ear. I caught her looking at me as I gazed into my plate. “Lydia, don’t be shy. Just dig in and eat. It looks like you could use a good meal. Just wait until you taste fresh Maine lobster. You will want it every day. If it were any fresher, it would still be crawling.”
    I smiled at her words, then, as I took a bite of my lobster roll, I had to refrain from moaning out loud. It was like a food orgasm in my mouth, and I savored each delectable chew. I smiled with a mouthful and I managed to say, “Oh my God, this is