Dating A Silver Fox (Never Too Late) by Donna McDonald

happen when someone else died in the family—how Dad would handle it. He struggles—well, let’s say— silently ,” Jane said, pausing to slide her hand down Lydia McCarthy’s arm until she found herself holding the older woman’s hand.
    “Between you and me, Dad could use a friend to help him get through Uncle Kevin dying. He needs someone who could take his mind off grieving, and you’re the most distracting person in Dad’s life right now. He has a serious crush on you.”
    Squeezing gently, Lydia slid her hand away from Jane’s. Morrison had raised a fine woman and a good daughter.
    “ A crush on me? If that’s true, then God help both of us. I have no use for a man at my age, especially not a live one like your father. Morrison Fox is way out of my league. He’ll have to turn his attention elsewhere.”
    Jane giggled, finding it hard not to be amused about the fact that her father had apparently gotten nowhere in two weeks. Maybe Lydia McCarthy was going to be the one woman her silver fox father couldn’t charm. It was a highly entertaining thought that her father might strike out, but she’d never seen him fail at anything he’d set his mind to accomplish.
    “Don’t resist too hard. Your reticence is your greatest allure. Dad has always liked a challenge,” Jane observed.
    “I assure you that I’ve done nothing to indicate a willingness to be anything for your father, especially not a ‘challenge’ as you call it,” Lydia said, gathering up her cleaning gear.
    Then she stopped and looked at Jane, who was still looking hopeful.
    “Being a friend though is another matter. I’d be happy to check on your father for you and make sure he’s keeping it together. After a certain age, a person ends up spending a lot of time saying goodbye to family and friends. It’s never easy. Seeing those who are still alive always helps.”
    Jane took a breath. The woman wasn’t totally wonderful, but she certainly had her moments. In the face of Lydia’s sympathy, Jane rashly decided to turn her father’s love life over to the whims of fate and this nicer version of Lydia McCarthy. She wasn’t nice like Dorothy Henderson, but Lydia could hold her own with Harrison Graham—and the younger version of him who kept popping by the facility to visit, which Jane was not dealing with as well.
    At the very least, Lydia could get her father up out the chair he’d been sitting in since Uncle Kevin had died. He and Aunt Rachel were just sitting around his condo all day doing nothing productive, which is what triggered his depression last time. When Morrison Fox sat for more than ten minutes, there was something really wrong. It was his surest tell. Jane didn’t want him slipping into another funk that would take years to pull him out of again.
    Decision made, Jane straightened before reaching out and patting Lydia’s arm again.
    “Stop by the office and I’ll give you Dad’s condo address—in case you want to just casually drop by his place sometime this week,” Jane said.
    Lydia nodded with a soft smile. “I could probably do that on my way home today. I don’t have any plans for the evening.”
    “Good,” Jane said, sincerely hoping she was doing the right thing. “Thanks. I appreciate you checking on him.”
    Lydia nodded absently as Jane walked off, mumbling to herself and shaking her head. The young woman had too many responsibilities and too much stress in her life, but Lydia had no idea how to help her. Her thoughts were already on what she might possibly say to make Morrison feel better.
    She wasn’t good at comforting people—or being comforted. She avoided visitations and funerals whenever possible. But if she went home tonight without seeing Morrison Fox and finding out how he was doing, she was never going to be able to sleep.
    ***
     
    When the doorbell rang, Morrie figured it was someone else bringing yet more food that he had no real room to store. He was going to have to call friends to