Sunset: 4 (Sunrise) by Karen Kingsbury

seats.”
    “It’s time for a change.” Ryan leaned his forearms on the table, his tone marked by the same sadness they were all feeling. “Sometimes that happens.”
    Maddie sat down, but Cole hesitated. “You must be so sad, Papa. Because we have a katrillion memories here. And Devin never even got to look for tadpoles in the creek or anything.”
    “I am sad.” Ashley’s dad put his hand over Cole’s. “But we’ll be sure to buy a house with a new creek. So that’ll give us more to explore.” He turned and gazed deep into Elaine’s eyes. “Uncle Ryan’s right. It was time for a change.”
    When Cole finally sat down, he looked at Landon. “Does that mean strangers are gonna buy it? And take over?”
    “New people, yes.”
    Around the table, conversations broke out. Overall the feeling was one of sadness and an overriding inevitability. Katy talked about how her parents had sold their family home in Chicago when their health deteriorated and how difficult that time was for all of them.
    At the same time, Landon continued the quiet dialogue with Cole.
    “What if me and Maddie and Jessie put all our allowance and birthday money together?” Cole kept his voice to an urgent whisper. “Then could we buy it?”
    “No.” Landon shot a sad smile at Cole. “It wouldn’t be enough. Now shh. Aunt Katy’s talking.”
    Ashley stayed quiet while the children talked about the egg hunts and campouts and endless games of tag they’d played on the Baxter property. The noises around her blurred, and Ashley wasn’t picturing the young cousins playing on the acreage outside. Rather she was picturing Brooke and Kari and Erin hunting for fireflies near the trees that bordered their property, Luke shooting baskets out front on a summer night, and herself seated behind an easel trying to capture the fading sunset as it sprayed oranges and blues across the fields adjacent to the house. She was seeing her mother tending to her rose garden out back and her dad coming home from the hospital and sitting in the porch swing next to her when the gardening was done.
    Devin pounded on his high chair tray. “More cawwots, peas. . . . More cawwots!”
    Ashley turned to her younger son. “Okay, baby . . . just a minute.” She put three carrot slices on his tray and cut them in fourths, glad for the reason to turn her back to the others. Not because she had nothing to add to the conversation about the house and all it had meant to them over the years and why it would be sad to bid it good-bye.
    But because she didn’t want Cole to see her tears.

 
    Dinner was over and the guys were finishing up the dishes, talking about the Super Bowl and whether the Patriots would be back.
    “Don’t rule out the Colts.” Landon grinned. “They’re always in the top few teams, and now with Jim Flanigan on the sidelines, next year could be their best ever.”
    “You got that right.” Ryan raised his eyebrows. “They’ll be strong for a while.”
    “Which reminds me.” Peter was scooping leftover salad from the bowl and placing it in a Ziploc bag. “We need to get to some home games next season. With Erin and Sam moving here, we could make up a pretty decent tailgate party.”
    “Jim tells me he can get us seats, so maybe if we plan early . . .”
    Landon was drying a pan, ready to agree about heading to Indianapolis for a few games when he realized he hadn’t seen Ashley in a while. Devin had been fussy after dinner, and Ashley had taken him from his high chair, cleaned him up, and swung him onto her hip. She’d muttered something about Devin being tired and that she was going to take him upstairs to walk him until he fell asleep. But her smile had stopped short of her eyes.
    Now Landon dried his hands and moved toward the doorway. “Save me the counters. I’m gonna check on Ash.”
    Everyone could see that Ashley hadn’t been the same since the conversation about the Baxter house, but Landon had a feeling there was