Living with my son Andrew and his sharp-tongued wife Kate wasn’t the peaceful arrangement I’d imagined. A dramatized leg injury had guilted Kate into letting me stay, but her irritation was obvious.

One autumn morning, I watched her struggle with a rake. “You’re doing it all wrong!” I called. She barely looked up. “Maybe it’s time for you to go home,” she muttered.

Inside, I noticed dust everywhere. With Kate on maternity leave, shouldn’t she be doing more? Later, I offered her cooking advice—she told me to leave the kitchen. That evening, I overheard Kate and Andrew whispering. “It’s harder than you think,” she sighed. I bristled at her playing victim.

At dinner, I remarked her pie was undercooked. Kate, smirking, suggested I bake one for our grumpy neighbor, Mr. Davis. I scoffed—he barely acknowledged me. But the next morning, he appeared and asked me to dinner. Shocked but curious, I accepted.

That night, as we danced to him humming jazz, I felt something I hadn’t in years—joy.

Peter, as he asked me to call him, soon became the highlight of my days. On Thanksgiving, I invited him to join us. But hearing him thank Kate for helping get a record player shattered me—had it all been a setup?

I confronted them. They confessed to scheming but insisted the feelings were real. Peter stepped forward. “I fell for you, Margaret, not because of any plan—but because of who you are.”

I softened. “Fine. But the record player stays.”

And so did Peter.