Ex-Daughter in Law

We last hugged before the divorce went final,
after grandson Charlie’s birthday.
When we greet each other again,
it will be with a pro forma embrace
hobbled by awkward air kisses.

I miss our chats after your workday
commiserating in our mutual germaphobia
and deriding the avaricious airlines.
You shared with me how the doctors
In your hospital were incentivized, ka-ching,
to send patients home before they are ready.

We sipped mugs of scalding herb tea
brought to a rolling boil by the blue flame
on the balky gas stove and toasted
your holding your administrator’s feet to the fire.

Mom and I loved you by coming to your aid
to cook, clean, chauffeur, shop, and babysit
when he was away. You were grateful
and boasted to your colleagues your father-in-law
was home scrubbing your bathrooms.

Although bundled by devotion for my son
I cannot put my love for you in storage,
like a winter coat rendered superfluous
by summer’s heat. Instead, I will hold
it close and hope that someday its warmth
will envelop you once more.