RUGGED CHEDDAR. This is what I am thinking about when my husband, Simon, falls. I have been thinking about cheese, and about Simon, on and off all morning. The deli counter at the grocery store set out samples of a particularly good aged cheddar and as a small square dissolves on my tongue, the crunch of tiny lactic acid crystals sweetening the salty, nippy kick, I decide to blow our weekly budget and buy a block. Simon will love it. If a man could claim a cheese of his own, rugged cheddar would belong to him. Over the years there have been issues with cheese consumption in the house. I have had occasion, during particularly tight financial times, to assert the fact that cheese is a meal item. Cheese is not a snack. I have wailed as I watched Simon slice into thick slabs and devour what I considered to be two nights' worth of dinner material in an attempt to re-stabilize a late afternoon dip in blood sugar. But thankfully, those times have passed. Although we still live paycheck to paycheck, there is enough buffer room in our budget to accommodate a totally superfluous block of cheese.

From Fallen by Kara Stanley. ©2015. Published by Greystone Books