Father's Day (S., part II)

After what I wrote earlier about looking forward and not backward, it makes very little sense for me to be writing once more about S., but bear with me.
Last Sunday -- father's day -- I went to my sister K.'s for a barbecue with my stepdaughter J. Remarkably it was the first time I had introduced J. to K., which is kind of strange considering what focal points the two of them have been in my life. It was a nondescript dinner with her family but it was still like some kind of big step as it felt like I was introducing a new girlfriend or something but even more important than that as J. has really become like a daughter and not a transient part of my life. Girlfriends come and go, unfortunately, but J. is family and our relationship feels somehow permanent, even more so than that I share with some of my actual family.
I dropped J. off at her place and came home and as I was getting out of the truck I bumped into my neighbour LD. and her fiancé. LD is someone I have such a tremendous amount of respect and affection for, she is one of the kindest and most generous people I have ever met. She invited me to join them on the patio at the end of my street for a "father's day" dinner which for them would have been a bit of a break considering they have six children between them. I actually turned them down initially and said something like "if I get lonely I might join you" which of course is exactly what happened the second I stepped in the house and in fact I was so quick to change my mind that when I got there I could not find them as they had not even settled in to the pub yet, with he going home for a sweater and she down the street for some money or something.
We were joined by another neighbour, and we talked about all kinds of stuff, we talked about a lot but of course we talked about S., and then suddenly there she was, with V., walking along the sidewalk beside the patio. And then V. said hello to me, and I said hello back, and just when we all thought the awkward moment had passed, she appeared, at our table, asking me why I had not returned her call from that morning, and when I planned on doing so. I was a bit stunned and unable to respond coherently at first and I think she sensed my discomfort and kept pushing me for an answer, which she never got. She was quite aggressive, quite rude and quite possibly drunk, and I was quite shaken. And of course I am quite curious about what she wants to talk about, but so far have resisted the temptation to find out.