I rolled my eyes. “They dedicated the town’s new welcome sign, Pop. It wasn’t exactly dodging bullets on a battlefield.”
“And may it never come to that.” He shook his head. “But still, good for you. Get some decent shots?” My father was an amateur photographer who’d been the one to buy me my first camera and teach me the basics.
“I think so, but I won’t know ’til I get them developed. I don’t know why Mr. Wilder won’t just let me use the digital. Or my own camera, at least, instead of that dinosaur.”
“It’s good for you to know how to handle film and learn the old-fashioned way. That way you’re prepared for anything.”
I grunted, neither agreeing nor outright disagreeing. I kept seeing those brown eyes and the slow smile.Alison Reynolds.I said her name in my head, trying it out.
“Hey, Pop?” We were nearly home by the time I spoke again. “Do you remember when you met Mom?”
He grinned, his eyes crinkling at the sides. “Of course I do. Happiest day of my life. We were in college, and at a party. I was acting up, being wild, trying to get her attention because she’d caught my eye.” He laughed. “I was not many years over here in this country at that point, you know, and not quite the confident man you see before you now. I tried to pull her into my foolishness, and she told me in no uncertain terms that she was having none of it. Said she wasn’t interested in stupid little boys. I spent the next three months proving to her I could be more.”
“Threemonths?” At the age of fourteen, that sounded like a lifetime.
“Yes, indeed. I got serious. Spent hours studying with her at the library, because that was the only place she’d agree to see me. No parties, no drinking . . . and finally, finally she agreed to go out with me. She made me work for it, your mother did.” He grinned. “Still does.”
“Why’d you do it? Why’d you go to all that trouble over a girl?” We’d turned into the driveway alongside our house, but neither of us made a move to get out, even after Pop turned off the car.
“Because I knew she was it for me. I didn’t know if I’d be good enough for her, or if it would work out, but I knew I’d found the woman who was everything I’d ever wanted. She was worth the wait. Worth the work.” He cocked his head at me. “This is an odd conversation for a Wednesday afternoon. Do you have your eye on a girl? Not Rachel Thomas, surely?”
I shook my head, trying not to grimace. Rachel was my sister’s friend, which made her off-limits, even if I were interested. “No.”
“Hmmm.” Pop shifted in the driver’s seat. “Not going to tell me?”
“Not yet. Maybe it’s nothing.”
“All right then. I’m here when you need to talk.” He opened the door and began to get out before pausing to look at me over his shoulder. “Keep in mind, you’d do well to find a girl like your mother. They don’t come better than her.”
I swallowed hard now, hearing his words echo. The sign still stood there, worn and weathered twelve years later. And here I sat, parked alongside the road, seeing ghosts of people who didn’t exist anymore.
I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath. A few miles away, my mother and sisters were waiting for me. I had to pull my shit together.
It was time to go home.
WHEN I WAS A little girl, bored was a bad word in our family. If I ever dared to claim I had nothing to do, better believe my mother or my grandma found something for me, and it was never anything fun. I learned fast to occupy myself or suffer the consequences, usually in form of weeding a garden, shelling peas, peeling potatoes or putting labels on the jars of jam Grandma made.
Bored was not something I remembered being in the last decade or so. Having an eight-year old daughter, helping my brother run our family farm and the adjoining roadside produce stand . . . yeah, I was usually tired, overwhelmed, maybe anxious, but never bored.
At the moment, though, I was dangerously close.
We kept our farm stand, The Colonel’s Last Stand—named for our several-times over great grandfather, Colonel Pierce Reynolds—open all year around, though we opened later and closed earlier in the winter. Now it was early spring, and none of our own crops were ready yet. We had some oranges and grapefruit up from Florida, but that wasn’t exactly bringing in the crowds of shoppers. Business would begin picking up in another month, but for now, I had time to kill in the long gaps between customers.
This was new. Usually, I had my daughter Bridget hanging out with me at the stand, but she was spending this weekend at her best friend Katie’s sleepover. I missed her happy chatter and smiling face. I’d already re-organized our shelves of non-perishables, dusted the tables, tidied up the cashier area . . . I sighed and wondered if I could justify closing up an hour early and heading home. My brother was more than likely out in the fields, and I might end up with the whole house to myself. The image of a frothy bubble bath popped into my mind, and I smiled. How long had it been since I’d had time for that? I couldn’t even remember.
I’d just about talked myself into shutting down when I heard the familiar crunch of car tires on our gravel parking area. Stifling a groan—and watching my luxurious bath float away on one those shiny bubbles—I pasted a smile on my face and leaned out to see who’d stopped by.
My smile turned genuine when I recognized the sleek black Porsche. “Alex!” I darted out to meet him halfway across the small lot. “What’re you doing here?”
His dark blond hair was perfectly styled, and his pale blue eyes twinkled at me. “Well, I just thought I’d stop at the best stand in Georgia and see what goodies you might have for me today. Plus get a hug from my best friend. What’s doing, chick?”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, closing my eyes and breathing in his scent. “You always smell so expensive, Alex.”
He laughed. “Darling girl, Iamexpensive.” He tweaked my nose. “And you are adorable. Look at you, still rocking the pigtails.”
I stuck out my tongue. “Did you come all the way from Atlanta just to make fun of me?”
“No, actually. I have some business in Savannah on Monday, and I thought I’d spend the weekend here with the folks before I go. I’m on my way to the farm now.”
