But I hadn’t brought up any of those arguments. It would have emphasized how different Joan and I were. It wasn’t like I needed to draw her attention to it. The woman was well aware.
But she hadn’t said no to dating me because she didn’t like me as a person or because she wasn’t attracted to me. She simply had a hard time with my celebrity status and fame. Those things were a part of my life, but they weren’t who I was. Somehow, I needed her to see that.
The situation wasn’t completely hopeless just because she thought I was.
That night, while Georgie got ready for bed, I listened to him talk about Joan. It was a running commentary of the time he spent with her and the things they talked about.
While he pulled on Spider-Man pajamas, I got to hear about the goat that lived next door, who sometimes showed up on her doorstep.
As he brushed his teeth, he told me the best kinds of apples to use for pressing.
When he climbed into bed, he considered putting together an emergency kit for Joan since she used handkerchiefs instead of bandages, and he worried that she’d get an infection.
While I was reading his bedtime story, Georgie interrupted three different times to remark on something Joan had said or thought or demonstrated.
I smiled as Georgie chattered on about his favorite person. I was grateful he had someone to look up to and admire. I even thought Joan deserved his praise and devotion. But the knowledge was bittersweet. Whathappened when we eventually left Kirby Falls? Would I be dragging a little boy home with a broken heart?
Closing the children’s book, I placed it on the side table and turned on the night-light.
“Maybe we can make some peanut butter fluff sandwiches for dinner this week?” I offered after Georgie had asked about them again.
“Okay. Thanks, Uncle Ian.”
I passed him his e-reader and set a timer on his clock. “Ten minutes, okay? Then bedtime.”
“Okay,” he said distractedly, already absorbed in the animal book he liked.
“I love you, bud. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself here in Kirby Falls.”
He didn’t respond, and I tried not to feel the sharp slice of disappointment as I closed the bedroom door behind me.
Joan
My father followed me out onto the front porch following Sunday dinner.
Brady, Mac, Candace, and Mercer were still inside with my mother, enjoying dessert. But I had an early start in the morning and some chores waiting for me at home.
The sky was nearly dark already. This time of year shortened the days, making me feel like every moment at rest was somehow wasted time.
“I was thinking about expanding the wildflower field after the movie people clear out,” Dad said. “Might as well, since we had to clear that extra acreage for them.”
I nodded. “Makes sense. The tourists like it.”
In the summer, we ran hay rides out to the field so visitors could pick flowers by the bucketful to take home. We utilized succession planting, so there was always something blooming between June and September.Dahlias, zinnias, and sunflowers turned the once-unused pasture bright and beautiful with every color in the rainbow.
U-pick flowers had been Candace’s idea when she’d moved back to town and started working at the farm. I had to admit that it was a crowd-pleaser and pretty low maintenance compared to other attractions here at the orchard.
“And Margaret down at Snap, Bam, Bloom wants to contract us as a supplier if we plant some of the flowers she needs for weddings,” Dad said. “We could use the extra space for that as well.”
Margaret owned the florist shop downtown.
“I’ll get in touch with her and see what she needs,” I told him. “I’ve been thinking about planting some tulips out there. We could see if she’d be interested in those, too.”
The orchard wasn’t open to the public year-round. In March and April, without tourists to pick them, there’d be no real reason to grow tulips. But they’d always been my favorite. I wouldn’t mind planting a row of bulbs in the coming weeks just to try things out. Maybe George would want to help me.
“That sounds good, Joanie.”
Dad squinted into the distance. “Now who’s that coming up the trail?”
