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“I’ll be sure to tell Violet,” I squeeze his arm and he blushes.

“You head on over to the bakery. I’m pretty sure that Anna just took some cherry pies out of the oven. You can’t go wrong with that.” I give him a grateful smile.

“Maybe I’ll buy two. One for Violet and Luther, and one for home.”

“That’s the ticket.” He puts two fingers to his forehead in a salute then turns to go to the floral department.

By the time I get to the front of the line at the check-out aisle, Roger is waiting with a gorgeous display of tulips.

“Those are perfect.”

Roger takes the flowers and puts them on the floor of my front seat. They have a box around them so they won’t slip.

“They’ll love your tulips, Roger. My guess is you’ll get a thank you card from Violet.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” he says as I start my car.

Now I can go to the Mid Lake Retirement Community.

“Trenda, what a nice surprise! Luther, look, it’s Trenda.”

Luther comes to the door and smiles. “Let me take those flowers from you, they look heavy.” He takes the box and proceeds to put it on the coffee table.

“This is one of his really good days. You came at a wonderful time,” she whispers. In a louder voice she says, “Come on in.”

“Those flowers are from Roger Clemmons, over at the grocery store. Isn’t that nice?”

“I’ll have to send him a thank you card,” Violet smiles.

“Thank you. I also brought cherry pie.”

“I like cherry pie,” Luther says as he puts his arm around Violet and looks down at her with a loving glance. I melt seeing that, after my last visit with him. This is beautiful.

“So how are you liking it here?” I ask, after we all settle down on the sofa and chair.

“I like it a lot.” Luther smiles, with his arm still around Violet. “I get to go in the…” He pauses for a long time. “Where do I go, Violet? I like it.”

“You go to the garden and plant flowers.”

He turns to me. “I plant flowers.”

“That is so nice. How’s the food?”

He turns to Violet again. She bites her lip and looks at me. I can see some of his concentration has slipped. “Remember the restaurant, Luther?”

He turns back to me and smiles. “We go to a restaurant every day with friends. We get to eat good food most of the time. Sometimes it’s bad food.”

I laugh. “I can always depend on you to tell the truth, Luther.”

“You should never tell a lie,” Luther says.

“That’s right, my Love.” Violet reaches up and smooths her hand down his jaw and he grabs it and gives her a kiss in the middle of her palm.

I would have never forgiven myself if Violet hadn’t made it down the mountain alive. She looks at me and smiles. It’s as if she can read my mind.

“You take on too much, Trenda. You can’t control everything in life. When you learn to let go and let others take care of you, you’ll be a happier woman.”

As we continue to talk for the rest of the afternoon, I ruminate on what she says. Violet Randolph is a wise woman.