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I shake my head. “No. Well, sure, I mean, at first, yeah. But now? Now I don’t care who knows. I’m falling in love with him, Mr. Parker. Maybe next time I’ll write that on a public building for all the world to see.”
“Wouldn’t that be some shit?” he says with a chuckle. He lifts his hands toward the sofas. “Which one would you like? Hell, take two if you want.”
I hold up a palm to stop him. “I’m not taking Mrs. Parker’s furniture.”
“I am delivering a couch and a kitchen table to your house in about an hour, per my son’s request, so you can either pick one out or I’ll give you the one with the big stupid roses and swirly shit on it.”
I let out a snort. I definitely don’t want that one. So I wander around a little as if I’m shopping, and Mr. Parker talks to me as if he can stand me, and I feel almost the same.
Finally, after I’ve picked the table, chairs, and sofa I want, I ask him how much. “Tell you what. Make a donation to the church,” he says. “I don’t need the money. But I do need this shit gone. My tractor is sitting out in the rain.”
“Oh, the horror,” I reply.
He grins at me and then his smile slowly falls away. “Grady thinks the world of you. Don’t go breaking his heart, okay?”
“Okay.”
He nods, and soon Grady returns, and they start to load furniture into his truck. I give them my house key, and I go and sit and talk with Mrs. Parker while they deliver the furniture.
Grady comes back after a while and dusts his hands together, then falls down onto the sofa beside me. “You ready to go?”
I shake my head. “Your mom was talking about playing a board game.”
“You want to stay here and play a board game? With my parents?” His expression is almost comical.
“I’m not leaving here, Grady Parker, until I whip your dad’s ass in a game.”
“Oh, them’s fighting words,” Mr. Parker says as he comes inside on the tail end of the conversation. “Get the games, son.” He nudges Grady’s shoulder and Grady goes down the hall. Mr. Parker winks at me and I smile back.
“Thanks for the furniture.”
He raises a hand to wave that away. “Sometimes I’m not so good at apologies,” he says quietly.
“I’m not either.”
He nods, and helps Grady set up a game board, and we spend almost two hours playing games with Grady’s parents. Grady looks relaxed and happy, and his dad has a new sense of pride in his eyes when he looks at his son.
As we leave, Mr. Parker leans over to hug me, and I hug him back.
“What happened with you and my dad?” Grady asks when we get in the Jeep.
“Nothing. Why?”
“He just seemed…different.” Grady shrugs. “Did that seem weird to you at all?”
“I thought it was nice.”
He turns to face me, and a slow smile spreads across his face. “So, what do you want to do now?”
“I think we should go see how my new couch sits.”
Grady nods and backs out of the driveway. As soon as he’s on the main road, I reach over and take his hand. He looks at me and smiles.
“Your dad’s proud of you,” I inform him.
He nods. “I know. He told me.”
That makes me feel warm inside. Maybe their relationship has turned the tide. Grady deserves a happily ever after, even if it’s not me who gives it to him.
