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"Wow, Dad," I said. "I'm happy for you. I think you'll be happy."
"Oh, I know I will. I can't wait to go back to work for the Morgans."
I paused for a minute, thinking about running into them the day before. I had been smitten the whole time I talked to Charlie, and I felt a wave of embarrassment at the thought.
"Congratulations," I said, sounding upbeat.
"Thank you. I'm happy about it."
***
Landon came with me to my dad's apartment later that weekend. My dad had asked me to bring Landon with me so that he could do some heavy lifting and help us make a trip over to Broken Arrow with his things. My dad had a friend with us, too. One of his buddies from work came to help us out with a truck and trailer. His apartment was a small two-bedroom, but he had been in there for a few years and had accumulated quite a few things.
I ran to the store to get some last-minute boxes while the guys packed some of his furniture into the trailer. My errand only took a few minutes, and when I returned, they were loading it up. I spoke to them as I walked toward the apartment with a stack of boxes.
"Do you need help?" Dad asked.
"I should be asking you that," I said, since they were the ones carrying a table. I set the boxes down and stood next to the trailer, balancing the boxes on their side."
"We've got it," my dad said. "How did it go at Ace?"
"Good. The boxes were free—you had plenty that were broken down ready to go, but I had to listen to Carl talk my ear off for about five minutes."
Dad laughed. "Good thing you got away with just five. I bet he told you all about that deck he's building."
"Yes, I know about the deck. I even know what he had for dinner last night." I made the statement as I picked up the boxes to head inside.
"Pot roast?" Dad guessed.
"Salad," I said. "Some kind of salad with a rotisserie chicken."
"Are you talking about dinner already?" Landon asked as he appeared in the doorway carrying two chairs.
I smiled at him and shook my head. "No, I had to hear a whole story from Carl at my dad's work when I went to pick up these boxes. He told me half of his life."
"Because you're Hope Jones and you're too nice," Landon said.
We switched places on the sidewalk since I was headed inside and he was headed out. "It's partly true that I'm too nice, but I was being short with him today. Everyone gets stuck talking to Carl."
"Did you get tape?" Landon asked.
I turned and nodded at him from over my shoulder as I went inside.
I put together boxes and packaged some of my dad's kitchen stuff before moving to a closet in the hall where he had stored a bunch of sheets and blankets.
We were there for two hours, working to pack and get everything into the trailer before we took it to Broken Arrow. The two cities were on the same lake, but they were over thirty miles apart, using the back roads that circled the lake. I knew the roads well. It was a trip I had taken countless times as a child. I'd gone back and forth from Broken Arrow to Graham Springs hundreds of times, and while I took a boat sometimes, most of those trips had happened by vehicle. These roads were slightly different since time had passed, but they were still familiar to me.
"I'm just taking in how everything is changed." I made the statement to Landon as I sat in his passenger's seat. He was driving his car behind my dad on our way to the Morgan's property.
"Have you seen the house at all?" he asked.
I nodded. "I've taken my dad's boat over there a few times. There's a trail through the woods and a swing."
"Is the swing still there?" Landon asked.
I nodded.
"When do you go over there?"
