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I putmy truck into park and pull out my ringing phone.Momflashes across my screen, along with a picture of her, Miranda, and myself from Christmastime last year.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Garrett, what are your plans tonight?”
“I’m meeting up with a friend for a BBQ. Why? What’s up?”
“Oh, I was just hoping you could stop by and help Allen with some heavy lifting I’m no help with. I was going to offer up some dinner for your troubles,” she adds.
“Can it wait until tomorrow?” I ask.
“Sure it can. Who are you meeting up with?” Mom pries.
“I went on a date with a woman Friday night. She’s a single mom and this was her idea, since she doesn’t want to pawn her kids off on someone, but she isn’t ready for the four of us to all do something. Mom, don’t be going and marrying us off in your head. It’s new and we’re going to go slow.”
“Aww, I love that. What’s her name?”
“Lacey,” I tell her.
“And how did you meet this lovely woman?”
“She co-owns a bakery I did two installs in last week,” I tell her. “We got to talking and I took a leap and asked her out on Friday. We went to dinner and out to the lake, where we got to talk for a while before I took her back to Sweet Valley.” I tell my mom the condensed version.
“Wow. Owns a bakery, plus has two little kids, no wonder she’s so busy. How old are her kids?” Mom asks.
“Four and five, a little girl and boy.”
“My goodness does that sound familiar,” Mom states, and I know what she’s thinking.
“Yep, and I’ve told her about growing up with just you and Miranda for most of my life.”
“I think your experience will help you in a relationship with a single mom; you know what it’s like to be her kids.”
“I’d like to think so. I’ve promised her I’d never exclude them or make her feel like she needs to pick between them or me. I know they are her priority, and they need to stay that way.”
“You sure are a good man,” Mom tells me. “I hope I get to meet her one day soon.”
“I hope you get to meet her, too, Mom. Even if it isn’t because we’re dating, but because I think you could encourage her so much. She’s got a different reason for becoming a single mom than you did, but in reality, she’s not had an easy road the last few years.”
“Oh my, well, I sure do hope to learn more, but I know you’re busy and need to get back to work. Just stop on by tomorrow after work and I’ll have dinner for you after you help Allen.”
“Will do, Mom. Love you,” I tell her before we hang up.
9
LACEY
I’m mixingup some batter for another four special-order cakes that are due out this week. It never ceases to amaze me just how many cakes we pump out of this kitchen week after week. I try my best to organize them by flavors so I can double, or triple, batches to keep things as efficient as possible. It doesn’t always work out, but thankfully, today it does.
With the big mixer whirling away, I pull out all the cake pans I’ll need for the orders. Two of them are multi-layer round cakes, and the other two are single-layer sheet cakes. Once the pans are prepped and ready, I turn off the mixer and measure out the batter into the pans. The new oven is amazing, and I can fit a few more pans into it than our older one. I can’t wait to get the second one up and running once Garrett gets here and replaces the control board.
“Hey, I’m going to take off. The front is all cleaned and locked up,” Harper says as she steps into the kitchen. She’s already got her purse slung over her shoulder. “I’ll see you at the park around five thirty, sound good?”
“See you, then. I’m just going to work on these cake orders until Garrett gets here and replaces the part, then I’m off to get the food and meet everyone at the park.”
“Do you know what time he’s supposed to be here?” she asks.
