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“Who’s Gretchen?” a woman asked, her voice as old as Mother’s had been when she’d died.
Gretchen sobered, because while weeding the strawberry patch, Will had said his mama wasn’t well.
“No one,” Will said. “Can’t a man talk on the phone and not get questioned to death?”
“No one?” Gretchen asked, making her voice as lighthearted as possible. She stood and headed for the front door so she could talk and laugh and not disturb Daddy.
“We want to start the brownies,” Lee said, his voice much closer. “Let me talk to her.”
“You’re not talking to her.”
“She’s someone,” the woman said.
“Will,” another woman called.
“I need five minutes,” Will practically yelled into the phone. “I’ll call you back.” It sounded like a scuffle ensued, and then the line went dead.
Gretchen leaned against the porch railing and looked out over the deadly quiet street in front of her. A smile filled her whole face and moved into her soul. Will’s family sure did seem…lively, and Gretchen could use a little more zest in her days.
Evening had started to fall before her phone rang, which was far longer than the five minutes Will had said he needed. Gretchen jabbed at the screen in her car to get the call to connect anyway, because his voice would be a welcome partner on her drive home.
“Hey,” she chirped, wondering if she came through the speaker in his phone too loud.
“Let me lead with an apology,” he said. “I’m sorry about earlier. I should’ve known I can’t answer a call in the middle of a family thing.” He sighed, and she could imagine him shaking that head of his. “The problem is, everything I do is a family thing. So I guess that’s the second thing you need to know.”
“That you do things with your family?”
“We eat dinner together nearly every night,” he said with a sigh that said it was akin to torture. “I cook on Fridays.”
Gretchen’s eyebrows shot right up, nearly flying off her face. “Every Friday?”
“I can switch the day around if I need to, but yeah.”
Questions blitzed through her mind. She didn’t know which one to start with, so she drove in silence.
“Anyway,” Will said with another sigh. “I was thinkin’ you might come out to the farm this afternoon, and we’d sneak into the Shoppe my sister runs and get some ice cream.”
“I was at my daddy’s,” she said. “But I could’ve come.” She reached a stop sign and looked right. Her mind slowed. “I just left his place. I could still come…”
“Could you?” he asked, the hope in his voice as high as the heavens above the earth. “I’ve got some things to do out in the barns, and the Shoppe is right across the lot from there.”
“Okay,” she said, flipping her blinker from left to right. “You were on dish duty this afternoon?”
“My oldest brother is an ogre,” Will said, a dark tone to his voice. “You think I am, but you haven’t met Lee yet.”
“I met Lee at the tent thing,” Gretchen said. “He did seem to be in a foul mood then.”
“Oh, well, that was because—” Will cut off, his voice just going mute. “That was a hard day for Lee, that’s all. But yeah, he cooked a lot today, and I said I’d do the dishes so he could take his son back to town.”
“How’s your mother? You didn’t tell her about us?”
He cleared his throat, and his voice sounded gruff when he said, “No, ma’am. I didn’t think there was much to tell yet.”
Gretchen smiled into the nearly dark sky. For some reason, she liked this version of Will Cooper who felt put on the spot and out of his comfort zone. She had a feeling that didn’t happen very often for him, and while he complained about his family, he loved them fiercely too.
“Anyway,” he said. “Give me a holler when you get here. If you turn right off the dirt road instead of left, you’ll be headin’ out to the barns and the Shoppe.”
“Yes, sir,” Gretchen said, teasing him now. “I’llgive you a holler.” She giggled, glad when Will chuckled too. The call ended, and Gretchen basked in the fact that she and Will had made it through several conversations now without a horribly awkward exchange.
“Not in person, though,” she said into the empty car, her hands suddenly kneading the steering wheel. Her headlights cut through the darkness, and Gretchen focused on the road ahead while she prayed.
“Please let us have a decent in-person interaction tonight. Is that too much to ask?” She didn’t think so, and she pressed a little harder on the gas pedal so she could get to Will just a little faster.
