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When he steps inside, he leans in pressing a kiss to my cheek as he passes.
“How did you know I’d be here?” I ask him as I follow behind.
“Ran into Emma and Mattie at the store,” placing the bags on the counter he looks back over his shoulder. “She told me you’d be here eating cheese and crackers, drinking wine and playing the radio loudly.” He looks around as if in search of something. “She was right about two out of three.”
“I had the radio on until Gigi called because the girls wanted to show me the cookies they baked.”
He nods, “Chocolate chip?”
“Riley made hers with M&Ms, Regan used Reese’s.” I correct. “Never met a kid the loves peanut butter the way Regan does.She eats it right out of the container with a spoon. Puts in on everything, celery, bread, hot dogs.”
“Hot dogs?” Jay asks wrinkling up his nose.
“Yup.” It grosses me out but she swears its good. I’ll take her word for it, because, well, yuck.
“So what are you working on tonight?” Jay walks over to the large table in the middle of the room and looks down at the items scattered over the top.
“Just a few door designs.” Suddenly I feel self-conscious as he looks over each design. “These are great,” he drags his finger over the edge of one of them. “Are they all handprinted?”
“I use vinyl guides.” I point to the walk where I have so many different baskets. “I have a pattern for each one, but I change up the colors and the bows. I hate the idea of someone having the exact one as someone else, even though they all say welcome. This one is cow themed.” I point to the one toward the end with the cow pattern ribbon laying by its side. “It says Hey Y’all instead of Welcome and I do it in turquoise to add a little splash of color. This one is leopard, but do the words in red.”
“I think Grams has one on her door similar to these.”
“Hers say come on in, everyone is welcome.” I smile remembering when doc came in and bought it for her. “Your grandfather bought it for her about a year ago and I’ve never seen her take it down.”
Jay looks back at the designs on the table and nods his head, saying nothing, as if lost in thought.
“There was one at the office too,” I add trying to bring him out of his thoughts. “One side said the doctor is in, and when you flipped it over it said out instead.”
“You made that?”
“Yeah,” I offer him a smile. “Riley got the chicken pox and then Regan did, doc was so good with them both. They wanted to get him a thank you gift so we made the reversible one for him and they delivered it after they both got better.”
“It’s hanging in the front window of his personal office,” Jay says. “My office now, but Georgia said it’s always been on in.”
“Because he was always available,” we say in unison.
Doc Lincoln would take care of his patience no matter what time of day or night. He’d climb out of bed at two in the morning and stay with them for twenty-four straight hours if he had to.
“Do you mind if I stay?” He turns completely around to face me, leaning back against the table behind him. “Unless you prefer to work alone.”
“Company would be nice.” In reality it was only because it was him who was asking to stay. Most of the time I do prefer to work alone. Truth is, Jay didn’t make me feel like what I do here in nonsense, he genuinely seems interested.
twenty-one
. . .
Jayson
“It’s four bedrooms,” Verna says as she pushes out the front door and we step inside. “Two full baths, with a half bath just off the kitchen.” I follow her through the home as she continues to go over all its features. “There was an addition made onto the house about a year ago, giving you a nice seating area and the large walk-in pantry.”
One call to Grams and the next thing I know I’m lined up with Verna her lifelong friend. The woman loves every little detail about Magnolia Grove and thinks everyone should live here. She’s never been married but has been with Miles, her entire adult life. He owns a small bait shop on the water, where he sells lures he makes by hand.
The large home with the wrap around porch on the water is the first house she’s shown me that feels like it could be made into a home. If I’m being honest, I’ve imagined Zoey and the twins in every single place I’ve seen and for the first time I canactually picture them running through the hallways, laughing, and squealing.
“All the bedrooms are upstairs, each one a decent size.” She continues on. “The largest, of course, being the master with its own private bath. The other full bathroom is in the hallway, accessible to all the other bedrooms.”
I walk toward the back French doors and push them open stepping out onto the back deck. The river runs through the backyard and I grin when I see the mailbox on the dock. It still amazes me that more than three fourths of the residents of Magnolia Grove get their mail by boat. And what’s more amazing is Mattie delivers it.
