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I take a deep breath, squaring my shoulders.
“We open the doors in fifteen.” I turn around to see Marcy our receptionist paused in the doorway. I get what her and Georgia are doing, they are worried I’m gonna break. And though I do feel unsettled I refuse to fail.
“We’re good.” I nod, “Let’s go ahead and open the doors now.”
She gives me a nod, a smile tugging at her lips. I know they miss him tremendously; Gramps was good people. Always making sure they both knew how much he appreciated their dedication. He treated people right, and he treated them with grace.
I spend most of my morning with random visits, unrelated to their illness and more related to my mental well-being. Nothing like this would have happened in the city, not many slow down long enough to worry about the next guy.
Fussing over someone else, bringing a covered dish so that I don’t go hungry, those are the things that remind me of what an amazing town full of caring people I left behind. It is right then as I stand in the middle of the waiting area of my granddad’s practice surrounded by so many that loved him dearly I feel settled. Its then I know I’m home and know that this is where I want to build the rest of my life.
“Are you sure you’re okay in that small space above the office?” Grams asks me as she takes a seat at the opposite side of her kitchen table. “I always thought it was so stuffy there.”
“I don’t need much space.” I’m the opposite, actually enjoying the cozy area. I think it’s partly because being there makes me feel closer to him.
“One day you might.” Grams smiles and I know what she is thinking. Most don’t bring up Zoey to me, I think everyone knows how I felt about her and those closest to me understand that those feelings are still very much real.
“Maybe.” I shrug, twirling the cup of iced tea in my hand hearing the ice cubes clinking against the side of the cup. “Who knows, maybe I’ll do a little house hunting and find myself a place on the water.”
“One with a big enough space for a little one to run,” Grams hints. “Or little ones,” she adds.
My mother and I have never been close, truth is Charlotte Lincoln isn’t the kind of mother who offers comforting hugs or soothed her sick children during the times they needed it most. Nope, that was always Grams.
Mattie and I learned at a young age to not expect the warm smiles from Charlotte, and to never call her Charlie or Char. Of course Mattie loves to call her both to get a rise out of her, never missing the opportunity to poke the bear, so to speak. I’ll admit, I do find enjoyment in her reaction to his antagonizing behavior.
My father is the peacemaker, who married the ice queen. I’m pretty sure the only reason she ever had kids was to make my father happy. Thank God we had Gramps and Grams, they gaveus more love than we could ever wish for. Not a day went by they didn’t offer us a place to turn to or a shoulder to lean on.
“Maybe I’ll find myself the biggest house in Magnolia Grove and fill every room with little ones.” Of course this makes her smile widen as I assume she is imagining the very thing.
She’ll always miss Gramps, hell all of us will, but she’s already looking for something to occupy her thoughts. And it seems me having kids is her new goal.
“Is that roast I smell?” Changing the subject, I breathe in the scent and she laughs.
“With roasted potatoes and fresh rolls.”
“If I can find me a wife that cooks even half as good as you, Grams, I’ll be the happiest man alive.”
“Have you had Zoey’s homemade lasagna or dumplings?” She glances back at me as she opens the oven. Sneaky little devil found her way to get right back to the topic I averted us from only a few minutes ago. “She can also make a mean apple streusel and peach cobbler too.”
“Is that so?”
She only nods her head, lifting the roast from the oven and placing it on top.
“You should stop in and say hi. Maybe she’ll make you one?”
“I’m thinking it’ll take a whole lot more than a hi.” She could barely form a hello at the funeral and I haven’t seen her since.
“It’s the distance you two had, is all,” Grams assures me. “Give it time and the awkwardness will be gone.”
“You picked up on that too, huh?”
“Who didn’t?” She shrugs. “It was a train wreck darlin’.” She laughs when I give her a lift of my brow. “Pretty sure half the town talked about it for hours afterward, until they all found something new to focus on.”
“Great,” I mumble.
“But most of them are rooting for you to give her and those girls something they’ve never had.”
“Yeah, and what would that be.”
