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She studies my expression. “I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not”
“What? Girl, I’ve always thought your job is cool as fuck. It’s not something I’d be comfortable doing, but I admire your bravery.”
“It’s not scary, per se. For the most part it’s actually exhilarating. I like the unpredictability of it. We never know what’s going to happen.”
“Sounds like dating,” I say, slapping my knee.
She laughs. “You’re not wrong. And guys are hairy animals.”
I point at her. “You’re so right.”
A car pulls into the driveway next door. “Well, well, well, looks like the creeper is home.”
“Are we still lovers?” I ask, smiling.
“What’s the point? Everyone knows you’re with Ryder.”
“We can tongue kiss and make it look convincing,” I say, wiggling my eyebrows. “A final hurrah, so to speak.”
She laughs. “God, I’m gonna miss you. Don’t leave me,” she says with an exaggerated sob and throws herself into my arms.
Laughing, I rub her back, and we don’t part until our neighbor has gone inside.
I rise from the couch. “I hate to leave, but I need to get home and cook something for dinner.”
“Make Ryder cook,” she suggests.
“It’s not that he won’t. But I like my food to be edible. And he’s got a lot of boxes to unload from his truck, so he’ll be hungry.”
“I bet in more ways than one, you lucky bitch,” she says.
I hold out my arms. “Give me another hug and promise you’ll come visit me soon.”
She jumps to her feet and squeezes me tightly. “I’m happy for you, Calista.”
“Thank you. I’ll be in touch, don’t worry.” I step back and hurry down the porch stairs before I can cry.
“Toodles, lover.” Lucy waves her fingers, and I laugh.
* * *
When I pull into the long driveway leading to our farm, I feel like I’m coming home for real. This is the first time I’m making this drive without a plan for returning to my house in Charleston. There’s no more visiting the farm. I’m a permanent resident, and I couldn’t be happier about that.
The ponies and cows run around their paddocks as they hear my minivan approaching. I roll down the passenger window and yell to them, “I’m home for good!”
I park behind Ryder’s truck, and on my way to the porch, I notice he’s already unloaded all the boxes and is currently sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs.
He smiles at me. “Hey, baby.”
“You’ve been busy.” I drop into the other chair.
“I was in the zone, so I figured why not get it done. How did it go with Lucy?”
“It was fine. It’s not like we’re never going to see each other.”
“You went from having your best friend as your neighbor to having no neighbors,” he says.
“Yeah. I won’t miss the traffic and the city noise. It’s so wonderfully quiet here.”
