He and Blake headed into town, walking along the streets as he pointed out things along the way.“There’s the town park on the harbor. And this whole walkway here is called Harbor Walk.”
They headed to Magnolia Avenue and stopped at Beyond the Bay, a reasonably priced clothing shop. They bought a handful of shorts, some t-shirts, a pair of slacks, and one nicer shirt. Never know when that might come in handy. Then they bought a swimsuit and a new pair of shoes. Blake kept protesting it was too much, but Jesse couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.
They walked out of the shop, each laden with bags.“You want to get some ice cream? Then I think we’re going to have to drop off these packages and grab my car to go grocery shopping.”
“I’d love some ice cream.”
“Then we’ll head to Parker’s General Store. Best ice cream in the area.”
“As in Heather Parker?”Blake asked.
Yes, much to his annoyance, everything seemed to be connected to Heather. Wasn’t much he could do about that, though.“Heather’s aunt runs the store, and Livy—you met her yesterday—she runs the cafe.”He led the way down the street and they ducked into the general store.
Donna saw them, waved, and hurried over.“So, this must be Blake.”
“Yes, ma’am.”The boy said with every bit of formal politeness.
Donna’s eyes filled with warmth and welcome.“I’msoglad to meet you.”
“Blake, this is Donna.”Jesse held up the packages.“We’ve been doing some shopping. Now we’ve come for some ice cream.”
“Ah, I see. Well, you’ve come to the right place. Here, I’ll walk over into the cafe with you.”
They headed through the opening from the store to the cafe, and Livy greeted them.“Hi. Did you get the cinnamon rolls?”
“We did, and they were so good.”Blake nodded enthusiastically.
Evelyn walked out of the kitchen and froze, staring at Blake.“Oh…my.”Her words drifted over to them and her hand reached up to her throat.
She slowly walked the distance over to them, her tear-filled eyes never leaving Blake, and held out her hand.“Blake, I’m—Evelyn.”
Evelyn stood there, staring down at Blake’s hand in hers. Her grandson’s. The tsunami of emotions almost brought her to her knees. Grandson. Her grandson.
“She’s your grandmother,”Livy explained to Blake.
His eyes filled with hope and wonder.“My grandmother? Wow.”
Evelyn smiled.“Wow, indeed. I’m so glad to get to meet you.”
“Me, too. I mean, meet you. Wow, I have a lot of family here.”
“That you do.”
“We came for some ice cream,”Jesse said as he dropped the packages he was holding on a chair at a nearby table.
“Sit, I’ll get it for you.”Evelyn could still not take her eyes off Blake.
“No, you sit with them, Evelyn. I’ll get the order,”Livy insisted.
She sat at the table across from Blake and Jesse. The boy’s eyes were so like Jesse’s, but she could see bits of Heather when he smiled. The little half-smile that Heather did.
“What flavor do you want, Blake? And a scoop of ice cream, a cone, or a shake?”Evelyn asked.
“Chocolate shake, please, ma’am. It’s my favorite.”
“You don’t have to say ma’am to me. You can just call me…How about Evelyn?”She’d love to suggest Grams or Gramma or Grammy, but…things were moving so fast for the boy.
“Okay…Evelyn.”Blake nodded.
