“I’m sure.” I stop walking. “Why don’t you let me come back for that stocking, Ev.” The wooden decoration is smaller than Santa, but she’s having to drag it.
She shakes her head hard, dancing the waves that are trying to curl from the misty air. “No way. It’s bad enough you’re having to work for your dinner. I’m not going to let you do it alone.”
Not a problem, but I’m not going to argue, either.
On the return trip to the storage shed for more suburban kitsch, I glance toward the windows along the rear of the house. “Is your mom cheering our efforts from a window somewhere?”
“Nope. That’s another funny story. She asked what you liked to drink, and when I said iced tea—which no one in our house cares for—she hightailed it to the grocery store. She ought to be home any minute.”
“Aw, man. She shouldn’t have done that.”
“I told her you wouldn’t want her to, but you should know, Mom’s sort of fixated on you.”
My feet stop so fast Everly is forced to backpedal in order to not run into me.Darn it. Having her against me would have made my day. “Fixated?”
Her cheeks seem pinker from more than exertion, as if our minds veered onto the same rabbit trail. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Yet now you have…”
Thoughts race behind her eyes. She sighs. “Have you ever readPride and Prejudice?”
“Can’t say I have—but Honey—that’s my grandmother—asked me to watch it with her once. My grandfather had just died, and she was feeling pretty lonely.”
Everly jabs her fists to the hips of her jeans. “Are you aware that you’re a saint?”
I snort. “Don’t you start that.”
“Start what?”
I wave her off. I’m unashamed of who I am, but the guys’ ragging on me for being Saint Knoxgets old. Yes, I have a strong faith and follow the rules. What of it? “Never mind. My point is, making Honey happy was well worth a couple hours of my time.”
“Um, in case you didn’t catch it, you just made my point a second time.” She stares for a taut breaths before letting the subject drop. She starts walking, continuing down the sloped yard. “Anyway. You might remember Mrs. Bennett had five unmarried daughters?”
I grimace at the thought of wedding costs the family must have faced. “That’s a lot.”
“Yeah, well three isn’t much better according to Mom, and she’s starting to fret.”
One summer when I was a kid, Rand and his best friend created their own special vocabulary, and they had a blast talking in code in front of the pesky younger brother. Super annoying. And now, it feels a bit like Everly is speaking in a foreign tongue. But I do possess at least half a brain, so her meaning clicks. “Sooo…what I hear you saying is that I’m a prospect?”
She sets a wooden reindeer onto the grass and brushes off her hands. “Oh, Mom has most definitely tagged you as marriage material.”
“Momhas?”
“The second you walked in last night.”
I lay down the wooden sleigh that’s left a prickly splinter in my palm and step into the warm cloud where Everly’s breath meets cold air. “JustMom?” I long to lay my palm along her jaw, right above the spot where a jumpy swallow hops in her throat. Her blush bolsters my confidence.
But she dodges, snagging a fistful of jacket and tugging me toward the building. “You’re slacking, Herd. Come on. You’ve got work to do.”
I happily follow along. Our moment will come, I’m more convinced of it than ever.
Twenty minutes later, Mrs. Bennett’s reincarnation claps her hands in glee at the thrown-up-on yard. “Oh, Knox! You’re the best. I can’t thank you enough. Now get in this house and let’s fill that stomach.” She takes hold of my arm and pulls me from the porch into the warm kitchen.
She whisks my coat from me and points me to the sink where I pump red soap that smells like spiced apple onto my hands. I dry them on the peppermint-striped towel she shoves at me while thanking me on repeating loop.
“No problem, ma’am. It was easy as pie.” I rehang the towel on the oven handle.
She squeezes the sleeve of my white button down. The tie I chose for this morning’s service lays coiled in the rental’s passenger seat.
