After lunch, they visited the Governor’s Palace, a verra grand building. They joined a tour, learning about the history of the building.
“Who needs this much space?” he said with a frown.
“Not me.” She looked around. “I never would have thought I’d like something smaller than my studio apartment, but the camper van has been fun, even if you do take up all the space.” She teased him.
They decided to drive for a few hours before stopping for the night. Soon they would be in North Carolina. America was such a big country, with so many people and landscapes. He loved all of it, wanted to see every state. Daisy told him about Alaska and Hawaii, making him yearn to wander the world with her by his side.
When they got up the next morning, it was foggy and rainy, but by the time they set out, the rain had stopped.
It was her turn to drive. As she turned on the music, she bounced in the seat, singing along, not caring that she was off-key and sometimes made up her own words.
“Just think, in a few hours, we’ll be crossing the state line into North Carolina.”
But after driving for an hour, Daisy told him they were making a stop in Suffolk, Virginia, to visit a peanut museum. He did not know what a peanut was, but since they would be together, he did not care where she stopped.
As she told him about the museum, he blinked. “An entire building dedicated to the wee peanuts?” America was as odd as it was interesting.
“Wait until you try boiled peanuts. They’re one of those things you either like or hate, no middle ground.”
The Peanut Museum took them through the history and harvesting of peanuts. He enjoyed looking at the scenes of peanut farming but ’twas the exhibit where they could make their own peanut butter, that he grinned. Daisy was so excited she was practically hopping up and down.
A look of intense concentration on her face, he watched as she turned the grinder.
When she handed him a freshly roasted peanut, he wasn’t sure about it.
“Try one.”
Unsure, he popped the whole peanut into his mouth, shell and all. His expression quickly changed from curiosity to confusion.
“Do ye eat the shell?” he said, trying to speak through the crunch.
Daisy burst out laughing. “Some people do, but no, I never do. Crack them open first.” She demonstrated and then popped the nuts into her mouth.
Without the shell, he decided he liked the crunchy peanut.
After they each made a jar of homemade peanut butter, she spread some on a cracker and handed him one, watching as he took a bite.
“What do you think?”
When he finally swallowed, Callan looked around. “It sticks to my mouth. Where is the water?”
She pointed him to a machine. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Seizing the opportunity, Callan slipped away to the small shop he had noticed when they entered the museum. Now he could add another charm to the bracelet for Daisy. At every place they visited, he went into the shop when she was on her phone or elsewhere and bought a charm for the bracelet. It would be something to remember their trip together.
Inside the shop, Callan browsed through the offerings, looking for the perfect charm. There. Two charms together, one of a small peanut and the other a wee jar of the butter.
As he waited to pay, Callan pulled out a small tattered scrap of plaid from the pocket of his jeans. It was all that remained of his mother’s plaid. Carefully wrapped inside was the bracelet with the other charms he had secretly collected.
He looked at each charm, a small smile playing on his lips. There was one from Boston, another from the Renaissance Faire, a tiny replica of the USS Constitution, the Lincoln Memorial, the Statue of Liberty, and several others.
After purchasing the charms, he returned to the spot where he had left Daisy, tucking the parcel back into his pocket.
Once they were in Holden Beach, he would buy the last charm and present the bracelet to her, telling her he wanted to stay with her, that he no longer wished to return to his own time.
“Oh, look. We have to stop at the Giant Peanut Monument.”
She laughed, eyes sparkling as they stopped on the side of the road next to an oversized concrete peanut. As they took turns posing for photos next to the monument, Callan noticed two brothers nearby, laughing and taking pictures with their family.
