They both cackled. “Your lame pity parties don’t get far with me, you know.”
His tone was so sweet as he replied, “Yes, they do.”
She sat up. “Fine, I’ll get your goofy flowers.”
“Bring me muffins too.”
“Pawpaw!” she cried humorously.
“What? You got that fancy little café in your town now. I want some muffins! I don’t got you here to bake me any no more.”
“You’re ruining my surprise for you!”
“Oh…uh,” he moaned as he scratched his head. “I was gonna ask you for something, but I can’t remember what. Must be that dementia kicking in. It could have been me asking for muffins, but maybe banana bread?”
She grinned, kicking her feet about on the bed. “You don’t have dementia.”
“Thank God I don’t, or I’d forget my pretty little granddaughter!”
She stayed still for a moment to take in his love. “I love you, Pawpaw. I’ll get you your flowers and your muffins.”
She hung up and left out the door, down her little broken steps, and across the stone path that was smashed too deep into the wet dirt. She felt the wild tall grasses and flowers lick at her thighs. She really needed to take care of that. The house came like that, but it didn’t mean it needed tostaylike that.
Highway 42 was a two-way road full of winding passes, cornfields, cow pastures, rolling hills that made it nerve-wracking for her to even go the speed limit due to driveways at every bottom, and even this one weird old, dilapidated house that seemed like it caught fire and tried to fall apart but didn’t. There was a chain-link fence that sequestered dozens of old cars in absolute disrepair as well as a heap of some sort of debris. Even though no one lived there, she always wanted to explore inside.
She looked for the flowers, keeping her eyes peeled. Even if she did find them, there wasn’t much of a shoulder to stop on. She leaned forward and looked up at the brilliant summer blue sky. The clouds were enormous white puffs. They climbed all the way to where she believed heaven could be. They had a bit of a darker lining to them.
“Ah, cumulonimbus clouds! I hope it storms today. I could really go for some of Pawpaw’s guitar picking out on his front porch during the rain.”
When the yellow floral culprits appeared, she pulled into thedrive of some farmer’s cornfield. There they grew in the shoulder’s trenches. She got out and followed the gravel shoulder back a bit. Using scissors, Evie snipped the flowers in a beautiful bunch and headed back to the car and went to put them in the back so they would be able to stay out of the sun, but the back of her car was a mess with old mail. She groaned and tried to clear room before seeing an advertisement with a cute guy’s photo on it.
“Caleb Wright Rustic Renovations. Where your first home grows with you.”
She lifted her eyes and saw the photo of the man.
She almost dropped the flowers back on the ground. He had the kindest brown eyes, so deep and sparkling, that he looked vivacious. With tanned skin and dirty-brown hair, it was kept styled naturally, a stark contrast to his sharp suit he wore. His facial hair outlined a softly sculpted jaw structure, and his smile was youthful despite the age that decorated the corners of those eyes. She smirked playfully. His shoulders were matured in their husky, stocky appearance. He had to have been somewhere around her age.
“Nowthatman looks like a good, ol’ fashioned Midwest boy.”
For a moment, she let herself look at him and lost herself in thinking how cute he was. He was so cute, it hurt! She tossed the ad on the seat, placed the flowers securely, and got back in. She held her steering wheel and sighed in a daydream. She hadn’t had a crush since she was twenty-one.
Then it hit her. “Shit!” she yelled as she slammed her hands on the steering wheel. “I forgot Pawpaw’s muffins!”
Chapter Two
Evelyn pulled up to that beautiful white ranch. It was the place she often spent time at during her childhood, and she was so thrilled to take in the smells of all the flowers that Pawpaw had blooming along the front railing of the porch.
As she closed the door, he came out with a swing of that creaking screen door. “Baby girl!” he laughed with his arms outstretched. “I see you made it!” When he got a good look at her, he stopped and playfully grew cautious.
“I know,” she said, shaking her head. “I forgot your muffins. I’m so sorry. I got so caught up in trying to go and?—”
He stopped her with a smile. He had a great way of doing that. His light-blue eyes dazzled with love. She always hated that she never got those same eyes. She had inherited her grandmother’s brown eyes. His age spots were more apparent than ever, and his shorter sparse grays looked like herb sprouts in a garden sticking straight up. She chuckled and patted them with her hand.
“C’mere, Pawpaw.” They hugged hard.
Once inside, she felt the sweltering and suffocating heat. Sure, the windows were open a smidge, but the front window was flooding the entirety of that room with hot sunshine.
“You should really pull your curtains closed!” she said as she yanked them tight.
