“Ah,” he said with a toss of his hand and his back turned to her. He was headed for the kitchen. “I love the sunlight and the fresh air! You kids are too pampered these days. It’s only eighty in here!”
“Yeah, but like 180 in the sunlight,” she said with a laugh.
Together they went to the kitchen, and she trimmed the stems of the flowers and put them in water with a drop of bleach. He sat down at the table and groaned in delight. “Still using that same trick your grandma taught you, eh?”
“Yep! It does the trick. These things will last a lifetime.”
Placing them on the table, she noticed he was looking at her. It was easy for her to guess what that meant. Her weight gain was noticeable.
“Please don’t talk about my weight, Pawpaw.”
He scoffed, “I wasn’t gonna!”
“Okay,” she said slowly with a smile. “Then what are you staring at?”
She sat down but tried hard not to let her weight make her knees buckle as she did.
He took a breath. “I was thinking how lucky I am to still have you here.” He folded his hands together and placed his elbows on the table looking out the gingham-curtained kitchen window. “Your momma’s gone. Your daddy’s gone. Your brothers don’t come around here at all, and I’m lucky to talk to them a few times a year. I’m so grateful you still come around and see me.”
Her hand reached across the table to feel his. The skin was so thin and tanned from his hard yard work. “I’m still so lucky to have you too.”
He sat up playfully. “Okay, now that the mushy stuff is over with, why don’t you have a man yet?”
Evelyn’s eyes widened, and she rolled her head and threw up her hands with a smile. “Oh, for Christ’s sake, you couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
The kitchen twinkled with laughter.
“You’re such a beautiful, hardworking woman! Any man would dieto have you. You took care of me for over a decade. Believe me, a man is gonnalovethat.”
Evie drummed her fingers and then turned easily to be able to reach for the fridge door and pulled out a few cherry sodas.
“That’s the problem, Pops. All men want is for a woman to slave over them, worship the ground they walk on. Midwest men are hard. They won’t even call you beautiful or say thank you.” Her grip tightened around the can, and he continued to watch her.
With eyes wandering off to the left and down, her lips trembled at the thought. “All I want is flowers. All I want is to feel safe. I didn’t think that was too much to ask for.”
“Baby, you spend too much time on Facebook and Instagram. Not all men are like that. Especially not here in the Midwest. That’s a fabricated image. You need to get back into the real world and forget the way you were treated in Los Angeles. You want flowers?”
She went quiet briefly. “I haven’t gotten any since Daddy died. Valentine’s day was the last day I got flowers. I miss those little gifts from him so much.”
Pawpaw immediately got up and left the kitchen. She was alone then.
A squirrel made a racket outside, and it got the neighbor’s dog barking.
Pawpaw came back inside with a fragrant bouquet from his front yard. It was the thickest and most beautiful bunch of zinnias and marigolds she ever saw. She gasped, her eyes watering.
“Here. You want flowers, baby girl? I got ya flowers.”
Graciously, she took the bouquet and thanked him.
“Hell,” he shouted happily, “I’ll give you my whole damn garden if you want. You earned it. But let me tell you something…”
She looked at him.
“Somewhere out there, there is a man for you. No, he may not be that Brazilian pool boy desperado you always dreamed about when you were a little girl.” She laughed hard in both cringing embarrassment and amusement. “But he’ll be a good man. Is there anyone you got your eyes set on in town?”
Her fingers gently touched the petals, and she smelled them. “Do you know who Caleb Wright is?”
He huffed and crossed his arms. “Sure do. That’s a military man. Don’t go messing around with them.”
