“What’s got you so smiley this morning?” Luke asks.
“A man can’t smile?”
He shrugs. “It’s the biscuits. I’m not kidding. I’d marry her for her biscuits alone.”
“Luke!” McKenna shouts his name and smacks his arm. “You have to stop joking about marrying my best friend. The idea of my brother and her … Just no.”
“I’m joking,” he assures McKenna. Then, because it’s so fun to rile her up, he adds, “Mostly,” and jumps backward just in time to miss her next swing.
“I’m going to head out,” I tell my siblings.
“Where?” they both say in unison.
"I've got to run an errand."
"Feed store?" Luke asks.
"No.” I shake my head. “I've got to go see Loretta about a hand of Canasta."
They both smile.
I walk toward my truck, pulling out my keys.
The drive to the senior center gives me the time alone I need after that kiss. I’ve started something now, and I’m not exactly sorry. My foot presses the accelerator, steady, forward, taking me along the roads leading into town.
The way Carli melted into me—even her flirty answers when I asked if she’s okay—everything about her makes me only want more. This is new territory for us, but it feels like a tilled field, ripe and ready for the seed to fall in fertile places. We’ve been dancing around this for years—at least I have. I’m not backing off for anyone, not unless she gives me a red light.
When I walk in the front door of Sycamore Assisted Living, I’m greeted by the few seniors sitting in the foyer.
“Cody!” Harold says. “What brings you around today? You back to check our toasters?”
I chuckle. “Not this time, Harold. I’m off duty. Just here to lose at cards.”
“Ahhh. Well, don’t go easy on them. Just ’cause we’re old doesn’t mean we want to be coddled.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I tell him.
The long, wide tile hallway lined with office doors opens at the back to a courtyard and a staircase going up on the right. Just before the staircase is the door to the Rec Room. I walk in and glance around at the tables, looking for my opponent.
“Cody!” Loretta’s scratchy voice fills with surprise.
“I said I’d be back.”
“I knew you would be. You always make time for what matters most.”
“And that would be you?” I tease as I step closer, drawing her into a hug. She wraps her thin arms around me and gives me a squeeze.
“It’s like hugging a marble statue,” she says to Wilma.
“I’m not about to take your word for it,” Wilma says. “Get over here and give me a proper hug of my own, Cody.”
I walk around the table and hug Wilma. Pretty soon I’m giving out hugs like a department store Santa.
“Who’s playing cards?” Loretta asks.
A chorus of people volunteer.
“We can only go to six at a time,” she says. Then she looks at me. “How long do you have?”
