He nodded. “Because the Fultons’ fiftieth anniversary photo shoot is on Wednesday. The entire family is coming. All the kids and grandchildren.”
“And it’ll go fine, just like it always does.” She must’ve given Mr. Sullivan this pep talk at least a thousand times since she started workingfor him. He’d always been a worrier, but the older he got, the more he seemed to worry. By now McKenna was a professional pep talk giver.
Now if someone would just give her a little pep talk about this quick trip to Tennessee.
If bad things came in threes, unwanted phone calls came in tens, twelves, and twenties.
Apparently blocking Wacky Wendy’s number once hadn’t been enough. Nate’s phone started blowing up the moment he stepped out of the airport and hadn’t stopped the entire drive to his mom’s B&B.
Ten voicemails. Twelve missed calls. Twenty text messages.
He glanced at the most recent text.Please please please check your pocket! Then CALL me!
Unable to take it anymore, he texted back:I find your behavior very unprofessional. I have zero interest in calling you back and zero intentions of checking my pocket.Partly because he had no idea what the airport had done with his pants. But Wendy the Winking Bandit didn’t need details like that. Wendy needed blunt honesty.This discussion is closed. DO NOT attempt to contact me again.
Harsh? Maybe. But good grief, the woman just didn’t know when to quit. Which is why Nate blocked her numberagainafter deleting all her voicemails and texts. If he weren’t worried about missing a call from the airport about his luggage, he’d turn off his phone.
Lifting his gaze, Nate noted for the first time the scattered holes and debris of branches, shingles, and siding spread across his mom’s property, as well as the chickens clucking further up the driveway that wound all the way to the back of the house.
Since when did his mom have chickens? He looked out his side window. And goats? Three white goats with brown markings and a black goat with a patch of white fur over its left eye chewed on grass in a small fenced-in field next to a leaning shed.
Nate reached over to unlatch his seat belt when his mom’s familiar high-pitched squealing pierced his closed window. “You’re here! You’re here!”
She raced out the front door and down the porch stairs, wearing a pair of denim bib overalls over a yellow T-shirt, her dark hair braided in pigtails, reminding him more of a teenaged girl than a fifty-three-year-old woman.
“I’m here. I’m here,” Nate returned at a quarter of her volume, unlatching his seat belt and opening the door.
She skipped and pranced, clapping her hands all the way to his car. Soon as he had one foot pressed on the ground, her hands were on his arms, tugging and dragging him out of the car.
“Oh, I’m so happy you’re home. Come here and let me squeeze you. Oh my goodness, you’re so skinny.” She leaned back and gasped. “What happened to your head?”
“Long story.”
“I want every detail.”
“Can I have a second to breathe?”
“No.” She continued clutching him around the waist, her head tipped back. “Someday you’ll have kids of your own and understand what it’s like to have them live on the other side of the world and never know a single thing that’s going on in their life.”
“Since when is New York the other side of the world?” And since when did the mention of having kids of his own suddenly stir upan image of holding a little girl with wild curly red hair just like her mom’s? He blinked away the strange picture as his mom continued to talk.
“For as little as you visit home, it sure feels like the other side of the world. Grab your luggage,” she said, releasing her hold on him. “Can’t wait to get you settled. I want to hear everything. Ah!” She yelled out a random scream. “I’m so excited you’re here.”
“You hide it so well,” he said, smiling as he leaned into the car for his messenger bag on the passenger seat. He slid the strap over his shoulder and closed the car door. “Maybe when we get inside you can tell me why this place looks like an English farm that just got bombed during World War II.”
She flapped a hand toward the surrounding property. “Huge windstorm ripped through last week. Made a mess of things. I’ve got so many other projects going on right now, I haven’t had a chance to clean it all up.”
“Is one of those projects turning the place into a zoo?”
“The elephant should arrive by the end of the week.” She grinned, then looped her arm through his. “It’s only some chickens and a couple of goats. Thought it would add a little extra charm to the place. Didn’t I tell you?”
“I think I would’ve remembered. What happened to your mailbox?” When he’d slowed to turn off the country lane to her long, winding, uphill driveway, he’d spotted the mailbox lying on the ground.
“Oh, Georgie took the turn a little too sharp coming over for book club meeting last week. Claims she was trying not to hit a chicken.”
“Is she okay?”
“Hasn’t laid an egg since, but yeah, she’s okay.” When Nate gave his mom a look, she smirked. “Georgie’s fine, and I’ve been wanting to replace that old mailbox anyway. Bought a really cute yellow one just the other day. Truth is, the whole place is long overdue for some updates and repairs.”
