Less than a ten-minute drive later, I’m pulling into the same house Larkin and I grew up in. Nothing has changed in the almost two decades since either of us has lived here, but the nostalgia brings me back to a time when I was hopeful for my future. I want to feel like that again.
“Annie!” my dad calls as I climb out of my car.
“Hey, Dad. Long time, no see.” I give him a smirk.
“I heard you were busy planting a garden today,” he says as he pulls me in for a bear hug. It’s one of those comforts you never realized you missed until you get one again.
“Oh yeah? And who told you that?”
“I never name my sources, honey.” Hetsksme.
I pull back from his hug and attempt to hide my chuckle. He takes his job as the town gossip seriously.
“Leave the poor woman alone, Jim,” my mom calls from the front porch.
“Thanks, Mom. The harassment never ends with this one.” I jab my thumb over my shoulder as I walk to hug my mom.
“You know him, dear. Retirement created too much boredom, so now he’s in everyone’s business. Come in. I was just finishing up the salad.”
As I walk into the house, I take a deep breath of nostalgia. Growing up here, Larkin and I couldn’t wait to get away. Now, it feels like more than just coming home. It feels like a blanket wrapped around you on asick day, being spoon-fed chicken noodle soup, and watching Saturday morning cartoons. It’s amazing how much your view changes as you grow up and mature. I don’t particularly feel like I’ve grown up all that much, but being here makes me sad that I didn’t make an effort to visit more often.
“Smells good, Mom,” I tell her with a smile.
She beams at the praise. “I thought I’d make one of your favorites—chicken fried steak.”
I immediately start salivating. I love to cook, but there are just some things you can’t replicate, like her gravy for chicken fried steak. I’ve never been able to make it as well as my mom, and I’ve tried at least a hundred times.
Helping her finish the salad, I grab it and help bring all the dishes to the dining room table.
“So, how’s it going working for the Hutton boy?” my dad asks.
I have to laugh at him calling my boss a boy. I don’t know exactly how old he is, but he has to be at least around my age. I highly doubt there is anything boyish about him.
“It’s pretty good, actually. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but everything’s been smooth sailing, and he’s a stickler for not working overtime. Even if I’m just finishing up something, he messages me to just work on it tomorrow. It’s very different from finance.”
“He’s a good boy, that one. Has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, but he does a damn fine job.”
I nod, a little confused, but it’s not my job to know my boss’s entire life story.
My dad starts talking about all the things he’s heard in the last few days, and I start to tune him out. It’s not that I don’t love him—I do—but I’m just not into all the drama.I remember how hard it was to have privacy in high school, and I hated it. We couldn’t take a step without my dad knowing about it.
We dive into the delicious dinner, and my mind starts to wander.
Ledger is sweet, and he’s a good boss. He tells me almost every evening to stop working, and despite me having a hard time remembering that, he never gets annoyed or angry. In fact, he’s gone out of his way to be nice about it.
My thoughts drift to Dean and an image of him—sweaty shirt sticking to his insanely built body as he practically built the entire garden himself. I never asked if he worked at the nursery as well as being a wildlife … whatever it was. I just assumed he did by his knowledge and the way Rina talked to him. There was a weird dynamic between the two of them. I wonder if I could ask Ledger about him and see if he’s single.
No, that’s weird to ask your boss about another employee.
But if there was a way to find out more about him, I would jump on it. Maybe I should make my presence known in town. Quit hiding from everyone and see what kind of information I can find out.
“Have you talked to your sister lately?” My dad’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.
“Yeah, I actually just talked to her before coming over.”
“How’s she doing? How are Gavin, Maddie, and Theo?”
I hear the twinge of sadness in my dad’s voice when he talks about Gavin and Maddie. They would love to see them more, but traveling is hard for them with my mom’s medical problems. She can’t be in a car for very long because of vertigo, and an airplane is out because there isn’t one close enough that actually shortens the trip for them.
