“It’s going to be bad,” she warns him. “I want to rest.”
“Okay, let’s get you home then.”
“I’ll grab her things,” I say quickly.
The three of us walk over to her apartment. “Not to bed yet, Everett. Not yet.”
He nods. “Okay.”
We head into the living room and it’s such a sweet moment, I could cry. He helps her into the recliner, drapes a blanket over her, lowers the lights, and then kisses her forehead.
She squeezes his hand and then looks to me. “Thank you, Violet. I can’t wait to eat some cake.”
I go to her and kiss her cheek. “Thank you for teaching me how to knit. Well, kind of. I had a great night.”
Her head falls back against the chair. “I did too, dear.”
“Let me just get her settled, and I’ll come back to the house.”
“Okay.”
I walk back and go right to the disaster area that is the kitchen. There’s flour, sugar, and carrot peels all over. I swear it wasn’t this bad as we were doing it.
I’m picking up the peels when I hear his back door close and his footsteps as he approaches.
Slowly, I rise, trying hard to stop the erratic beating of my heart at being alone with him again.
“Thank you,” he says as he stands across from me.
“I had an amazing night. Did everything go okay with the animals?”
He sighs heavily. “It should be okay. I’ll know more tomorrow.”
“I’m sorry tonight was hard.”
Everett shrugs. “It’s all part of the job. How was tonight with Mom?”
Tonight was everything I didn’t know I needed.
I was able to relax and not think about my worries for a little while. Baking with his mother healed a part of me that felt broken. She reminded me of when I was a little girl and was learning new things with my granny.
“It was perfect,” I tell him.
He looks at the kitchen and laughs. “I think she had too much fun.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
“Yeah, her medicine will kick in, and she’ll be fine. She doesn’t get headaches as frequently anymore, and I think we caught this one early.” Everett walks toward me. “Let me help.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to.”
“Okay.”
I start to wipe the counter, where there is probably enough flour to make another cake, so I focus, but then I feel Everett behind me, his warm body brushing against my back. “You missed a spot.”
I clear my throat as I feel the loss of his heat. “Thanks.” I wipe the counter a little harder and then move to the other one.
