“Yes, Ma'am,” Mae said, sniffling.
In a water bottle, Aunt Sue added a sprinkle of salt, lemon juice, and water.She told Mae to take it outside to Thom.Doing as she was told, Mae found her man sitting on the tractor, plowing a small section of land.It would make a nice sized garden.In her mind, she thought of the small patch in the backyard by the deck, and she realized he must be planning a garden for that area.
“Hey, pretty lady,” Thom said, stopping the tractor.“How's it going?”
“I just put an apple pie in the oven for dessert,” she said, cocking her head.
“Good ole Aunt Sue,” he replied.“Are you okay?”
“I'm good.Are you almost done, looking all sweaty and farm boyish and stuff?”she replied, grinning at him.
“Yea, I'll run it back through with compost today, then tomorrow, I run it back through and add some water,” he said.“It will take a couple of weeks to balance out the soil before we can add seeds.”
“Good enough.I'll leave you to it,” she told him, blowing a kiss.
Mae made her way to the house, watching Katherine waddle her way home and entered the back door to see Aunt Sue in the living room in her recliner.Kimbrae sat at the table with a cup of tea, and she offered one to Mae.
“Sure,” Mae said.“It appears to be nap time.”
“Katherine is taking one as well,” Kimbrae said.“Gael works from home, so he's back in his office.Peter is grading papers and I am taking a minute to enjoy a cup of tea.”
“This seems like it was a nice place to grow up,” Mae added.
“Girl, it was chaos.Constant, unadulterated chaos,” Kimbrae said.“Hell, I slept in the bed with Aunt Sue until I went to college with so many boys in the house.To this day, I don't share a bathroom, not even with my husband.He has his own bathroom and can't use mine.”
Mae started laughing.“There is a lot of love in this home.Does Aunt Sue have children of her own?”
“Legally, me, Gael, and Macalister are hers,” Kimbrae said, “ but the others still had living parents, except for Jeremy.We formed our own family.We are all still very close, and at least once a month, one of the original seven is here.Gael moved into the carriage house a few years ago, and I'm only an hour away.Thom is here once a month.”
“Good to know,” Mae said, as the oven dinged.“Pie is ready.Let me take that out.Do I set in on the windowsill?”
“Only if you want to fight the flies,” Kimbrae said, watching the woman.She had a good vibe about her, and she too felt Thom had chosen well.
“I know how to make his favorite dessert now,” Mae said, looking at the wonderful-looking pie.“Hell, I just dropped fifteen hundred on cookware, but it is so stunning.”
“What kind?”
“LeCruset.”
“Please tell me you got it in that delightful orange?”
“I did!”
“I have it too!I love it, especially the teakettle,” Kimbrae said, laughing.“I rarely splurge, but I wanted it and got it.”
“Same here,” but then Mae stopped.“Oh, my God.Do you think that Thom chose me because I reminded him of you?”
Kimbrae stood and walked over to her.“It sounds to me as if a higher power chose you for Thom and arriving driving your own diesel engine was the deal closer.Now, while we're alone, let's talk about some of those business ideas you have, what can work, and what is feasible and/or reasonable to accomplish without stressing yourself out,” Kimbrae told her.
“Kimbrae, I am actually going to quit my job on Monday,” she replied softly.“I'm going to quit and figure it out as we go along.I'm going to quit, marry Thom, go on a honeymoon to an island, and move on with our lives.We're going to have a good life.”
She took a pause to allow the words to fully sink into the thoughts and steps which came next.Mae Weston wasn’t broke by any means, but if she planned to take it easy for a while, a financial plan needed to be in place.By in place, she needed some help.
“Kimbrae, if you’re taking any new clients, I would like to be on that list,” Mae said.“I need to look at what I have, my savings, make some solid investments while rethinking the long term.Can you help me sort through all of that?”
“I would be honored to take you on Sis,” Kimbrae said.
