Page 68 of The Party Line

Thank you, Gina Lou,I thought.Mama doesn’t need to worry on her trip about whether Connor and I are getting serious.

“Of course you will. Aunt Gracie loved her trees. She usually had about four scattered about the house. A big one in the living room. A little one on the dining room table and one in her bedroom. Then there was a tall skinny one at the end of the credenza in the foyer. She still uses—used—the ornaments that Lila made in elementary school.” Mama took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, I should probably hang up.”

“Call me every night when y’all get checked into the hotel, and send lots of pictures.” I remembered the last thing Mama always said before I went back to school after a holiday:Call or text me as soon as you are home safe.

“I will,” she promised.

I hung up the phone and sat down at the table. “Thanks for covering for me. Connor and I have just figured out that we like each other. We don’t want to rush into anything.”

Gina Lou brought her plate to the table. “I wish I’d been that smart when it came to Derrick. He charmed me right into bed and then dumped me when the going got tough. Next time, I’m going to follow your lead.”

“Oh, honey, don’t be doing that,” I argued. “I’m not exactly the poster child for long-term relationships.”

If Connor hadn’t been there to encourage me, and if I hadn’t had a stubborn streak that wouldn’t let me give up, I would have never reached the end of Wednesday. Looking back that evening, over what looked to me like a massive field now stripped of all the strawberry plants, I felt a sense of pride that I had endured the tough times.

The crew members loaded up their equipment into trailers and drove away. Connor and I slowly walked back toward the shade tree. I grabbed two bottles of cold water, handed one to him, and sat down with my back against the trunk.

“Are you still going to go into the business?” he asked.

I gulped down a third of the water. “Yes, I am. It’s hard to believe that I’ve made so many hasty decisions in the past few weeks.”

He removed his hat and fanned my face with it first and then his own. “I’m rowing in the same canoe. I was angry at the army and floundering when I first came to Ditto. Grandpa told me that hard work would help with both.”

“What did you do?”

“He put me to chopping firewood the first two weeks,” he said. “That took the anger out, and then he started teaching me how to run all the pies he has a finger in, and before long, I felt like I had a home and was putting down some roots in one place. Which is strange, considering my upbringing.” He reached across the distance and took my hand in his. “Haveyoufound a home yet?”

“Yes, I have. Every day I find something new that assures me that this is where I belong.”

He gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Me too, and even though it’s been backbreaking, sweaty work, I’ve enjoyed our time this week. Would you go to dinner with me tomorrow evening?”

“Are you asking me on a real date?”

“I am.”

“Yes, I would love to, but it’ll have to be after five because I’m still giving Jasper his medicine,” I told him. “And we’ll have to be home before nine thirty because that’s his bedtime. He believes in that thing aboutearly to bed and early to rise.”

Connor’s grin was tired, but it lit up his eyes. “Maybe we would all live to be almost a hundred if we obeyed his rules and lived as simply as he does. I’ll pick you up right after five and have you home before Jasper’s bedtime.”

I moaned when I stood up. “I’ll be ready, but for now, I should get to the house and take his supper and meds out to him. I’m glad I’ll be the boss next year.”

He leaned on the tree for a few seconds when he got to his feet. “Leg still gives me fits after a hard day’s work.”

“But it sure doesn’t slow you down, does it?”

“No, ma’am, but it lets me know I’m damaged goods.”

“Aren’t we all,” I whispered.

Gina Lou was removing a cast-iron skillet from the oven when I made it to the kitchen. “Hey, you’re home half an hour early—but soup is ready, and corn bread has just finished baking.”

“I told you that you don’t have to cook,” I said. “I hired you to clean and maybe do some yard work.”

“I put the soup on to simmer right after lunch and mowed the lawn while it cooked,” she said. “I’m like Oprah. I can multitask. The yardcould have waited, but I want to help you clean the basement completely out the next couple of days. I’ll get Jasper’s supper ready while you get his meds together.”

I gave her a quick side hug and then washed up in the kitchen sink. “Thank you so much. Connor asked me to go to dinner with him tomorrow night,” I blurted out.

“Well, it’s about time,” Gina Lou declared as she filled a bowl with soup and put it on a tray. “But I’m not sure you should go. I can figure out a really good excuse for you.” She handed me a dish towel for my hands.

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