Page 38 of Grady

He stared into the freezer like something would magically appear that appealed to him, but nothing did, so he settled on asandwich. He gathered everything up, set it on the counter, then made the sandwich and carried it to the living room.

Taking a seat in the recliner, he picked up the remote and turned on the TV. He stopped on the local news. He wasn’t interested in watching anything, he just needed some background noise so he wouldn’t fall asleep while eating his sandwich. When he finished it, he picked up his phone and called Savannah.

“Hi,” she said, and he was suddenly wide awake.

“Hi, baby. How was your day?”

“I hired someone.” He could hear the excitement in her voice.

“Good for you.”

“She’s great. Her name is Maggie Lancaster. She’s thirty-eight and starting Monday. I really like her.”

“That’s good.”

“What about your day? Did you just get home?”

He sighed. “I did. We had new fence to put up.”

“You sound tired, Grady.”

“I’m exhausted. I’ll be heading to bed soon. Too bad you can’t join me.”

“I agree, but you need to get some sleep.”

“I will, baby. Can we get together this weekend?”

“Sure. Any time after I close on Saturday. Did you want to go out somewhere?”

“Have you been to the Hartland Restaurant?”

“No, I haven’t. Where is it?”

“Hartland,” he said with a chuckle.

“Well, that makes sense. Is it a fancy place?”

“You can wear whatever you want. Jeans or dress. Up to you.”

“Oh, okay. Is the food good?”

“Fantastic. I’ll have to make a reservation, so how about I pick you up at six-thirty? I’ll make the reservation for seven.”

“Will you be able to get a reservation this late?”

“I’ll call the owner if I can’t get in.”

“Okay. Get some sleep, Grady.”

“Alright. You don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Goodnight, Grady.”

“Goodnight, Savannah. Oh, you could wear a dress.” He hung up, then he got up and headed to the bedroom.

Saturday evening, he pulled into Savannah’s driveway, grabbed the two yellow roses from the passenger seat, opened his door, and stepped out.

He pressed the doorbell and grinned when he heard Bentley barking. When the door opened, he groaned.

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