Page 5 of Sweet Deal
“So,” Jim leaned back against the bench, “catch me up on the Sweets.”
Rachel laughed. “How long have you been back in town?”
His gaze dropped to the dripping ice cream cone in his hand. “Today is my first full day. I got into town late yesterday afternoon.”
“Mm hm. And you mean to tell me that your mother hasn’t caught you up on all the comings and goings in Honeysuckle?”
A deep chuckle rattled in his chest. “Well, maybe a little.”
“How little?”
“The aunts are doing great with Corn Hole Heaven and doing more than their share to keep Honeysuckle on the tourist map. Three of your brothers have recently gotten married.”
“Correct.”
“Like within a few months of each other.”
She nodded.
“I have to ask—did someone spike the well water?”
This was one of the things she missed about Jimmy—Jim. He could always make her laugh over the simplest of things. If only he knew. “Something like that.”
“I hear everyone’s moved back to the ranch?”
Once upon a time they’d told each other almost everything, but that was a very long time ago. Now, she debated how much to tell him. A loyalty to forever ago friendship won the debate. “We lost our foreman several months ago and we all agreed to move home and help Mom. It was hard on all of us losing Dad, but running the ranch alone is too much for her.”
“I’m sorry. Mom told me when Charlie passed. I sent a note with flowers. Wanted to call, but,” he sighed, “something always got in the way of my good intentions.”
“I got the letter. It was lovely. So were the flowers.”
For a long moment, they licked the ice cream and sat in the somber silence.
“I meant to stay better in touch,” he blurted. “I don’t know what happened. What is it they say: life is what happens while we’re busy making other plans?”
“Sounds like something my Grandma Davis would have said.”
“It’s true.” He crunched on the end of his cone. “I really am sorry. I should have made the time to call, to—”
“Hey,” she put her hand on his arm, “I didn’t do any better. Not after the first year or so.” She’d missed her friend so much back then. They’d talk often at first, then the calls grew distant; soon she hadn’t even noticed that they weren’t coming at all.
He tossed the napkin into a nearby trash can. “Mom says you’re still doing social work.”
“I am.” Her cheeks pulled at the corner of her mouth.
“I’m gathering from that wide grin that it’s turned out to be all you’d hoped it would?”
“For the most part, yes.” She took a quick nibble at the edge of her cone. “Folks like me live for the next crisis, the next problem to solve. We love fixing wrongs.”
“And when you can’t?” The man really did know her too well.
“That’s the not most part. It’s hard. Sometimes more than others, but any social worker knows going into a situation, we can’t save everyone. We can only do our best.”
“But you like your job?”
There were also people, kids, and families, that she couldn’t help, others like the Bensons that broke her heart, but that didn’t change the facts. “Love it.”
He studied her with an intensity she didn’t quite understand. Years ago, she would have known exactly what he was thinking, but not anymore. The tall lanky kid who had been her partner in crime had left town a long time ago. This man in front of her, with broad shoulders, subtle strength, and a killer smile that made his blue eyes sparkle like the Caribbean on a sunny day, was practically a stranger.
