Page 76 of All Inn Thyme
“It’s a lavender garden. It’s supposed to be calming.” I smile and blink back tears. Tears of relief and tears of confusion. Ty was right, grief is weird.
“Come on,” Allie says. “Let us help you wrap up your day. What can we do?”
“Just being here with me is nice,” I admit. “Thanks for coming out here.”
“Of course,” Allie says.
“We love you, Mellie,” Beth adds.
26. mellie
But what if I never really had him?
It’s takenme a few days to recover from the shock of everything, and I’m still working through my feelings. If someone would have told me a year ago that this is where I’d be, I don’t think I would have ever believed it, but I feel like things are going to be okay.
I finish another audiobook and tuck my AirPods into their case. I’ve binge listened to a whole series this week that was funny and made me laugh out loud, and I’m glad that listening to romance books has gotten easier for me. I used to get sad listening to all of these happily ever afters, but now? I think they might be a possibility for me, too, and that gives me hope.
Thanks to Beth’s current state of nesting, she kept up with all of my laundry today. The last load is in the dryer, and she has shooed me away for the rest of the day.
Evan puts away some tools in the bottom of the shed as I wrap up my cleaning for the day. He turns and says, “You know you can move back if you want.” He must pick up on my hesitation because he says, “I’m glad things are going good at the bunkhouse with Ty.”
I bite my lip, not sure what to say. “It’s going well, we like it out there. Kase has gotten pretty attached to Nova,” I say, turning to stack soap on the carts, trying to hide my smile.
“Oh, just Nova? Not attached to Ty?” Evan laughs.
“We like Ty, too.”
“Uh-huh. I’ve seen you guys, Mel. He seems to make you happy.”
* * *
I take this chance to catch up with Sasha for a minute while Kase colors with Caleb.
“Want to take Ty some dinner?” She stirs something that smells amazing over on the stovetop. Even Sasha loves having Ty around and often sends over meals for when he’s working and can’t make it to the inn.
“Sasha, I didn’t know it could be like this. You were right… I did find someone for me. And now that my ex is gone, I have freedom to finally live my life.”
She nods and looks over to me. It feels good to finally explain everything to everyone here at the inn. I don’t think they were very surprised, and they probably knew something had happened, but the best part is that they just love me for who I am and not who I was. A broken single mom on the run.
“Isn’t Ty supposed to be waking up soon? Why don’t you take dinner to-go and eat with him, and I’ll keep Kase with me. You boys can help me make some mini pies,” she tells them.
“Yes! Chocolate,” Caleb says as he drops his crayon and raises his hands in excitement.
“Don’t eat all the chocolate this time,” Kase whispers.
“That’s the best part,” Caleb whispers back.
“Yeah, I can do that. I’ll grab more produce for you, too, if you need more,” I tell her.
“Oh, yes, please. And that reminds me,” she says, wiping her hands on her towel. “Can you bring me back some basil, oregano, and thyme, too?”
“Sure can.” I smile with satisfaction.
“Thanks,” she says as she bags up the to-go containers for me.
I reach out to hug her. “Thanks, I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Take your time,” she says, winking at the boys. “We have things to do, dough to eat.”
