Page 37 of A Table for Two
“You sure have Della’s yard looking good.”
He paused in sweeping. The same woman he’d waved at earlier, who looked to be around the same age as Nana, came toward him, leaning heavily on a cane. “Thank you.”
“I haven’t seen you before. Are you one of Top Lawn Care’s new employees? They canceled my appointment, and I need to make another one.”
“No, ma’am. I’m just helping my grandmother.”
She frowned and studied him critically. “You’re Della’s grandson?”
He’d just said that. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Gabriel, you’re not done yet?” Nana called from the porch. “Oh, hey, Inez.”
“Hey, Della.” The woman started in the direction of the porch. “Why didn’t I know your grandson was here?”
“Was I supposed to take an ad out in the paper to let everybody know he’s here? He came to visit me. Wasn’t nobody else’s business.”
Gabriel took that as his cue and eased his way to the other end of the yard. His Nana was a trip. She didn’t want anyone in her business, but she had no problems getting deep into his. He finished sweeping up the grass, rinsed off his mower, and dried it. Hopefully, the afternoon heat would dry it completely by the time he was ready to leave. Seeing the neighbor still talking to Nana on the porch, he decided to go through the side door and enter the house through the garage to avoid being caught up in whatever conversation they were having. He’d just sat down to eat when Nana came in.
“Whew, that woman can talk your ear off. Made me miss the good part. I wanted to see if Detective Green caught that man who killed his wife, and she was out there asking me all these questions about when you came to town.” Nana shook her head and grunted. “Then she had the nerve to ask me about getting you to do her lawn, too.”
Alarmed, Gabriel froze with his fork halfway to his mouth. He didn’t mind doing Nana’s yard, or even Serenity’s, but he had no intention of adding someone else’s to the mix. Next thing he knew, there would be a domino effect, and he’d be on the hook for the whole town. “Uh…”
She waved him off. “Don’t worry. I told her you had a job and didn’t have time to be doing her lawn. That woman has three boys and four or five grandsons. Most of them live here. I told her she needed to get one of those lazy children of hers to do it. Don’t make no sense not helping their mama out when they know good and well their father can’t do it.”
“Did you eat yet?” he asked, cutting into her tirade. If he didn’t interrupt, she’d end up going on forever. At least she hadn’t mentioned getting a call from his neighborhood spy, so his waving had worked. As Serenity had put it, Adele didn’t run and tell that. He smiled inwardly.
“No. Let me fix my plate.”
“I already buttered your bread and left the oven on.”
“Thanks, baby. You want some tea? It’s not too sweet, though. Howard wants me to decrease my sugar intake.”
Howard?Gabriel searched his mind for who the man might be, then remembered it being Dr. Jacobs’s first name. “That’s fine, but I can get it.” He rose from the table, filled two glasses from the pitcher in the refrigerator and placed them on the table. He sat and continued to eat.
Nana brought her plate to the table. “It’s nice sharing dinner with someone. We need to do this more often.”
“You know I love your cooking, so that’s definitely not a problem.” He didn’t realize how much he’d come to enjoy being around her, too.
“What about Sunday?”
“Actually, Serenity and I are going to check out one or two of the lakes around here. I’m still learning my way around, and I heard they were nice spots. She was nice enough to agree to show me around,” he rushed to add when he saw her curious expression.
“That girl always goes out of her way to do something nice for others. She’s going to make some man a wonderful wife one day.”
The thought of Serenity being married to someone else gave him momentary pause. Not that it should matter, since he had no designs on her. But still…“I’m sure she will.”
“You two should think about having a picnic. Seaside Meadows Park is a great spot for that. And there’s a beautiful lake there. In fact, your grandfather and I used to have our picnics there all the time.” Nana laughed softly, as if recalling one of those special moments. “That’s how I got him. Made him some fried chicken, baked beans, corn on the cob, and my homemade biscuits on our very first date. He said it was the best food he’d ever eaten and told me right then and there I was going to be his wife.”
Gabriel smiled, watching her blush like a schoolgirl.
She pointed her fork his way. “If you find that one special young lady, don’t let that blessing pass you by.”
He didn’t know how to answer, so he ignored the comment. But the way she looked at him made him think she had someone specific in mind. “You never told me that story before. I guess Grandpa was serious. How long did it take for you guys to get married?”
“A month. And after fifty-five years, he was still the love of my life and I was his. Ooh, I miss that man…” She smiled wistfully and forked up some spaghetti.
What she described had been the same thing he’d seen with his parents. They’d met in college—his father a senior and his mother a junior—and had gotten married right after she graduated. Gabriel was born nine months later. Even after more than two decades of marriage, he recalled moments of them stealing kisses, laughing about some intimate secret, or just sitting quietly together with contented smiles. In a way it had been a blessing that they’d died together. Apparently, his grandparents had shared the same kind of love. But somehow Gabriel had gotten it wrong. None of his relationships had ever mirrored that kind of deep, passionate love Nana had described. Some parts of him envied that experience, but he had come to accept that, for him, some things, orblessings, weren’t meant to be.
