Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Evelyn pulled up to that beautiful white ranch. It was the place she often spent time at during her childhood, and she was so thrilled to take in the smells of all the flowers that Pawpaw had blooming along the front railing of the porch.
As she closed the door, he came out with a swing of that creaking screen door. “Baby girl!” he laughed with his arms outstretched. “I see you made it!” When he got a good look at her, he stopped and playfully grew cautious.
“I know,” she said, shaking her head. “I forgot your muffins. I’m so sorry. I got so caught up in trying to go and—”
He stopped her with a smile. He had a great way of doing that.
His light-blue eyes dazzled with love. She always hated that she never got those same eyes.
She had inherited her grandmother’s brown eyes.
His age spots were more apparent than ever, and his shorter sparse grays looked like herb sprouts in a garden sticking straight up.
She chuckled and patted them with her hand.
“C’mere, Pawpaw.” They hugged hard.
Once inside, she felt the sweltering and suffocating heat. Sure, the windows were open a smidge, but the front window was flooding the entirety of that room with hot sunshine.
“You should really pull your curtains closed!” she said as she yanked them tight.
“Ah,” he said with a toss of his hand and his back turned to her. He was headed for the kitchen. “I love the sunlight and the fresh air! You kids are too pampered these days. It’s only eighty in here!”
“Yeah, but like 180 in the sunlight,” she said with a laugh.
Together they went to the kitchen, and she trimmed the stems of the flowers and put them in water with a drop of bleach. He sat down at the table and groaned in delight. “Still using that same trick your grandma taught you, eh?”
“Yep! It does the trick. These things will last a lifetime.”
Placing them on the table, she noticed he was looking at her. It was easy for her to guess what that meant. Her weight gain was noticeable.
“Please don’t talk about my weight, Pawpaw.”
He scoffed, “I wasn’t gonna!”
“Okay,” she said slowly with a smile. “Then what are you staring at?”
She sat down but tried hard not to let her weight make her knees buckle as she did.
He took a breath. “I was thinking how lucky I am to still have you here.” He folded his hands together and placed his elbows on the table looking out the gingham-curtained kitchen window.
“Your momma’s gone. Your daddy’s gone. Your brothers don’t come around here at all, and I’m lucky to talk to them a few times a year.
I’m so grateful you still come around and see me. ”
Her hand reached across the table to feel his. The skin was so thin and tanned from his hard yard work. “I’m still so lucky to have you too.”
He sat up playfully. “Okay, now that the mushy stuff is over with, why don’t you have a man yet?”
Evelyn’s eyes widened, and she rolled her head and threw up her hands with a smile. “Oh, for Christ’s sake, you couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
The kitchen twinkled with laughter.
“You’re such a beautiful, hardworking woman! Any man would die to have you. You took care of me for over a decade. Believe me, a man is gonna love that.”
Evie drummed her fingers and then turned easily to be able to reach for the fridge door and pulled out a few cherry sodas.
“That’s the problem, Pops. All men want is for a woman to slave over them, worship the ground they walk on. Midwest men are hard. They won’t even call you beautiful or say thank you.” Her grip tightened around the can, and he continued to watch her.
With eyes wandering off to the left and down, her lips trembled at the thought. “All I want is flowers. All I want is to feel safe. I didn’t think that was too much to ask for.”
“Baby, you spend too much time on Facebook and Instagram. Not all men are like that. Especially not here in the Midwest. That’s a fabricated image. You need to get back into the real world and forget the way you were treated in Los Angeles. You want flowers?”
She went quiet briefly. “I haven’t gotten any since Daddy died. Valentine’s day was the last day I got flowers. I miss those little gifts from him so much.”
Pawpaw immediately got up and left the kitchen. She was alone then.
A squirrel made a racket outside, and it got the neighbor’s dog barking.
Pawpaw came back inside with a fragrant bouquet from his front yard. It was the thickest and most beautiful bunch of zinnias and marigolds she ever saw. She gasped, her eyes watering.
“Here. You want flowers, baby girl? I got ya flowers.”
Graciously, she took the bouquet and thanked him.
“Hell,” he shouted happily, “I’ll give you my whole damn garden if you want. You earned it. But let me tell you something…”
She looked at him.
“Somewhere out there, there is a man for you. No, he may not be that Brazilian pool boy desperado you always dreamed about when you were a little girl.” She laughed hard in both cringing embarrassment and amusement. “But he’ll be a good man. Is there anyone you got your eyes set on in town?”
Her fingers gently touched the petals, and she smelled them. “Do you know who Caleb Wright is?”
He huffed and crossed his arms. “Sure do. That’s a military man. Don’t go messing around with them.”
“But you were in the military, Pawpaw?”
“That was back when pterodactyls were considered fighter pilots.”
Once again, she laughed. “But I thought he did some sort of contractor work?”
“He does. But he’s Navy too.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“A lot! Your generation isn’t as loyal as mine was! You wanna talk about the disrespect that men have toward women, wait until you get involved with that guy! No sirree. You probably will take one good look at those brown eyes and his damn dimple smile and think he’s so cute and sweet!”
“And he isn’t?”
“No, he ain’t. That’s Edward Wright’s boy. And he’s cold. Real cold. He’s got a temper like a wet chicken. He used to be a realtor, Evie. He’s supposed to look sweet, caring, and kind. It’s how he sold houses.”
“Wait, Edward Wright? You mean the guy who was in Dad’s football gang?”
“Yes, ma’am. And your dad was over at Big Ed’s house tons of times, and if he were still alive today, he’d be able to tell you what kind of a cold, apathetic nuisance that man is.”
“How many years ago was this?”
“Oh, um.” He scratched his head. “I think I have dementia.”
“Pawpaw,” she warned in a grin.
“About six years ago.”
She sat up straight. “He’s older now. Maybe things are different. I’m not the same woman I was six years ago.”
“Okay, but you can’t afford a renovation. How’d you expect to get his attention?”
“I could um… I don’t know actually.”
“I could take a bobcat to it, and we all can party on the insurance money.”
“Pawpaw!” she chuckled.
The rest of the time, Pawpaw kept her company while she whipped up the most decent muffins she could muster. Even though they weren’t anything to write home about, she enjoyed his company greatly before heading home.
At home, Evie peeled off those damp and sweaty clothes and sat down on the couch to watch some TV.
A massive pile of dishes collected stagnant water in the sink.
Bills and mail were scattered on the coffee table.
While a cooking show played, she looked at her place.
Boxes still needed to be unpacked, and now she had new boxes to unpack.
A hole in the wall needed to be patched, and paint supplies were all over the place.
She ended up spending three cooking episodes long of trying to prioritize her tasks and organize her schedule. “I can work out for thirty minutes in the morning, and by the time I get home from work, I can work on my garden outside. Maybe ten minutes to paint, and I can meal prep on Sundays!”
Nope. She tired herself out, and while watching the fifth episode, she scrolled on her phone until her eyes were sore, and so she went to bed.
Dishes still undone. Three hours gone and no workout in.
But for the first time in years, she looked up at the ceiling and truly smiled. So many wild thoughts flooded her tender mind, things that would make her happy. Things that would make her…
Hot.
So hot. Her chest flushed, and she felt a flutter of emotions and stirring excitement within.
But she was going to have to stop being so immature and straighten up.
If Caleb Wright was a military man and had another successful career, there was a good chance he was a go-getter, a hard worker, and had his act together.
She on the other hand got overwhelmed by doing a load of dishes, couldn’t get a ten-minute workout routine to stick, and didn’t even know how to change the oil in her own car or fill up her antifreeze.
For a few months after that, Evie visited Pawpaw’s place and got used to her new life as best as she could and would specifically stop for the flowers until they no longer bloomed. She would stop on that little farmhouse drive and gaze at the beautiful, rolling fields.
She sighed. “One day, I could live on a rolling field like that with the beautiful sunshine coming in.”
Her house was nowhere near completion. And even into late winter when things were cold, she realized how drafty it was.
Her heating bill skyrocketed, and the house still remained in disrepair.
The few paint jobs she did were patchy at best, and the new door handles she tried to put on fell off more times than she cared to count.
And then spring came again, and with it came that lovely local tulip festival she adored.
She’d drive along her way to work in the city and gaze out her window to take in the seductive views of popping reds, yellows, oranges, blues.
And they would all be like children nestled down in the grass’s blanket at the feet of a Dutch-inspired windmill, all with its red paint and charming white blades.