by Amber Kelly
“You did?”
“Yep, and he yelled at us and made me eat slimy peanuts.”
Her eyes come to me as she fights back a laugh.
“That does sound grumpy,” she tells him.
“I think he’s secretly nice, but he doesn’t want anyone to know it. He even gave me a knife.”
“He did what?”
“Don’t worry. I gave it to Granna. She’s going to put it up until I’m bigger.”
“Okay,” Taeli says as she looks between us.
I walk over and open the door. “Shall we?”
The three of them file in. I lead them through the lobby to the door that opens to the courtyard. I pay our entrance fee, which covers the food and compensation for the band. Leona chooses our seats at a picnic table close to the stage.
We enjoy an evening of burgers and tunes. Leona dances with an older gentleman in attendance and then tries to teach Caleb how to shag as he cackles.
I can’t take my eyes off Taeli, who is alight, watching her boy and his grandmother.
Her glow is so bright, the moon is jealous.
Graham
Caleb starts to get tired, and Leona asks to take him home in Taeli’s car.
“I’ll take you. That way, Graham doesn’t have to drive to the farm,” Taeli insists.
“You act as if he lives across the county. He lives fifteen minutes down the road from me,” Leona presses.
“That’s half an hour round trip,” Taeli tells her.
“Graham paid for us all to enjoy the music. You two stay out as long as you want. Caleb and I are tired. We’re just going to go climb into our pajamas and go to sleep.”
Taeli starts to argue, but Leona cuts her off.
“You don’t mind bringing her home, do you, Graham?”
“No, ma’am.”
“It’s settled, then. We’ll see you in the morning,” she says as she holds out her hand for the keys.
Taeli gives in and fishes her keys out of her purse.
“Be careful,” she pleads as she embraces Caleb and kisses her mother’s cheek.
“I always am,” she assures her daughter.
I leave Taeli at the table and walk Leona and Caleb to the Volvo parked in front of the motel. When I return, she has a companion sitting beside her. He stops mid-conversation and looks up at me as I approach.
“Graham,” he greets.
It’s Boyd Jackson, a guy who went to school with me and Langford.
“Good to see you, Boyd.”
I look at Taeli, whose eyes are begging me to help her.
“You need another drink, Taeli?” I ask.
“I’d love one,” she answers.
Boyd’s gaze drifts between the two of us. Then, he excuses himself and moves on to the next table, occupied by a single female.
“I leave you alone for five minutes, and the vultures start circling,” I say as I settle in beside her.
“Thank you for the rescue.”
“You’re quite welcome,” I say as I flag our waitress down.
The band takes the stage after their short break. I find her hand resting on her knee under the table and thread our fingers together. She doesn’t resist. Instead, she scoots closer to me and leans into my side. We sit wordlessly and enjoy the music until the last song is played.
I introduce her to the band after the show ends, and we say our good-byes to everyone before I lead her down the sidewalk the few blocks to my truck.
She yawns as I help her into the passenger seat, and by the time I pull on the street, she is already nodding off.
I try to take it easy, so I don’t disturb her, but as soon as my tires hit gravel, her eyes blink open. She lays her head against the back of the bench and curls her legs up into the seat. I throw my right arm around her shoulders and tug her across the leather until she is settled against me. She wraps an arm across my waist and snuggles into my side.
“Thanks for inviting us tonight. It’s great, seeing Caleb enjoying himself,” she says.
“He’s a good kid,” I tell her.
“He’s addicted to electronics and being angry with his mother,” she states.
I chuckle.
“He didn’t seem angry tonight,” I point out.
“There’s always tomorrow.”
I cut off the lights as we roll up to the house. The house is dark, except for a single candle in the window Leona must have lit for Taeli.
She doesn’t move from me when I turn off the engine.
We sit in silence for a while until she speaks.
“I can’t remember when I had a better day—or month really,” she confesses.
“I see you’re starting to like being home.”
“Yeah, it’s been eye-opening.”
“In what way?” I ask.
“I realize that I was pushing my way to the next step in life and checking off these boxes I’d made for myself. Marry an ambitious man. Check. Open your own business. Check. Build the dream house in the dream neighborhood. Check. Join the club and make fabulous friends. Check. Have two-point-five kids and get them into a private school. Half a check.”
“Sounds like you were achieving your dreams,” I say.
“That’s just it. I was achieving them but not living them. I was just checking off boxes,” she admits.
“And now?”
“And now, I have no idea what comes next. I don’t have any boxes because the whole damn list was set on fire, but the funny thing is, I’m enjoying not knowing what’s next. I like working at the rental company and coming in and having Erin there every day. I’m learning who my mother is instead of assuming who she is. I watched her dance with my son tonight. It was magical.”
“Sounds like you needed a reminder of how to enjoy the simple things in life, and the universe gave you one,” I tell her.
“You think the universe could have been a little bit gentler with that reminder?” she says.
I laugh. “It doesn’t always work like that. Big changes are sometimes painful and can be scary as hell, but honestly, the most beautiful things in life usually start as scary changes.”
“So, here’s to hoping for more fright in our life,” she deadpans.
“Something like that.”
Speaking of scary things …
I look down into her beautiful face and lay a soft kiss on her nose. She sighs, and her eyes flutter shut. Then, I kiss the corner of her cheek and the corner of her mouth.
When her eyes open again, there is heat in her gaze.
I dip my head again and take her mouth. This kiss is different than the ones we shared before. This kiss is claiming. I let go of the hesitation and let myself feel this unexplainable attraction I have to her.
She doesn’t resist. She opens for me and kisses me back with a desperate passion.
I feel like a teenager, making out with my prom date in the cab of my truck. When you are all hands and mouths and raging hormones. I haven’t felt this consuming fire for a woman in so long.
I know she feels it, too, when she climbs onto my lap and straddles me.
I pull her close, and the weight of her body against me does nothing to extinguish the flame. It only causes my body to combust.
She rakes her teeth over my bottom lip before capturing my tongue and sucking it into her mouth. She continues to suck on it until my hips jump off the seat of the truck, which causes her to jolt forward and against the steering wheel.
The horn is engaged, and a loud, long noise blares into the silent night. Startling us both and causing the front light to blink on and the door to the farmhouse to fly open.
Fuck.
“Busted,” she says as her forehead falls against my chest.
My hard-on is throbbing against my jeans as she lifts herself to move to the passenger side again.
I groan.
“Sorry,” she apologizes.
“I’m the sorry one. I should have taken you to my house for a nightcap like a grown-up instead
of trying to ravage you in my truck like a horny teenager,” I say.
She looks at me and grins. “I thought I was ravaging you,” she teases.
I lean over and place another quick kiss on her lips. “You can ravage me anytime.”
The porch light goes off, and her eyes widen.
“I’d better go inside in case the horn woke Caleb,” she whispers.
“Before you go, I want another date. I want to take you to that winery Leona mentioned the other day. Would you be up for it?”
“I think I can do that,” she says.
“Okay, good. It’s a date. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I tell her before kissing her one more time.
“Good night, Graham.”
She grabs the door handle and jumps out quickly, like she had to force herself to hurry out before she changed her mind.
I turn the headlights on and watch her. She turns one last time and waves before she disappears behind the door.
Damn, she’s beautiful, and I’m in trouble.
Graham
I went home last night and took a long, cold shower. Then, I lay awake, thinking about Taeli all night. I wasn’t lying when I said changes are scary, but anything worth doing or having is worth it.
I spend the morning on a jobsite. We are clearing trees and prepping the land at the top of one of the mountain peaks for an old gold mine–themed amusement park, complete with roller coasters and other rides along with an old Western town full of saloons and bank robbers, cowboys, and gunslingers. It’s every little boy’s dream. A major investor took on the project, and it’s being overseen by the company that manages Dollywood in Sevierville. The valley is excited about the tourism that it will draw along with the ski resort that Langford is helping to open next winter.
After overseeing the beginning of the excavation, I head down to Mom’s office to pick up some contracts that Pop had his attorneys look over for me.
I check my messages when I get a phone signal and find out some auto parts I’ve been anxiously waiting for have come in, and I decide to call it an early day.
I walk into the office and catch the end of a tense moment between Taeli and her son.
“Whatever,” Caleb snaps before putting in his earbuds and walking away from her desk.
She gives me an apologetic look when she catches my eye.
“Hi, Graham,” she greets.
“Hey. Rough afternoon?” I ask.
She slides her eyes across the room to where he has plopped down in a chair.
“He hates me,” she says.
“No, he doesn’t,” I disagree.
She brings her eyes to me. “Oh, yes, he does. He told me so this morning.”
I chuckle. “Every kid says that at one time or another. If they don’t, you aren’t parenting right. You aren’t supposed to be his friend. You’re his mother.”
“Can’t I be both?” she asks.
“Eventually, like when he’s a grown man, but not now. The worst thing for a teenager is to have a friend instead of a mother.”
Her concerned eyes flicker to him again.
“I hope you’re right,” she mutters.
Then, she looks back at me, shakes her head, and snaps back into professional mode.
“I’m sorry. Sara-Beth said you were dropping in. I’ll get those contracts for you,” she says and walks off down the hallway.
I look over and see her son sitting in a chair in the corner of the small office with his head buried in a device.
I stroll to him and look over his shoulder at the screen to see he is engrossed in a computer game.
When he realizes someone is in his space, he peeks up at me through his bangs that have settled over his eyes.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hi, Graham,” he replies.
I stand up and lean against the wall at his side.
“I’m going to the soda shop for a burger, and then I’m going to pick up some parts that came in at the post office and head to my garage to work on my Firebird for a bit. You interested?” I ask him.
His brows furrow. “Interested in what?” he asks.
I shrug. “In having a burger and helping me work on my car,” I reply.
“You want me to help you? I don’t know how to work on cars,” he says.
“I can teach you. It’s gotta be more fun than sitting here all afternoon, fiddling with that thing.” I nod to the gadget he is grasping.
He looks down at the game and then up to the clock above his mother’s desk. Then, his eyes come back to me.
“I am hungry,” he admits, and I know I have him.
I call out to Taeli, and she comes from the file room and looks at me standing here with Caleb.
“Do you mind if I steal Caleb here for the afternoon?”
She glances down at her son.
“We’re going to eat burgers and work on cars,” he tells her.
Surprise washes over her as she brings her gaze back to me.
“I’m going to show him how to replace the alternator and the spark plugs on a 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.”
“You still have that car?” she asks.
“I sure do. It’s in the garage at my office on blocks while I wait for some parts to come in. How did you know about it?”
“Garrett used to drive it sometimes when we were in school. The girls, including me, would drool over it.”
Yeah, my brother was always begging to use it when I was away at college.
“Can I go, Mom?” Caleb asks.
She grins and then looks to her son and gives in. “Okay. You leave your phone and tablet here and listen to Mr. Tuttle,” she instructs.
He hands over the device, and she fishes in her wallet for cash and hands it to him. He takes the money and shoves it into his pocket.
“I’ll be right back,” he says before taking off for the bathroom.
Taeli watches him and then turns to me. “I’ll come by to get him once I’m done here. Around five thirty.”
“That’ll be fine,” I agree.
“Thank you,” she says, and I can hear the relief in her voice.
“No problem. It’ll be fun to have a helper,” I assure her.
“Yeah, and anything that keeps him off this for a few hours is great,” she says as she waves the gadget in the air.
I grab a pen off her desk and scribble my office address on the corner of her desk calendar. “You’ll find us here,” I tell her.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“See you then,” I say before Caleb rejoins us, and I walk out of the office with him right behind me.
“Hand me the wrench sitting on top of the toolbox,” I instruct.
Caleb does as asked, and I loosen and remove the bolts holding the old alternator in place.
“Open your hands,” I tell him.
He does, and I drop the bolts in his palms.
“Hold on to those. We’ll need them to attach the new one.”
He nods enthusiastically.
“Have you ever worked on a car before?” I ask as I pull the old part out and set it aside.
“Nope.”
“Ever driven a car?” I ask.
“I’m only twelve,” he informs me.
“I know, but my dad let me drive around the yard when I was your age.”
His eyes go wide. “He did?”
“Yep. He was right there beside me, but he wanted me to be comfortable behind the wheel before I turned fifteen and could start driver’s ed.”
“I wish my dad had time to teach me stuff like that,” he admits.
“I reckon doctors are pretty busy guys, huh?” I ask.
“Yeah. He mainly just hires tutors when I need help, or Mom teaches me what she can, but she’s a girl.”
“Sounds like you’re a lucky guy to have a mom like that.”
“I guess so,” he responds.
“You don’t think your mom’s that great?”
He shrugs.
“
What’s your problem with her? You tell me, and I’ll keep it just between us. Man to man.”
I can tell he likes the idea of being talked to like a man as he considers spilling.
“She doesn’t ask me,” he says.
“Doesn’t ask you what?”
“Anything. She just tells me. Like when we came here, she didn’t ask me if I wanted to come to Tennessee. She just packed my stuff and told me we were visiting Granna for the whole summer.”
“And you don’t like it here?”
“No. I want to go back. I miss my friends, and I like our house. It’s big—really big. My room is three times as big as Uncle Gene’s room, and we have a pool,” he explains.
“A pool, huh?”
“Yeah, and a game room, and the television is huge.”
“But you have a whole river in your backyard now,” I point out.
“I know. It’s just Granna’s house is old and small, and there aren’t any neighbors,” he grumbles.
“You know, Caleb, you can build a house out of cow dung or solid gold. Both keep you just as warm and dry. Bigger doesn’t mean better. All that matters is whether or not it’s filled with love and if you’re happy.”
“What if smaller doesn’t make me happy?”
“It takes a lot of work to be happy, son. Happiness doesn’t just fall out of the sky. A man has to make his happy.”
He wrinkles his nose.
I lay down my tools and wipe my greasy hands with a towel. “Take today, for example. Did you have fun?”
“Sure.”
“You like working on the old car, huh?”
He nods.
“Maybe you’re meant to be a mechanic. Or a mechanical engineer.”
“My dad wants me to be a doctor, like him,” he tells me.
“That’s a good job too. If it makes you happy. Whatever you decide to do, work hard. Don’t do anything half-ass, whether it’s medical school or trade school. Respect is earned from the quality of work you put out, not the title in front of your name or the size of your house,” I say.
He ponders that for a moment.
“And, Caleb, respect and show up for your mom. No matter what you think she did or didn’t do. Showing up is what real men do, and that’s what everyone is going to remember about you. Don’t be like your uncle Gene. Not a soul in this town would spit on him if he was on fire because of the way he abandoned your grandmother in her time of need.”
