“Fine, but I’m driving.” She headed out of the bakery before he could argue.
“Okay.” He ran to catch up with her before he got lost in the maze as she cut through the factory to the parking lot. “Wait up!”
She got in the car, and he jumped into the passenger seat. “Buckle up,” she said as she revved the engine and took off.
“That’s our tree,” he said. “I saw that it made it to the new town sign. Tallest loblolly in the state.”
“Yep. Sure did.” She pulled into the driveway. “Tallest in both Carolinas, to be exact.” This was a bad idea. What was I thinking? She kept her eyes straight ahead.
“How tall is that thing anyway? Any idea?”
She knew exactly. She’d been there the day the team had come out and measured it. “One hundred sixty-four feet tall and just shy of five feet around last time they measured.”
He twisted in his seat as she cruised by the tree. “Hey. There’s a birdhouse over the spot where we’d carved our initials. Who would cover up a declaration of love like that?” He turned back with a look of bewilderment.
“Me.” She flashed him an unapologetic smile. “I own the place now.”
“You live here?” He looked confused. Or maybe he thought she was kidding.
“Yep.”
“And you covered up our initials on the tallest loblolly pine in all of North Carolina?”
“Yep.”
“Man, you were mad at me.”
“Kind of still am.” She regretted saying it, because that alluded to her caring at all. Too late now. She parked in front of the house.
“It wasn’t easy for me either. You know I never meant for things to end up the way they did.”
“But they did. Game over.” She opened the car door and got out. “Coming to meet Gray or not?”
He jumped out of the car. “Coming.” He ran around the car to catch up with her. “I’m kind of hungry. Think we could grab something to eat after?”
She headed straight to the front door. “I have chili in the crockpot.”
“I always loved your chili.”
“Then you should like it now. It hasn’t changed a bit.” She opened the front door and walked inside with Andrew on her heels.
“Wow, this place is great.”
“Thank you. I did some renovations, but the house was in pretty good shape for being empty for so long. Amazing the difference some paint and refinishing the floors made, but I hired someone to knock out some walls to give me the kitchen I wanted.”
“I love what you’ve done with it. It looks just like you,” he said.
She blinked, unsure if it was a compliment or not. “I look like a house?”
“No. Stop. You know what I meant. The colors. The style. Comfortable. Pretty.” He spoke slowly. Cautiously. “Real pretty.”
Unlike the bakery, her kitchen at home had deep cherry cabinetry with black granite countertops and the prettiest cobalt blue tile backsplash he’d ever seen—more like glasswork than tile.
“Awesome kitchen,” he remarked. “I could totally cook in here.” He ran his hand across the hefty burners of her Viking range. “My favorite range. Like the Range Rover of the kitchen.”
“Thanks. It was a splurge.”
“I bet.” He walked through the kitchen nodding. “It’s kind of funny that you live here. I mean, with the tree with our initials right in the front yard and how we always met up here.”
“It just happened to be up for sale at the right time. Don’t read anything more into it. This house was where we met because it was the center point between our two houses. I bought it because it was an amazing deal. Too good to pass up.”
She took two cobalt-blue soup mugs down from the cabinet and scooped chili into them with a shiny metal ladle.
“That smells so good.” Andrew took the bowl she handed him. “I think my stomach just growled a thank you.”
“Better wait until you taste it, Chef.” Their conversation must’ve woken Gray, because she heard him scurry in the mudroom.
Andrew stopped in his tracks. “That was not my stomach.”
“That,” she said, “was Gray.” She hurried down the hall to the utility room door and let Gray wander into the kitchen.
“Holy cow. Pig. Whatever. You really do have a pig. That was you I saw walking…” he gestured to Gray, “…this thing near Main Street when I got to town. I thought he was way too fat to be a dog.”
“Had to be me. There’s not another one like this around town.”
“Probably not too many anywhere.”
She reached down to pet Gray on the head. “You’d be surprised. Micro pigs are a thing here now.”
Gray accepted the attention, but only for a moment. He raced over to Andrew and nudged his leg with his snout. Andrew dropped right to the floor and started petting him. Gray ran off and came back with one of his toys, showing off for Andrew. The pig was giving Andrew a hometown hero’s welcome. Traitor.
“He’s smarter than a dog!” He squeaked the toy and watched Gray pounce around with excitement. “He is too cool. So, why is this guy named Gray when he’s clearly black and pink?”
“It’s a long story.” Thankfully Gray dropped his ball and ran behind her to get breakfast. “Come on, Gray.” She let Gray out back, then they sat down at the table and ate chili. “I rarely let him in this part of the house.”
“This chili is just as good as I remember.” He shoved another bite into his mouth.
“Is it making you sweat yet?”
“In a good way,” he said. “Someday I’ll have to make you some of my jalapeno cheddar corn muffins. They’d go perfect with this.”
Live in the moment. He’ll be gone before I know it. “That sounds delicious.” She had no doubt they would be, but she needed to keep her guard up. Sharing new memories would
