“I bet you’re happy as a clam, Stella,” Dirk stated.
“To have all my boys home? You better believe it. Now we just need you to come on back home, and everything will be perfect.”
Dirk nearly choked on the piece of kiwi he had tossed into his mouth. “You’re going to be waiting a long time on me, Stella.”
She grinned, but I knew what that grin meant. It was the one that said she knew something no one else did. Dirk’s brows pulled in slightly. He had seen it as well. “What’s on the smaller side?” Dirk asked as he focused on my mother.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“When I walked in, you said something was on the smaller side.”
She shook her head and laughed slightly. “Oh, the guest list for the New Year’s Eve party tonight. Now, I want to make sure you’ve made plans to stay here this evening, Dirk. No drinking and then heading back home.”
He saluted and gave my mother the smile that I was positive had landed him in a woman’s bed a dozen times or more. “I’ve already made arrangements to stay the night at Brock and Lincoln’s place. No need to worry about me, Mama Shaw.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Who all is going to be here tonight?” Kaylee asked.
My mother started naming names, most of them were friends she and my father had known for years. A few relatives and some folks who lived on ranches around us. “The Edens will be here as well.”
Dirk froze as he was reaching across Timberlynn to grab another piece of fruit. He looked stunned. “The Edens?”
I watched with curiosity, and so did Kaylee. The only person who hadn’t caught Dirk’s pause was Timberlynn. She was still cutting up the fruit and arranging them on the platter.
“Yes, their farm is right next to your folks’ ranch, isn’t it?” my mother casually asked. She knew damn well it was.
“What’s the difference between a farm and a ranch?” Kaylee asked, totally not seeing what was going on. “I never really thought about it before when y’all mention a farm versus a ranch.”
My mother shrugged. “Well, on a farm they focus more on the soil for growing crops. A ranch, like ours, is land where livestock is raised. On the Eden’s farm, they grow crops such a strawberries, corn, wheat. They also have dairy cows, but not many. They also grow pumpkins and let folks in town come in and pick their own right from the fields. I get all my eggs from them when I shop at Pete’s Grocery in town.”
“They have blueberries too. Their strawberry and blueberry crops are you-pick-it, and they have folks come to the farm and pick the berries. That allows them to sell other stuff while they’re there. Like tomatoes and other veggies,” I added.
My mother smiled. “Yes, as a matter of fact, those strawberries came from their greenhouse. They grow them all year long.”
“Do they still grow Christmas trees?” I asked.
Dirk leaned against the counter, silently taking in the entire conversation. The look on his face, though, had me curious as hell. Apparently, Kaylee was on the same page as I was. We glanced at each other and the corner of her mouth rose slightly, as did her brows. If my memory served me right, Dirk had a fling with Merit Eden his senior year of high school…but that was a long time ago, so I wasn’t sure what was going on.
“You know, I’m not sure,” my mother stated. “Dirk, do they still grow trees?”
“What?” Dirk asked as he glanced up from the strawberry he had been staring at.
“The Eden family, do they still sell Christmas trees?”
“I’m not sure. Last I heard, their son Michael was running that part of the farm.”
There was a moment of silence in the kitchen and I turned to look at my mother. She wore a smile on her face that said she was about to go in for the kill.
Oh, holy hell.
“I know when I talked to Lori Eden—” She looked at Kaylee and Timberlynn. “She’s the mother.”
They both nodded to show they were keeping up.
“When I talked to Lori, she mentioned that Merit was back in Hamilton for good. She’s working on the farm, but I totally forgot to ask about Michael.”
I couldn’t hide my smile. My mama was good. Damn good. Dirk stared at her with a befuddled expression. I made a mental note to ask Brock about Dirk and Merit, and then let it slip to Kaylee. She’d bug the hell out of Dirk about it.
“Merit’s back in town? For good?” Dirk finally managed to ask, his voice sounding a little off.
Kaylee turned and looked at him, as did Timberlynn.
“Did y’all date?” Kaylee asked, clearly noticing his reaction.
Dirk dropped his eyes down and laughed. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Your tone changed.”
His brows crinkled. “What do you mean, my tone changed? Nothing changed.”
“It did change, I noticed it too,” Timberlynn said with a grin. I couldn’t hold it in. I laughed out loud, and Dirk shot me a look that said I needed to stop, or he was going to throttle me. I held up my hands in defense and looked at my mother.
She wore a huge smile on her face as she started mixing together some kind of dough.
Clearing his voice, Dirk stated, “Nothing changed, you’re both insane.”
“Normally when you talk about girls you went to school with, your tone is normal. But when you talked about…what was her name again, Stella?” Kaylee asked.
“Merit,” my mother and I said at the same time, neither of us missing a beat. Dirk shot me another dirty look.
“When you talked about Merit, your voice went slightly higher,” Kaylee said.
Dirk laughed. Hard. “Your pregnancy brain is playing tricks on you, sweetheart.”
Then my mother really went in for the kill. “I do believe you were her first kiss, at least that is what her mama always says. Dirk Littlewood was the first
