“Well, I’ve got time, and you’ve given me a job that involves hard work, so maybe I’ll see some light by the end of summer.” Flynn finished off his beer and stood up. “Thanks again for the beer. I should be getting on back. Nessa usually has supper ready about six. Want to come eat with us?”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Jackson said. “I’ve got my heart set on having a nice cool dip and then diving back into a mystery book I’ve been reading.”
“Maybe next time.” Flynn held up his empty bottle. “Where’s the trash?”
“Just leave it on the coffee table. I’ve got a couple of recycling bins out back,” Jackson told him.
With a slight nod and a wave, Flynn went outside, took a minute to pet Tex, and then headed home. He was only a few yards down the rutted pathway when he realized he was whistling. He hadn’t done that in years, especially not at the end of a workday.
Nessa put away the sewing machine, cleaned all her quilting business off the dining room table, and was stirring a pot of marinara sauce to go on spaghetti when April came into the house. The hours had flown by, and most of the afternoon she had hummed as she worked. That alone told her that she should give this quilting business a chance. She loved teaching, but toward the end of the school day, the minutes turned into hours and she could hardly wait to get out of the classroom.
“I guess you got the job, or else you started to run away with Nanny Lucy’s car and figured that she would haunt you if you did that,” Nessa said as she slid a loaf of Italian bread into the oven.
“Got the job. Love it, and it never entered my mind to run away.” April went straight to the kitchen sink, lathered up her hands, and then rinsed them. “I told you I came back here to face my demons and get my life into some kind of order. I’m not going anywhere but to work and home until that happens.” She dried her hands, took down three plates from the cabinet, and set the table. “Why aren’t you looking for a job?”
“I’ve got paychecks coming in all summer, so I don’t need to work until fall, plus I’ve saved enough that if I’m very careful, I won’t have to work until January,” Nessa answered.
“Must be nice to have a savings account.” April sighed. “I’m going to get me one of those as soon as I start getting a paycheck.”
The blank look in April’s eyes had faded somewhat, and her smile didn’t look pasted on. Strangely enough, Nessa was happy for her. The way she’d acted those first few days, Nessa had kind of hoped that she would leave in the middle of the night. That haunted look in April’s eyes had made Nessa wonder if maybe she’d been dabbling in drugs. If so, Nessa wouldn’t have cared even if April had taken Nanny Lucy’s car with her.
“Tell me about your work.” Nessa brought out a head of lettuce and a tomato from the refrigerator and made a bowl of salad while the pasta cooked.
“I take care of the shelter, for the most part. That’s what Maudie had me doing today. I cleaned all the cages, then played with the cats and dogs until it was time to come home,” April answered.
“You get paid to play with kittens and puppies?” Nessa asked.
“Hey, you got paid to be a glorified babysitter to kindergarteners,” April told her.
“I had to teach them a lot of things,” Nessa argued. “And I had to deal with parents. You just get to have fun, with no lesson plans or three or four sets of parents involved. Do your pets learn to read?”
April cocked her head to one side and frowned. “How does a kid get that many parents? I didn’t even get one. That’s not fair.”
“They have a daddy and stepmother, a mama and stepfather, and at least one set of grandparents that usually sees them more often, because the parents have to work,” Nessa explained.
Before April could say anything else, Waylon came down the hallway, stopped at the dining room table, and sniffed the air, then arched his back. His tail stood at attention and grew to twice its size, and he growled deep in his throat.
“What’s the matter with him?” April asked.
“He probably smells all those animals on you and thinks that you brought one or more of them home,” Nessa answered.
April dropped down on her knees and called Waylon over to her. He walked all the way around her, sniffed her jeans, and then nudged her hand and started purring. She stroked his fur and said, “I wouldn’t ever love those others like I do you. They’re sweet and they are my job, but you’re the boss.”
“Amen to that,” Nessa said. “He’s been right under my feet most of the day. He wanted to lay on my pattern pieces, or else sleep right beside the sewing machine.”
“Hey, honeys, I’m home,” Flynn called out when he came through the door. “And this AC feels wonderful.”
“That’s ‘cousins’ to you, not ‘honeys,’” Nessa scolded. “Go get washed up. Supper will be on the table in about ten minutes.”
“Yes, Mother,” Flynn teased.
Nessa shook a fist at him. “You call me that again, and you’ll be eating on the porch in the heat.”
Flynn laughed out loud and headed to the bathroom. He came out a few minutes later, got the salad dressings from the refrigerator, and poured three glasses of sweet tea. By then Nessa had the spaghetti on the table, and she and April were in their seats. Then he sat down at his normal place and even said a short grace when Nessa asked him to do that.
“Nanny Lucy wouldn’t like it if we didn’t give thanks. How was your day, Flynn?” Nessa asked.
“Amazing,” Flynn answered. “I’ve always liked doing new things, but working with wood is more calming than anything else I’ve tried. How about you two?”
“Got the job, and I love it.” April heaped her plate full of spaghetti and then added two thick chunks of bread to the side. “My main work is in the shelter, cleaning up the pens and playing with the animals. No one came to adopt any of them today.”
“Our new normal,” Nessa said.
“What does that mean?” April asked.
“You go to work at the clinic. Flynn goes to Jackson’s place. I work on quilting all afternoon so that when the craft fairs start up, I’ll have something to take,” Nessa answered. “That’s our new norm, and I think I like it, but what happens when we get the quilt finished?”
“Maybe by then Maudie will let me work more hours,” April said.
“And Jackson will decide he needs me to do more.” Flynn crossed his fingers up in the air like a little boy.
“Then our norm will change, and we’ll have to adjust to whatever it is then.” Nessa slid the salad over to Flynn.
“Yep,” April and Flynn said at the same time.
After supper, Flynn shooed Nessa out of the kitchen. “You cooked. I’ll take care of cleanup.”
“You wash,” April said. “I’ll dry and put the dishes away.”
“Well, thank you both,” Nessa said. “I have been hunched over a sewing machine all day, so I’m going for a long walk. See you later.”
She rounded the end of the house and stood at the edge of the path. Going left would take her to Jackson’s place, but showing up on his porch again so soon might seem awfully forward. Still, she would love to sit and talk to him some more. With a long sigh, she turned right and headed toward the waterfall.