The song ended, but he kept humming it through five minutes of commercials. The words were still playing through his head when he turned down the lane to the farm. He got out of the SUV and headed around back to the garden, where he could hear two female voices. He could hardly believe that the woman in shorts and a faded T-shirt with her hair pulled up in a ponytail was Anna Grace. She had freckles across her nose, and dirt had collected in the sweat beads on her neck.
“Hey, I’m here,” Bryce called out. “Where do you want me to begin?”
“Could you bring in the watermelons and cantaloupes?” Cricket asked. “Having this much help is great.”
“Before you start, could you take a picture of me picking beans?” Anna Grace asked. “I want to send it to Tommy.”
“What about your mother?” Cricket teased.
“Her, too,” Anna Grace laughed. “I figure if I can make it through dusting shelves and sweeping floors at the store, then picking beans here and helping cook supper, I’m on my way.”
Bryce just nodded and hoped that Cricket hadn’t asked her to go fishing with them, too. He had been looking forward all day to spending time alone with Cricket.
“Tommy is driving up here tonight.” Anna Grace’s voice sounded excited. “He has to take classes this summer to keep up his teaching certificate, but he’s got time off until Monday. Cricket says that he can stay with us, and he’s even offered to help out in the garden and at the store.”
“Fantastic!” Bryce could have danced a jig right there in the wet dirt. That meant Anna Grace would be busy with Tommy, and he could spend time with Cricket.
Bryce pulled his phone from his bibbed pocket and shot a picture of Anna Grace, and then turned it slightly to take half a dozen shots of Cricket picking tomatoes. He slipped the phone back into his pocket and checked the pigtail on the first watermelon vine. It was still green, so he moved on to the next one, which was brown. When he picked the melon up, it came off the vine easily.
“Looks like you’re going to have a lot to take to the bookstore tomorrow,” he said. “You want to put some in my vehicle? I’ll bring them over when you open up tomorrow.”
“That would be great,” Cricket said. “And thank you. I’ve been selling everything I take in by noon each day, but I haven’t had watermelons in two days. Folks have their name on a list for me to call when we harvest some more. Lettie and Nadine are always at the top, so you can just drop one at their house.”
“Will do,” he answered and went on to check the next melon. By the time he finished, there were ten cantaloupes and half a dozen watermelons in the back of his SUV. He washed off his feet with the garden hose, sat on the back porch until they dried, and slipped on his flip-flops. The women had gone into the house earlier, and the smell of cinnamon and the sizzle of ham frying met him when he opened the back door.
“Something smells good in here,” he said.
“French toast and ham,” Cricket said. “I’ve got a small container of maple syrup in my tote bag, and there’s a bowl of fresh fruit, and a chunk of leftover blackberry cobbler in the fridge that I’ll tuck in for you.”
Bryce’s stomach growled loudly. “That sounds wonderful.”
Cricket explained everything to Anna Grace as she cooked. When the ham was browned, she put it on a platter and divided it into four pieces. She dipped two slices of thick homemade bread in an egg, milk, sugar, and cinnamon mixture and browned them two at a time. When she had done eight, she made four sandwiches, put them into individual containers, and slid them down into her tote bag.
“We’re ready to go,” she said. “Bryce, you can get your fishing gear and the beer, and I’ll carry this and my fishing stuff.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Are we driving to the creek?”
“We’ll take the old work truck,” she said. “We can get within fifty yards of one of the best fishing holes in this part of Texas.”
“Will you show me where that is sometime?” Anna Grace started whipping up an egg mixture. “Tommy loves to fish. I’ve never been, but after today, I’m ready to try new things.”
“Sure thing,” Cricket told her.
“Maybe y’all could go tomorrow evening. If Cricket is willing, I thought she and I would drive down to Sweetwater and get a snow cone,” Bryce said.
“I’m willing.” Cricket nodded. “I’ll show you where to go tomorrow morning before we go to the store, Anna Grace. Are you sure you can do this cooking tonight? I can stay until Tommy gets here if you want me to.”
“Get on out of here.” Anna Grace waved toward the door. “Tommy will be here in a few minutes, and I wrote down what you did step by step. I’m feeling pretty empowered right now.”
“All right then.” Cricket picked up her tote bag and headed out the back door.
“Where’s your fishing pole?” Bryce asked.
“In the back of the truck,” Cricket answered. “It’s parked beside your SUV.”
She was behind the wheel by the time he got his gear and beer all situated in the bed of the truck. He climbed into the passenger’s seat and started to roll up the window, but she shook her head.
“The air conditioner hasn’t worked in years. Neither has the heater, but it took us to the farmer’s market on Saturdays before I started selling our produce out of the store, and it makes a great truck to drive back and forth to Rick and Jennie’s house. Keeps the old rutted pathway from rattling my car all to pieces,” she said.
“Grandpa has a truck that might even be older than this one.” Bryce propped his arm on the edge of the window. “I got to admit, I never expected to get this lucky when I moved to Bloom. I knew it was a small town, but I figured, for the first year, I’d be sitting in my apartment every night either watching television or reading.”
“Why’s that?” Cricket drove toward a wooded area.
“Because folks in small towns tend to be a little standoffish until they get to know a newcomer,” he answered.
“So is Bloom,” she told him. “At least, for some folks. Us commoners are a little more sociable.”
“Well, thank goodness for y’all. I feel like I fell into a gold mine,” he told her.
“Me, too,” Cricket said. “I was dreading the two weeks that Jennie Sue and Rick were gone, but now I’ve got company and lots of help.”
Bryce would have liked to hear her say that she had buried her old feelings about Anna Grace and that he was her boyfriend, but that would have been expecting a miracle since they’d known each other less than a week.
* * *
Cricket parked the truck under a whole grove of pecan trees, slung open the door, and grabbed her tote bag. “This is it. We’ll make camp at the edge of the water, toss in our lines, and have supper while we wait on the fish to bite.”
“I’ll bring all the rest of the stuff,” he offered.
“Thank you. I’ll get the blanket and the food,” she told him.
Is this a date? Or is it just fishing? she wondered as she spread out the blanket on the grassy edge of the creek and set out the plastic containers of food.