“Honey, I’ll always take care of getting the fillets ready, and I’ll be the master of the grill at our house if you’ll always have a dessert ready.” Tommy stopped and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
“That sounds good to me,” Anna Grace agreed as she climbed into the truck behind Darlene. “That was so much fun. Can we go again soon?”
“You and Tommy should go together. Take a blanket with you and some beer. If you don’t catch a single fish, you’ll still have fun.” Darlene winked at Cricket.
Sweet Lord! Had Bryce told her that he and Cricket had gone fishing and wound up making out on a blanket?
* * *
On Sunday morning, Bryce knocked on the door of his folks’ RV. “Y’all awake in here?” he asked.
“Come on in,” his mother said and stood back to let him enter. “We had breakfast burritos. There’s one left. You want it?”
“You bet I do. I just grabbed a doughnut and a glass of milk.” He felt cramped in the tiny trailer, even when he sat down at the small, booth-type table with his father.
“We’re going to drive the RV to the church parking lot so we can leave right after services,” his father told him. “I want to know how you really feel about Cricket.”
“That was blunt,” Bryce said.
“We like her a lot,” Darlene said. “She speaks her mind, and she’s so much fun to be around. We don’t want to influence you, but she fits right in with our family so much better than your other girlfriends.”
“I really like her a lot,” Bryce confessed. “I feel like I’ve known her forever, like we grew up next door to each other. I was disappointed when that other opportunity for a small drugstore fell through, but I’m so glad it did because I’ve got Cricket in my life now.”
“Good enough.” Tim grinned. “Finish up that burrito and let’s go to church.”
When he’d finished eating, Bryce helped his dad get things unhooked and ready to travel, got into his SUV, and rolled down the window. “Wait for us in the parking lot, and we’ll all go in together,” he said.
Tim waved in agreement, and Bryce hummed Blake Shelton’s “Honey Bee” all the way to the farm. When he knocked on the door, Anna Grace answered and motioned for him to come on into the house. “Cricket will be out in a minute. Would you mind if Tommy and I rode with y’all this morning?”
“Not a bit. Afterwards, let’s all four go down to the café and have Sunday dinner,” Bryce suggested. “I hear that Laura Kay has a chicken and dressin’ special on Sundays.”
“I’d love that,” Tommy answered for them. “I’ve never eaten at that café, but now that the cat is out of the bag about me and Anna Grace, we can go in there together.”
“I’m ready,” Cricket said, coming in right at the end of what Tommy was saying. “I broke the strap on my sandal and had to find another pair of shoes. I almost decided to put a toe ring on and go barefoot.”
Bryce tucked her hand into his and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Anytime you want to do that, let me know, and I’ll do the same.” He led her outside.
Anna Grace and Tommy headed on out to his SUV and got into the backseat.
Bryce stopped and said, “Hold up just a minute.”
“Is something wrong?” Cricket asked.
“How do you think her old friends are going to react to her decision? This will be the first time she sees them since she moved in with you.” Bryce had something else on his mind, and he knew he was stalling, but he wasn’t quite sure he was ready for her answer.
“She’s pretty tough,” Cricket said in a low voice. “I think she’ll be fine with whatever comes her way today. I heard you offer to take them to dinner with us. That was so sweet.”
“I’m a sweet guy,” he said with a smile, “who would be even sweeter if he could tell everyone that Cricket Lawson is his girlfriend.”
Cricket looked up at him with a twinkle in her eyes. “Really?”
“Never been more serious in my whole life,” he said. “I want us to be dating exclusively. I don’t want to share you with anyone else.”
“Yes!” she squealed. “Yes, I will be your girlfriend, and honey, after spending so much time with you this week, I don’t even want to date anyone else.”
He picked her up and swung her around until they were both dizzy. “I’m so happy that…” He stopped and kissed her. “There are no words, except that I think I’m falling in love with you.”
“Me, too,” she said and wrapped her arms around his neck and tiptoed for another kiss. “And I love this feeling.”
Epilogue
Several weeks later.
“Good morning,” Anna Grace called out as she came in the back door of the bookstore. “Looks like it’s going to be another hot one.”
Cricket looked up from her desk. “How was the honeymoon?”
“It was amazing.” Anna Grace smiled. “Mama called this morning and offered to give me my old job back, and Daddy wants to buy us a house right here in Bloom as a wedding gift.”
“And?” Cricket’s heart fell to her shoes. She didn’t want Anna Grace to leave the store. If Bryce hadn’t moved in with her the previous week, she would have been super lonely at the farm. Jennie Sue and Rick didn’t pop in as often now that gardening season was over.
“I told both of them no,” Anna Grace said. “I like it here, and we’ve found an old farmhouse on an acre of ground about halfway between Sweetwater and Bloom that we will be signing a contract on this week. It’s a lease-to-own thing, so that all the rent money goes toward buying it in three years. It will be a great place to raise the six kids we want to have.”
Instant relief washed over Cricket. “Have you seen the Bloom Weekly News? I picked one up off the newsstand on the way in today.” She flipped the newspaper to the society page and pointed. “Who would have thought we’d get our pictures in the paper in the same week?”
“Well, would you look at that.” Anna Grace smiled and read the first few lines of the article out loud: “Anna Grace Cramer of Bloom married Thomas Arrington Bluestone of Sweetwater in a private ceremony on the beach at Padre Island. Bluestone’s brother, Harry, served as best man. Cricket Lawson served as her friend’s bridesmaid…
“I told Mama if she didn’t put it in the paper exactly as I wrote it that she would never see her six grandkids.” Anna Grace laughed. “Besides, by now Lettie and Nadine have already spread the news. Folks just read the paper to be sure those two haven’t lost their touch.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” Cricket smiled and flipped the paper around so she could read: “Cricket Lawson and Bryce Walton have announced their engagement. They plan a December wedding right here in Bloom. Bryce is the owner of the Bloom Drug Store, and Cricket is the proprietor of the Sweet Seconds Book Store in Bloom…”
“One marriage, one engagement. Hopefully, by Christmas next year, there will be two baby announcements,” Anna Grace said.