Winnie

"Yes, Mare. I am leaving now." Marigold called me about 10 minutes ago to order to me to go home and rest. Doctors Orders she said. She loves to pull that card.

"Good. You're going to burn yourself out."

"I just need to get through this weekend and then it won't be as busy. Also, I'm going to hire a part time manager. I already have two interviews next week." I can't believe I am in a place where hiring someone else is even possible.

"That's amazing, Winnie! I'm so proud of you but not at all surprised."

"Thank you. You've been here every step of the way."

"I have. So, where's my cut?" I laugh at that.

"Free pastries and coffee every morning…? Forever? As long as I'm your best friend?"

"Works for me…as long as I'm not being replaced by a certain tall tattooed hunk that you've been spending an awful lot of time with."

"No one will ever replace you. In fact, can we have a girls night next week? What do your shifts at the hospital look like?"

"Yes! I can make Thursday night work. I'm working Friday and Saturday afternoon but I'm free until 2pm Friday. What about you?"

"Thursday is perfect."

"Okay, good. Now go home and rest or make Rhett give you a foot rub." I snort…although that does sound really good. I love his hands.

"Not a bad idea, Ms. Levinson."

"I never had bad ideas, Win."

"Not even when you had the amazing idea to streak through the Jameson corn field and Old Man Jameson came out with his shotgun thinking we were the…what did he say?…" She bursts out laughing.

"The ‘critters that keep getting in his garden.'" She belts out and we both start laughing. "Okay not the best idea. I will admit that one."

"Not the best? Mare. We had to cover ourselves with cornstalks and explain what we were doing—four times because Mr. Jameson is hard of hearing." She laughs harder.

"Okay, okay. That was the only bad idea I've ever had and I'm hanging up before you try to tell me there were more. I love you! Bye!" Now I'm laughing.

"Bye. Love you!"

I check my phone. It is now 6:30 pm. Feels about right. I'm starving and don't feel like cooking tonight. It's too late to go beg my uncle for food. I suppose I'll order pizza again. Maybe Rhett will come over, too and I will possibly ask him to rub my feet. They're killing me. I click on his name that I haven't had time to change yet. Yes, that is the only reason, I tell myself.

"Hey! Are you coming home?" He answers after the first ring and it makes me giddy.

"Hi." I like the way he says coming home. "Yes, I am. I'm so tired and sore. I was thinking of ordering pizza and vegging out. Want to join me?"

"I would love to but I'm hanging out with Alder tonight. I haven't seen much of him since I've been back, so I said I would go over to his place and have a beer."

"Oh, okay." I try to hide the disappointment in my voice but I cringe because it is still very present. Since when did I start relying on him this much? I try again. "That sounds like fun, I'm glad you guys are hanging out." I smile even though he can't see me as I round the corner before our street.

"I'm free tomorrow though. After you get your orders all done, maybe we can get dinner?"

"Of course. I'd like that." I step onto the sidewalk and pass by his house, admiring it. The sprawling yard and twinkle lights he hung over the backyard pergola. I sigh, it really is a dreamy property. I'm almost to where our fences connect, but skitter to a stop as I take in my small cottage. My mouth drops and I make a squeaking sound. It's been painted. The dingy yellowing color has been transformed into a brilliant white, the shutters have been replaced on the front and are now cedar wood. There's flower boxes that match under each window on the front, filled with wildflowers. Rhett's deep voice interrupts my gawking.

"Winnie? Are you alright?" I walk the last few feet to stand directly in front of my now pristine house. "If you don't shut that beautiful mouth you may start catching flies." I can hear him now without my phone and look to my porch. He's sitting on the front steps in jeans and a white tee with damp hair and bare feet. Am I drooling?

"Wh…when did you…? How did you? Today? So fast?"

"I did it today, yes." He grins. My eyes sting. What a beautiful thing to do. What a beautiful man he is.

"Rhett…" I open my gate and walk on the brick pavers toward him. "I can't believe you would do this for me…well I can, because it's a very you thing to do, but It's perfect."

"I would do anything, and I mean anything to see that look on your face." I blush. "Plus, I need to make myself useful if I want you to keep me around." I laugh, feeling weightless. Wrapping my arms around the back of his neck for support, I straddle his waist, playing with a lock of his hair that's curling at his neck.

"There are a lot of ways you could be useful to me Rhett." He smiles and then I add. "—but I'll keep you around because you're fun to look at." He throws his head back laughing so hard that I can feel it shaking his chest and me along with it. He really is a beautiful man. Not just his sharp stubble covered jaw, this face that has my heart skipping beats, or those emerald eyes I want to fall asleep looking into. It's so much more than that. It's how he can erase my anxiety with his laugh. It's how whether he's picking me up and swinging me around or holding me close on the couch watching tv, I feel safe. He's quickly becoming an irreplaceable part of my life. I want his heart—just like he has mine.

I place my hands on his cheeks and kiss him. I try to show him how much he means to me. "Thank you. I love it. So much."

"Anything for you, Darlin'." He kisses me then grabs the backs of my thighs and stands. "I have one more thing to show you." He carries me inside and it smells like heaven.

"Oh my gosh, Rhett! Did you also cook for me?" He deposits me into a chair in my kitchen and then walks to the oven to pull something out.

"I did. Lasagna. I hope it's good. It's a Knox recipe—unless it doesn't turn out and in that case he said to tell you he had nothing to do with it." I chuckle at that. It sounds just like him.

"I may be getting a little spoiled here." I say it as a joke but I can hear the vulnerability in my voice.

"That's kind of the point, Winnie."

"Right." I smile.

"What's wrong with me spoiling you?" He sets the lasagna on the stove top and leans his hip against the counter. He looks too good in my little kitchen. I wouldn't mind seeing him like this every night.

"Nothing." I laugh. "Really. I'm just being silly." I shrug.

"I'm not buying it. What's up? Is it too much?"

"Not at all! It's perfect! This is all perfect. You're perfect." That's my anxiety disorder for you. I'm either a rambling mess, spilling my guts or I freeze up and can't get out the words I'm looking for. Obviously the first has happened and now I'm blushing the color of the red sauce on the stove. I cover my face with my hands and try to steady my racing heart. Feeling like this, wanting him this much is hard for me. I don't always know how to handle being taken care of. I hear him approach and crouch in front of me. His hands encircle my wrists and pull mine back.

"As much as I'm insanely flattered that you think that about me—I'm just trying to show you how much I care. How much I want you." His features blur with the rush of liquid to my eyes.

"You're doing a really good job." He laughs and pulls me to my feet. He keeps one hand in mine and slips the other around my back, so mine goes up to the back of his neck. I play with the ends of his hair again. Then he starts to sway with me and hum a song that I've loved since I was a little girl. And just like that, I feel more centered. The sound is so soft and sweet that it prompts a memory I haven't let myself think about in a long time. I'm watching from a counter top, two people swaying in a kitchen so filled with love it's like I can reach out and touch it. My dad whispering the lyrics into my moms ear. Her looking at him with her beautiful smile, singing along.

My eyes are hot and it feels like there's a rock lodged in my throat but I smile into Rhett's chest. He starts belting out the lyrics without warning and spins me away and then back into him swaying me to the beat that…well it's a little off but I don't care as I laugh and join in. He da-dums the instrument build up for us, before the chorus to I Would Give Everything I Own by Bread really takes off. We yell the words together and his grin mixed with way he's looking at me feels like home. We sing and dance and kiss in my small kitchen for the rest of the night. As I look at this man that's had me so completely since I was 15 years old, a part of me that was so broken I wouldn't even think about it, heals a little.