Page 24 of Undeniably Perfect

“Oh, is it Saturday already? Oh my, time does fly,” she says with a wink and quick once-over of me.

“See you later,” Kent says as she heads off.

“Tell her I said ‘hi,’” she adds as she walks to a car parked in one of the spots in front of a little market.

I can no longer hold it in.

“Oh my god! You live in Mayberry. Like is this even real? Are we on candid camera? Towns like this don’t really exist except in Hallmark movies,” I exclaim as we walk down the street.

Kent chuckles. “Nope, this is Banneker.”

“And this is where you grew up?”

“Yep.”

“I can’t believe places like this actually exist and that they are less than thirty minutes from where I grew up.”

“I admit, I was super lucky to be raised here. It really is a great community.”

“We could make people saying hi to you a drinking game, you know,” I point out as another woman approaches us and says hi.

Kent starts laughing. “That’s very un-Mayberry of you.”

I shrug. “I wasn’t raised in Mayberry, that’s for sure.”

“How do you even know about Mayberry? That show was way before our time.”

I grin. “My grandparents liked to watch old television shows.”

“Mine, too. But Rockville is nice,” he points out.

I nod. “It’s just a larger town. It’s not like this,” I say swirling around with my arms up. “I mean, we used to ride our bikes to the metro station and go into D.C. But, hell, I didn’t even know everyone on my grandparents’ street.”

“Well, things are different out here, slower, more personal, I guess.”

“I guess. I mean, I suppose you are like what, a celebrity in these parts?” I suggest.

He rolls his eyes. “Hardly. These folks have known me my whole life. I’m just KJ to them.”

“KJ?”

“Yeah, Kent Jason.”

“Oh. Still, it’s cute.”

“It’s not cute. It’s manly and neighborhoody.”

I give him a look. “Neighborhoody isn’t a word.”

“It is now.”

“Nope.”

“Yep, just called dibs on it. It’s a word and it’s mine.”

“You can’t call dibs on a word.”

“Wanna bet?”

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