Page 27 of Grounds for Love

“Well now, that’s right nice to hear. We’ll be seeing more of each other now that we’re courting. Perhaps you’d do me the honor of taking a walk in the park with me tomorrow as our first outing.”

I’m stunned. Does Mr. Long really think I’d want to date him? He’s old enough to be my grandfather. I slice my eyes to the left when I hear Joy giggle. She presses her lips together and disappears into the kitchen. How am I going to let this kind, elderly gentleman down?

“Now I know what you may be thinking, but I can still cut a rug with the best of them and I don’t even mind if you keep working after we’re married. The extra money will come in handy on poker night. Of course, as long as you keep up with your wifely duties.”

He didn’t just… “wifely duties?” I haven’t heard that term in decades.

He counts off on his fingers. “Cooking, cleaning, laundry, the yard work, gardening, canning—because I do love a crispy pickle—and then there’s the yearly chores.”

I am beginning to understand why there’s never been a Mrs. Long. “Mr. Long, you don’t need a wife. You need a household staff. I’m afraid I’m going to have to decline your offer of courting.”

He sputters and complains about women today, and he leaves without ordering his usual coffee.

Not long after the first bid for my hand, Steven Harrison, the pharmacist, comes in and asks me out on Friday night. At least we’re closer in age than Mr. Long.

Tom Donahue, whose family owns a dairy farm on the island, comes in with a proposition of dinner and a movie in Wilmington. He’s handsome and if I weren’t heartbroken over Rod, I may have considered accepting.

I’ve turned down five hopeful suitors before noon. I know this because Joy has been keeping count and snickering in the background. And still Rod hasn’t shown his face, called, or texted. Nothing but silence.

“You know, you did tell him to leave you alone,” Joy says from behind me.

I sigh and wipe down the already clean counter. Why did my sister have to notice I’ve looked at the door at least a hundred times today? “I know. It’s for the best. I mean we’re too broken to ever think we could be together in a whole relationship.”

I never expected or wanted to fall in love again. I should have tattooed that piece of sage advice on my heart.

“I don’t know, sis. Give him time.”

“Why? The outcome will still be the same. He’s not over his wife and he’s not ready to be in a relationship.”

I deserve someone who’s all in with me just as I am with Rod. Because I am, right?

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